Christgiving
Missions
What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Heaven
This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here. When I heard that Wendell Berry had died, my mind flashed back to his kitchen table on a hot Kentucky evening about 15 years ago, where I was as nerve-racked as I have ever been. Since no writer in my lifetim...
The King Who Dies for Rebels
Why would God give rebels a king? John Piper shows from 1 Samuel 12 how God used Israel’s sin to prepare the way for Christ.Watch Now
Does Joy in God Touch All of Life?
I was wet concrete, drying quickly. It was 2017. My wife and I had just spent a year in New Zealand doing ministry with Calvary Chapel Bible Institute. As we left the Kiwis, our minds turned with wonderful memories (we visited all the filming locations for The Lord of the Rings) ...
New training in Ethiopia reawakens old fires for Christ
Ethiopia (MNN)—In May, Set Free Global hosted their first training in Ethiopia. The results have been transformational for the pastors and leaders who attended, according to Alemneh Belachew of Campus Crusade for Christ. "Those people, living in fear and with no confidence in the...
Understanding Revelation: Who Are the 144,000?
The identity of the 144,000 is hotly debated within the church. Even outside evangelicalism, this group's identity takes on great significance. Jehovah’s Witnesses, for example, argue that the 144,000 is a literal number and that “144,000 people will be resurrected to heavenly li...
Died: Wendell Berry, Kentucky Poet and Novelist Who Loved God's Creation
When Wendell Berry’s despair woke him in the night, he would go and lie down in the “peace of wild things,” he wrote. He’d find a wading duck, a feeding heron, and a stream of rushing water and “rest in the grace” of creation. To counter the world’s troubles, he engaged the earth...
Video: How to Retire Like a Christian
The post Video: How to Retire Like a Christian appeared first on Christianity Today.
Would the World Be Any Different Without Shakespeare?
Scientist and historian Jared Diamond shares several nuggets of wisdom in his new book Profits, Prophets, Coaches, and Kings: (When) Do Leaders Matter? For instance, he writes at one point, “It’s important for leaders other than dictators to be skilled at leading group discussion...
1 Corinthians 1:26–31, Part 1: Why Do Christians Come into Being from Nothing?
Did God choose us for our connections, influence, or intelligence? No, God saves in a way that abolishes all human boasting.Watch Now
The Ball Boy Who Evangelized LeBron
Saturday was approaching. The Los Angeles Lakers were coming to town. And Jordan Bach could see an opportunity. Basketball superstar LeBron James was due to warm up beside him on the Moda Center court. Bach, 21, was no stranger to larger-than-life athletes as a team attendant for...
The Work of Their Hands
Greek philosophers conceived of the divine as philosophical abstraction: a cosmic principle that held together the fabric of the universe. In the poetic imagination of Hebrew writers, however, the divine was also irrepressibly, exuberantly tactile. This God got his hands dirty: H...
His Patients Call Him ‘Mr. Fix-It-All’
“I am not your run-of-the-mill chiropractor,” says Michael Berglund, sipping black coffee from a mug almost the size of his head. The 63-year-old Wisconsin native sits relaxed in his spare office, feet up on an adjustment table, dressed head to toe in green scrubs. Cracking necks...
May Your House Lack No Coffee Nor Peace
Can you change the world by drinking your coffee black? Maurice and Renata Henderson, self-proclaimed coffee nerds, think so. For this husband-and-wife duo, the sensory properties of the drink offer a complexity that’s worth your full attention. The fragrance of the toasted berri...
The Architect Who Answers to a Higher Blueprint
She stands in a half-built apartment. Her head is protected with safety gear, her sleeves rolled up, her hands covered in fine white dust. Sunlight pours through a tiny window, forming geometric patterns on the unfinished walls. She examines the cracks. The paint. She considers t...
Intrigue, Insinuate, Ignore
When historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez announced her next book in 2020, I was enthusiastic. It would follow her enormously successful Jesus and John Wayne, but this time, she said, Du Mez was writing “for the girls.” I hadn’t read John Wayne then, but its sales—and its subtitle’s pr...
