Tag Archives: IFTTT

Throughout American history, groups have given it different, often conflicting meanings. Can they all be right? Lewis Carroll’s novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There contains a famous snippet of dialogue between a maddeningly vague Humpty Dumpty and an increasingly puzzled Alice. Humpty insists that by the word glory he means a powerfulContinue reading “You Keep Using That Word, ‘Christian’”

Nazarene officials say ‘God is still in control’ after regional leaders die on the way home from Havana retreat. A group of Cuban church leaders died in a plane crash Friday on the way home from a denominational retreat in Havana. The ten married couples, co-pastors from Holguín in East Cuba, had spent three daysContinue reading “20 Cuban Pastors and Spouses Killed in Plane Crash”

Local body of Christ heartbroken by Jerusalem embassy move and Gaza death toll. Hanna Maher’s wife is nine months pregnant, due any day now, with only four hours of daily electricity. Her two older boys scurry about in the dark, kept ignorant by parents about the dead at the border. But it is hard toContinue reading “In Shadow of Death, Palestinian Christians and Messianic Jews Seek Reconciliation”

We American Christians have a biblical call to reduce firearm deaths in our land. Violence enters the human story from nearly the beginning: “While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him” (Gen. 4:8). The Genesis narrative notes that violence soon becomes endemic. In a mere two chapters, we read,Continue reading “God Hates Gun Violence”

Instead of striving for church growth, I encourage churches and pastors to work on increasing their capacity for effective ministry. Ed: How did you come to write Small Church Essentials? Karl: Small churches are, by far, the most common expression of the gathered body of Christ. But they are highly undervalued and grossly under-resourced. IContinue reading “One-on-One with Karl Vaters on ‘Small Church Essentials’”

Administration prepares to propose Title X funding cuts for abortion providers. Pro-life evangelicals are celebrating another move by the Trump administration to cut federal funding for abortion. According to reports, the White House is expected to announce new regulations prohibiting Planned Parenthood and other entities that make abortion referrals from receiving grant money through TitleContinue reading “Trump’s Plan to Defund Planned Parenthood Cheers Pro-Life Advocates”

How the president on the other side of the Moral Majority ended up invited to its unofficial headquarters. Former President Jimmy Carter has accepted an invitation to deliver the commencement address at Liberty University on Saturday. Many will view this announcement as surprising, some even as disappointing for one reason or another. I view itContinue reading “Jimmy Carter at Liberty Is 2018’s Most Surprising Yet Hopeful Commencement Speaker”

Efforts to unite Christianity’s branches bear fruit. Four years ago in Istanbul, a humble Turkish book partially reversed the 11th century’s Great Schism. Catholics joined Eastern and Oriental Orthodox—alongside Protestants—to publish a slim, 12-chapter treatise on their common theological beliefs. “You can’t find a page like this in all of church history,” said Sahak Mashalian,Continue reading “Spanning the Great Schism Between Evangelical and Orthodox Christians”

Important developments in the church and the world (as they appeared in our June issue). Thousands of pastors defend their best tax break Chicago-area clergy have the backing of thousands of pastors across America as they appeal a 2017 district court ruling that tax exemptions for ministerial housing stipends are unconstitutional. In late April, theContinue reading “Gleanings: June 2018”

Ministries find a central hub is less and less essential to taking the gospel global. When the owners of Ralph D. Winter’s missions mecca opted to sell much of it, they weren’t just parting from the California campus that long housed the late missiologist’s US Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures). Frontier Ventures andContinue reading “HQ Trivial?”