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Pastors and church leaders: We have a remarkable sacred access to both soaring celebration and the deepest of sorrows in our congregation. I was happy to serve as a youth pastor for over six years. We love our church body through summits and valleys. And through it, I know I got some things wrong about grief. What I learned and unlearned in nearly a decade as a hospital chaplain is, I believe, valuable for both patients and pastors, for families and staff, for the pulpit and our prayers.

“Can I make it through November?” Maybe you’ve asked yourself that question recently. The last two elections were hard on your church, and you’re not sure you can white-knuckle your ...

I became a single mother thirteen and a half years ago, when my husband died, leaving me to raise 3 sons who were 9, 12, and 13 years old. Since that time, I have heard countless stories like this one, of women in churches that wanted to care for their families but did not know how. God’s care for single mom Hagar shows us the way.

When I have attended church on these days and been met with the inevitable “Happy Mother’s Day!” I’ve smiled and said, “Thank you” but felt the hurt inside. The well-intentioned greeter doesn’t realize the depth of pain just below the surface. At the height of our fertility treatments, a counselor suggested we skip attending church on these dates, which was good advice.

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:10–16 Do we ...

Dear family member, friend, or church leader, Your relationship is important to me. I thank God for bringing you into my life and for the ways you’ve helped me grow. ...

If there’s one thing pastors can be certain of these days it is that their congregations are being discipled by well-funded and aggressive cultural forces to follow their own hearts. ...

One of the many images that Scripture uses to describe those who confess a common faith in Jesus Christ is that of a family (Rom. 8:29; Gal. 6:10; 1 Peter 2:17). By God’s grace, we are adopted into the family of faith (Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:5). But do we actually know this family? Do we know those who have walked before us as followers of Christ?

Here are Five reasons why pastors should introduce their congregations to theologians of the past:

We sat down with author John Inazu to discuss his new book Learning to Disagree and how he thinks pastors can use his book as a tool to help their congregations ...

Ministry is exhausting. This is true for the church planter who is just getting his core group together or the minister who’s had years of ministry experience. Exhaustion in ministry is real, and burnout seems to come for the best of us. But it doesn’t have to. It is quite possible to do all that God has called you to do, but it requires us to return to the humble way of Christ. Humility may be an unexpected suggestion, but it honestly shouldn’t be. Humility was the very thing that set the first-century church apart.

Recently I was standing in line at Heart Coffee. Portland, Oregon is home for me, and while our city’s most broadly read press clippings haven’t been particularly favorable these last ...

When we lost our son, I thought the pain would never end. Some nights were so long and so dark that I began to wonder if the sun would ever rise – if a new day would ever come. Through the grace of God, though, it did. Today I’m in a different and much better place.

This is God’s message to us? “I’m offering rest. Partner with me, and you’ll find it.”

Jesus offers rest because the way of living that Jesus gives us is deeply restful.

We all live for something. This “yoke” talk is about taking the burden of whatever it is I’m living for, and trading it in. His yoke is lighter, He says.

I can confirm this. I sometimes feel the pressure to have a Big Vision and accomplish some Big Thing or be More Significant and you know what? It’s a lot of stress. Our culture loves Big Visions and Plans and Statements and so forth. But our culture is also acutely anxious and exhausted and angry.

So why take this pilgrimage?

Because, while “It is finished,” He is not. His work on the Cross was perfect. Complete. Absolute. And because of it and through it, He continues working in and through us. The Cross is the singular basis of Christ’s total defeat of satan and his kingdom. satan had no response then and has none now. There’s nothing he can do about it. his defeat was complete, everlasting, and irrevocable. And while satan can’t change what happened on that Friday, he has been working ever since to hide what happened there. To obscure the work of the Cross. To avert our eyes. This is why Paul told the Galatians they’d been “bewitched.” Even though they were Spirit-filled eyewitnesses to the death and resurrection of Jesus, and God was actively doing miracles in their church, they’d taken their eyes off the Cross. Some power of darkness obscured the work of the Cross and they were focused on something else.

In an era marked by polarization and societal divisions, Terry Crist’s Loving Samaritans emerges as a beacon of hope, challenging Christians to embody the radical kindness Jesus exemplified. Through a tapestry of personal anecdotes, biblical insights, and practical wisdom, Crist invites readers to reconsider the essence of their faith - love and compassion for all, especially those marginalized or perceived as different.

We talked with the author of The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life, Michael Wear, president of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, about the book and the constructive, faithful vision and practical advice it offers to pastors, leaders, and all Christians.