Sister, Bring Your Sexual Sin to Light
I sobbed alone in my dorm room, devastated from yet another night of watching pornography. My growing curiosity about the worldliness around me during my first few months of college—combined with persistent loneliness and bitterness, painful family dynamics, and a creative-writin...
Embrace Your Humanity by Digging in the Dirt
This year, I’m gardening. When I close my laptop, leave my phone behind, and pour water into terra-cotta pots, I slow down enough to remember who God made me to be, despite living in a digital era. Most technology is rushing toward immortality in an effort to save time, trying to...
I Blocked My Search Engine So I Could Wait on God
For the past two years, I’ve blocked my iPhone’s access to Safari for the entire month of February. What started as a Digital Rest initiative on my university’s campus, an attempt to encourage students to cut back on time-wasting apps and screen time, has become a yearly rhythm f...
Economic crisis pushes Iranian families toward hard choices and deeper questions
Iran (MNN) — Renewed strikes between the United States and Iran last weekend may overshadow the sanctions campaign the U.S. launched last week. That campaign, called Operation Economic Outcast, is meant to "sever economic lifelines" for the Iranian regime, according to the U.S. D...
The Righteous One Who Saves
What kind of king saves the guilty? John Piper opens Genesis 49:8–10 to show that the Lion of Judah bears the guilt of his people.Watch Now
When Walking Away Feels Good
Why should we follow Jesus when life seems easier without him? Pastor John responds to a man questioning the cost of daily obedience.Listen Now
New Research: How Do Men Choose to Choose Life?
Blake sat on the bed, a king-size mattress. His pregnant fiancée sat next to him, angry. Blake—I’m using pseudonyms in this article to protect privacy—wanted the baby. She wanted an abortion. Their budget was tight. She already had a kid, making him a soon-to-be stepfather. For B...
Moscow Bans Bibles, Christian Resources from Mission Eurasia
Russian pastor Andre Furmanov was at home organizing his office space last May when his lawyer contacted him with a warning: Review the church library for any materials connected to Mission Eurasia or be prepared to face legal consequences. His church administrator immediately we...
AI and Everyday: What Are Some Practical Frameworks for Christians?
How should churches use AI without letting it reshape what the church is? That question drives this episode with Michael Graham and Keith Plummer. Michael is program director for The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, and Keith is dean of the School of Divinity at Cairn Univ...
What to Expect When Your Church Finally Gets a Building
Like many church plants, we started mobile. We found a local school that would have us. We purchased folding chairs and racks, totes and carts, a modular baptistry, and, of course, a trailer. Off we went, loading in and out of the school each Sunday. Mobile mornings sure start ea...
Sudan conflict puts Christian aid workers at risk as violence escalates
Sudan (MNN) — Serving in a war zone has cost a Christian relief worker in Sudan five months of captivity as of this week to a rebel group. Sudan is currently embroiled in a three-year civil war, but the stories of the current opponents in the conflict reach further back. South Su...
Christians risk their lives to bring the Gospel to unreached Somali communities in Kenya
Kenya (MNN) — Christianity is fairly normal in most parts of Kenya, but in the Northeast, Gospel workers risk their lives for the unreached. Patrick Anthony with FMI says that while it is not uncommon to hear worship music blaring from small sanctuaries in central Kenya, Christia...
The Church That Fights for Life
Pro-life activists around the US celebrated when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. After almost half a century of federally sanctioned abortions, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization seemed like a massive victory, finally promising to honor the unborn as i...
1 Corinthians 1:18–25, Part 5: Links in the Chain from Cross to Corinth
Paul builds his case for unity in the Corinthian church by piling seven arguments on top of one another. How do those arguments fit together?Watch Now
Your Favorite Gift Will Fail You
When crisis hits, where do you run? The first time trouble comes, many of us go straight to God. We echo King Jehoshaphat: “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (2 Chronicles 20:12). Whether we encounter sickness, a relational conflict, or a dry spiritual season, G...
Moses Models Family Worship for Tired Parents
Deuteronomy 34 presents us with a picture of Moses as a tired parent. He has just preached his heart out to God’s children. It’s the end of a long day, and a long life and ministry. The Lord takes him up on Mount Nebo and shows him the promised land that he spent his days prepari...