December 3, 2024

Airport Anxiety and Purposeful Publishing with Joy Allmond

When Joy Allmond was fresh out of college, she struggled to find a professional role in her field. She decided to make the most of her young, single years and…

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Paving the Way For God’s Perfect Plan

A Time for Wonder

New Christmas Music with Just the Right Holiday Vibes

The post CT Women 12.3.24 appeared first on Christianity Today.

THE PROPHETIC VISIONS splintered through Simeon’s mind in a fraction of a second as a teenage girl and young man walked up the temple steps with their child. The images of what had been and would come, contained within this bundle coming to meet him.

War and rumors of war.
Peace and a marriage feast.

A scrap of linen swaddling cloth.
Linen temple drapes torn in half.

The groans of a Jewish girl laboring in a stable.
The tear-stained cheeks of a mother kneeling at a cross.

Each image pointed to the completion of the promise he’d waited for his whole life: a Messiah who would usher in a world turned upside down on itself, a world where the meek were strong and the rich became poor. He might have laughed at the irony of the sight before him. A tiny baby with the strength to snuff out death, and an impoverished couple witnessing the greatest coronation in history. This is the blessing Simeon would give the God-child as his calloused hands held the infant: the blessing of paradox, for he will be the rise and fall of many Israelites.

Luke doesn’t write much about Simeon beyond describing him as a “righteous and devout man” (v. 25). We aren’t given the detailed story of the day Simeon met Jesus, and the gaps leave ripe room for imagining what Simeon experienced during those long-awaited moments. What did it feel like to wait all those years? Was he ever tempted to speed up the process, to look for the Savior another way?

As we peer through Simeon’s ancient eyes, we realize that the promise of Advent is both slow and mysterious. It requires both waiting and wondering. Personally, I’m not very good at slowness. I tend to sprint through Advent with the rest of the world, dutifully ticking away the days on my December calendar; hurry through the mysterious and confusing bits; get to the candlelit “Silent Night” and festive presents. I rush though as if the less I think about the grit of Bethlehem, the more I can enjoy the twinkling lights and Christmas trees and gingerbread houses. My impatience is a way to resist the lingering questions.

But then I remember Simeon. Simeon waited. And waited. Along with many of the other prophets in the Bible, Simeon dwelled in the paradox of Advent for years. Unlike me with my chocolate calendar, Simeon didn’t have the luxury of a countdown or the ease of knowing how the story would end. He just got comfortable with the one thing he knew: God would fulfill what he had promised.

We, like Simeon, are waiting in the afternoon shadows of the in-between between Jesus’ saving work on the cross and the ultimate redemption of his second coming. The scandal of the Christmas story is that it flips our vision of the world upside down and gives us a new way of seeing. In doing so, it demands that we surrender our tendency to rush and to rationalize. How would the Christmas story change for us if we allowed ourselves to be wrapped up in the radical profundity of it all—of a child that causes both “falling and rising” (v.34)? Of divinity intermingled with the gritty, ordinary chaos of humanity? If we paused long enough, what pains, questions, and promises would bubble up to the surface? Advent offers us the gentle invitation to model Simeon’s posture, waiting patiently, pondering, and wondering.

Lily Journey is a non-profit professional, poetry enthusiast, event creative, and writer.

This article is part of A Time for Wonder, a 4-week devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Advent season. Learn more about this special issue that can be used Advent, or any time of year at http://orderct.com/advent.

The post To See a Prophecy Fulfilled appeared first on Christianity Today.

Guest Bio:

Driven by a passion for intentional living, Lily Meschi dedicates herself to serving in ministry for Iran Alive as the director of partner relations. 

By drawing from her personal journey as an Iranian woman, Meschi seeks to provide profound insights into the challenges surrounding women’s rights in Iran. She has become a vocal advocate against practices such as arranged marriages of young women to older men in the Middle East, shedding light on societal norms that perpetuate injustice.

Introduced to Iran Alive Ministries through a satellite TV program, Meschi’s faith journey was further nurtured when she heard the gospel message from an Iranian woman, leading her to pursue education in Bible college to deepen her understanding of Christianity’s teachings and history. Additionally, Meschi has shared her story and insights in various media outlets like CBN News, Today’s Christian Living, The Christian Post, and others.

