Feature

Local ways are rarely senseless or stupid. It's just that a new pastor likely doesn't yet understand them as the locals do.

In response to our request for essays on the subject road, we received many compelling reflections. Here is a selection.

If we're going to adopt business language for the church, we should think less about reaching a certain market and more about the nature of the product.

"Narcissists can be inspiring. Whether they are creative or destructive depends on their philosophy."

The rise of megachurches has created a larger public role for some churches—even as it has signaled the loosening hold of organized religion.

In John's prologue, the incarnate Word is the God of creative address.

People assume that silence and peace can be simply harnessed together, silence as Xanax for the soul. But that's not how deserts work.

Brittany Maynard's story is compelling—but not typical. Basing policy on cases like hers can be dangerous to the people the policy affects.

As a review committee member, I assured foreign delegations that the Dutch model was a good one. That conclusion has become harder to support.

The unrest in Ukraine has led to calls to establish a national church. But which church should play this uniting role?

The biological concept of convergence lends credence to a Christian view of providence—and fits with a scriptural account of a story-shaped world.

KonMari approaches clutter by asking just one question: “Does this item spark joy?” But this isn't always a simple question.

BLM is writing a new chapter in the history of black people's struggle for full equality. What are the implications for churches?

The young people leading this movement have heard enough about Martin Luther King's dream. It is not enough for church leaders to reply that they don't know much history.

Black people can eat at most lunch counters and travel across state lines without being consigned to the back of the bus. But the fundamental right to life continues to be haunted by white supremacy.

White Christians have to decide: will we show up and act for racial transformation, or will we sit idly by? But BLM isn't waiting to see what our verdict will be.

The BLM movement has issued a clarion call to the church, the black church in particular, to affirm a theology of resistance, not respectability. This means reckoning with who Jesus is.

In the civil rights movement, language of political participation was central. BLM activists are making a more profound demand.

Putting up signs is great. Talking about racism together is even better.

Disaster is understandable for black lives—they are antagonists in a narrative of humanity written to serve white supremacy. To say "black lives matter" is to interrupt this story.