Notes & Quotes:

• “Growing up, I always knew Jesus was one of the greatest prophets who performed many miracles. I had great honor for him, but he was nothing but a prophet. … When she read to me that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, it was resolved for me. Jesus was God because he was from the beginning, was God, and was with God.”
• “I needed to understand that there’s a loving Father that wants his children to live in complete peace and tranquility with him, partnering with him on this earth. And there’s a purpose for everyone that is definitely not trauma. His purpose and plan for us is not to harm us but to bless us, and to give us a hope and a future.”
• “It all boils down to our intimate walk with our heavenly Father through the Holy Spirit and the work of Jesus Christ—to really become intimate with him and learn about our purpose, our destiny, our assignment. So that on the day when we are taken up to heaven, we can say that I did faithfully what you have and the assignment that you have put before me.”

Links Mentioned:

• FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
• National Domestic Abuse Hotline
• Find out more about Meschi’s work with Iran Alive Ministries.
• Visit the Voices website to sign up for emails. Get new episodes sent straight to your email. 
• Tell us how much you love Where Ya From? by rating us five stars and leaving us a review. 
• Check out Voices from Our Daily Bread Ministries.
• Follow Voices on Instagram.

Verses Mentioned:

• John 1:1
• John 1:14
• John 15:5

The Where Ya From? Podcast is presented by the Voices Collection, a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries, in partnership with Christianity Today.

The post ‘Finding Light in Darkness’ with Lily Meschi appeared first on Christianity Today.

Ephraim Radner (Baker Academic)

Untangling Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know and Why It Matters

Ed Uszynski (InterVarsity Press)

Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times

Elizabeth Oldfield (Brazos Press)

Break, Blow, Burn, and Make: A Writer’s Thoughts on Creation

E. Lily Yu (Worthy Books)

The Blurred Cross: A Writer’s Difficult Journey with God

Richard Bauckham (Baker Academic)

Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships?: Examining 10 Claims about Scripture and Sexuality

Rebecca Mclaughlin (The Good Book Company)

The Pastor as Apologist: Restoring Apologetics to the Local Church

Dayton Hartman and Michael McEwen (B&H)

Christianity Today’s 2024 Book Awards

CT Editors

The post New & Noteworthy 2024 appeared first on Christianity Today.

Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble. They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure. — Job 14:1-2

Every year around Ash Wednesday, a hillside near our home in the mountains of Western North Carolina erupts with the yellow of budding daffodils. These are the first of the spring flowers to bloom, and their golden hue stands in stark contrast to the grays and browns of the surrounding winter.

Brilliant as the blossoms are, they are short-lived. In the days after their arrival, the daffodils are windswept by the harsh mountain cold that always lingers longer than we hope. A late frost or snowfall will inevitably cling to the quivering petals, sometimes cutting their display of beauty short. After a few weeks, the flowers that remain shrivel and brown, eventually falling to the ice-hardened earth, frustrating our optimism that warmer days are near.

It is no wonder that Job—a man whose suffering looms large in the biblical narrative—compared the fragility of his fleeting life to that of a delicate flower. Even though he possessed extraordinary wealth, even though he numbered among the righteous, he was vulnerable. He was upright, prudent, and just as susceptible to calamity as anyone else. His possessions were destroyed by fire and warlords, his children were killed in a natural disaster, and his good health was lost to a painful disease. In the wake of these catastrophes, Job fully realized what is excruciatingly true for all of us: our days are windswept, ephemeral, lived in the aftermath of the fall.

It is easy for privileged Americans to feel a sense of control: Our generation has unprecedented access to food, water, shelter, and medical care. Our ability to make choices around what we’ll do for work, who we’ll marry, which communities we’ll join is historically unprecedented.

Meanwhile, the self-help and wellness industry has infused in us the notion that we can circumvent any uncomfortable feeling or experience. Exhaustion can be mitigated by the right green smoothie recipe or essential oil, chaos can be controlled by the perfect time-management app, sadness can be soothed through mindfulness or meditation, and boredom can be alleviated by a streaming service or social media platform.

Moreover, as Christians, we can believe that solid theology and steadfast commitment to the spiritual disciplines can serve as a bulwark against the buffeting of life. Perhaps Job’s friends assumed the same thing about their righteous companion.

Slowly the lie creeps in: I can control my outcomes. I can avoid suffering.

This illusion of invincibility explains why so many of us feel bewildered—offended even—when hardship inevitably comes. It’s humbling to realize that suffering and death are part of being human, no matter our virtues, vigilance, or privilege. Our lives are less like well-constructed fortresses and more like fleeting flowers. We are all painfully exposed, as vulnerable as those daffodils bursting forth into the brutal cold.

Jesus reminds us of the potentially unsettling reality that God “sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45, NASB). But in the same sermon, Jesus tells us not to worry; to have no fear for what we will eat or drink or wear. “Notice how the lilies of the field grow,” he says (6:28).

The lilies are clothed in beauty by no effort of their own. They “do not labor nor do they spin” because God is the artist who oversees both their flowering and fading. And that same God knows what we need. The humiliation of helplessness can sometimes lead to an unexpected form of rest, a retreat from our efforts to control our outcomes, a respite from our own labors.

I make it my mission to notice how those daffodils grow, to admire their brilliance rather than bemoaning their brevity. Even though the lives of those flowers are brief, they are indeed a beacon of hope—a material reminder that seasons do change, that warmth always arrives, and that glory is possible even in the harshest of environments. God, and only God, makes it so.

There has never been a winter when that hillside has not been resurrected into beauty. Those daffodils feel like a miracle, a foretaste of a greater resurrection to come. And even the weakest of hopes, with God’s caretaking, can blossom into eternal joy.

Amanda Held Opelt is an author, speaker, and songwriter. She writes about faith, grief, and creativity and has published two books.

This article is part of Easter in the Everyday, a devotional to help individuals, small groups, and families journey through the 2024 Lent & Easter season. Learn more about this special issue here!

The post Life as a Fading Flower appeared first on Christianity Today.

But there are plenty of children’s Bibles on the market, and for every wonderful option, another fails to meet this goal. Too many choose moralism over the gospel, standalone heroes’ tales over richly connected narratives, and inaccuracy over truth and care for the original text. The story of God’s love and mercy through the millennia becomes little more than a Christianese-filled Aesop’s Fables.

I’ve long worked in children’s ministry, including leading the children’s ministry at my own church, so I’ve read through and taught from many children’s Bibles over the years. There are Bibles that are a pleasure to read aloud to preschoolers, and there are some that are so simplified (or so convoluted) that story time becomes the worst part of the lesson. For this article, I chose to reread eight of these Bibles, selecting both time-honored bestsellers and promising newcomers:

• The Big Picture Story Bible
• 365 Bible Stories and Prayers
• The Beginner’s Bible
• Precious Moments Storybook Bible
• The Children’s Illustrated Bible
• The Jesus Storybook Bible
• The Biggest Story Bible Storybook
• God With Us: A Journey Home

When re-examining these Bibles, I focused on crucial stories of Creation, Jesus’ birth, and his death and resurrection. I also looked at how each book told the stories of biblical heroes like David and Jonah, and noted which stories the authors chose to include (or exclude). Finally, it was important to me to see how the stories were told, looking at the quality of the writing and illustration.

This research has suggested there are three main ways children’s Bibles tend to go wrong: shallow moralism, narrative fragmentation, and sheer inaccuracy. But there are also ways these children’s Bible authors can get it right, telling the story of the Bible beautifully, accurately, and accessibly.

Here’s what to seek—and avoid—on your quest to add a storybook Bible to your family’s shelf.

Creeping moralism

Moralism in children’s Bibles often happens with the best of intentions—a Bible story seems to have an obvious moral lesson, and children need to learn what is right and what is wrong, so why not use that story to teach kids what they should and shouldn’t do? Many children’s Bibles commonly use the story of Jonah, for instance, to teach children the importance of obeying God.

In The Beginner’s Bible’s retelling of Jonah, there’s a heavy focus on how Jonah and the people of Ninevah disobeyed God and suffered consequences. The story ends with Jonah arriving in Nineveh. “This time, Jonah obeyed God,” the reader is told. “The people in Nineveh were sorry for doing bad things, so God forgave them.”

There’s no mention of the self-righteous anger that consumed Jonah once God spared Nineveh, and there’s little focus on the abundant mercy that God shows both Nineveh and Jonah over and over and over. A story that should be a reflection on the mercy of God and the hypocrisy of our own sin is instead reduced to a watered-down warning: Don’t do bad things.

The impulse to make every Bible story end with a moral lesson is understandable, but the Bible is not a how-to manual. Its climax is not the Ten Commandments but the death and resurrection of Christ. The whole story of Scripture leads up to that moment when the promised Savior comes to deliver his beloved people, and moralizing children’s Bibles severely diminish the power of that story to draw us closer to God and reveal his character.

It isn’t wrong for a retelling to note the consequences of good or bad actions. But to leave it at that is typically to miss the point.

Standalone stories

The point of the story can also be missed when a narrative is presented as a standalone hero’s tale rather than as a piece of the grand redemptive arc of Scripture. This most commonly happens with the classic biblical “superhero” stories like those of David, Samson, or Noah. In children’s Bibles with this failing, they’re presented as fun and exciting. The uglier parts are glossed over, and God’s work is minimized. We lose all sense of how God uses flawed people in a broken world to accomplish his good.

Other times—perhaps in reaction to kids’ Bibles full of standalone stories—we see the opposite problem: A story is lost (or nearly so) in the process of explaining its place in the greater story of the gospel. This happens a few times in The Biggest Story Bible, most notably in the story of Jesus’ birth. The entire narrative between the angel visiting Joseph and the birth of Jesus is condensed into two sentences: “Joseph woke up and did everything the angel told him to do. Mary had a son, and they named him Jesus, which means ‘the Lord saves.’”

Kids Bible Stories Get the Kickstarter Treatment

Seana Scott

The two pages before this are spent describing the prophecies and lineage of Jesus, along with a small section noting how Joseph planned to leave Mary because of her pregnancy. The Scripture foretelling the birth of Jesus is used to paint a wonderful picture of how God keeps his promises through the millennia, something too many children’s Bibles neglect to include. But more theological inclusions like this one come at the expense of the story itself. The Bible is still the greatest story ever told—so the story must be told!

Prioritization of standalone stories also fragments the Bible and leads to crucial parts being left out altogether. Very few of the Bibles I reviewed included the poetry and prophecy of the Old Testament or the Epistles of the New Testament. These biblical books are so important for understanding the character of God and his love for us through the ages—surely children should be given some taste of this feast.

Additionally, perhaps because they are less likely to slot easily into the “superhero” format, stories of women in the Bible were in short supply in the books I reread. Bibles like The Jesus Storybook Bible, God With Us, and The Biggest Story Bible Storybook excluded some or all of the stories of Rachel and Leah, Ruth and Naomi, and Esther.

These narratives were most likely left out for the sake of brevity and simplicity, not because of any ulterior motives. But it’s still vital to show young children how God uses men and women, not mostly men and the occasional woman.

Outright inaccuracy

Most worrisome is inaccuracy in children’s Bibles.

Sometimes, extrabiblical details are added, often with the apparent intent to make a standalone story more interesting or relatable. When describing the creation of Adam and Eve, for instance, The Beginner’s Bible goes out of its way to tell us Adam and Eve were in love. And while this unnecessarily saccharine addition makes it to the page, the idea that Adam and Eve were “very good” images of God is never mentioned. Likewise, 365 Bible Stories and Prayers says the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is covered with “ripe, rosy apples,” though the original account in Genesis never states what type of fruit the tree bore.

The Bible Passes the Bechdel Test. It Also Goes Beyond It.

John Dyer

In other cases, perhaps as part of the effort to pare down and paraphrase, Scripture can be misinterpreted or misattributed. The Beginner’s Bible is again an offender here; it has the angel saying “with God, all things are possible” to Mary as a reference to her own pregnancy rather than to the pregnancy of her cousin Elizabeth .

And inaccuracy doesn’t only appear through the words of children’s Bibles—it also finds its way into illustrations. One of my most frustrating discoveries when reviewing these Bibles was how many of them used Westernized illustrations, depicting various people groups of the Middle East as lily white. The Beginner’s Bible, 365 Bible Stories and Prayers, Precious Moments, and The Big Picture Bible were all guilty of this.

This misrepresentation is a disservice to the historicity of the Bible, and it’s a disservice to the impressionable young children who read these books. It isn’t difficult to depict ancient Middle Eastern people with a correct range of skin colors, and that should be the bare minimum in the illustration of children’s Bibles.

These mistakes are all likely innocent, but they demonstrate a lack of care for the original text of the Bible and the reality of its history. As the Bible is the true, infallible word of God, even retellings for the hearts and minds of little children require the highest regard for truth.

Jesus Was a Brown Baby

Dorena Williamson

A few storybook Bible favorites

These problems are widespread in the children’s Bible market, but there are also some truly great options available. The three standout picks from my review—The Jesus Storybook Bible, The Biggest Story Bible,and God With Us—each tell the story of the Bible beautifully and accurately, making it accessible and engaging for little minds without weakening the redemptive narrative that runs through Scripture’s pages.

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones has become a modern classic for a reason. It has easy-to-understand prose that moves even the hearts of adult readers. (In fact, being pleasurable for readers of all ages is a commonality among all three of these favorites. As C. S. Lewis was inclined to say, “a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story.”)

The Jesus Storybook Bible does an excellent job of drawing the reader into each of its Bible stories, but it also concludes every tale with a gesture toward the larger narrative, and it does so in a way that feels neither forced nor tangential. The Jesus Storybook Bible’s greatest weakness is its length. Each story is told carefully, with most running at least six pages long. That means that this Bible has fewer stories than other children’s Bibles do, which is likely why stories like Ruth and Esther are left out.

Similarly, The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung does an excellent job of weaving the truth of the gospel into each page, and Don Clark’s colorfully abstract illustrations bring a unique addition to a well-worn genre. It’s a recent addition to the shelves, as it was only published in 2022.

The Biggest Story Bible contains a good deal of basic theology within its pages. It reminds readers of God’s sovereignty amid the crucifixion story, for example, and points readers toward God’s glory in the creation story. This also leads to the largest weakness of this book, however, which is that it sometimes focuses too much on teaching theology and too little on telling a story. Some parts feel less like stories and more like sermonettes. Despite this, it’s still a great children’s Bible pick for older kids or kids who are already familiar with the basic narrative of many Bible stories.

Beyond Narnia, Ramona, and Green Gables

J. D. Peabody

Lastly, another newer children’s Bible pick is God With Us: A Journey Home by Jeremy Pierre. God With Us tells the story of the Bible from the perspective of two unnamed angels who open each chapter and provide narration throughout the book. This narrative device ensures that none of the stories feel standalone or without context, as the angels constantly remind the readers of God’s character, his promises, and his love.

The unique storytelling in God With Us is matched by Cassandra Clark’s stunning illustrations—she uses watercolor and pen (along with inspiration from medieval illuminated Bibles) to lushly depict life in the time of the Bible. The book’s weakness, however, is the same as that of The Jesus Storybook Bible: its length. Each chapter is around 10 pages long, and the book only has 30 chapters, focusing mostly on the larger arc of the biblical narrative rather than delving into details. It too is missing several classic stories, again including Ruth and Esther.

The weaknesses of each of these excellent children’s Bibles demonstrates a truth we must remember about all of them: Storybook Bibles are no substitute for the Bible itself.

They can be wonderful tools for helping kids get to know God’s Word, but adults must use them alongside the actual Bible—giving fuller context and meaning and telling children the stories, poetry, and wisdom left out of their storybook versions. God’s Word is for everyone, and he speaks through his text to each of us, even the littlest ones. So choose a children’s Bible that tells the story of the Bible well, but don’t forget to read the “grown-up” Bible to your children too.

Rabekah Henderson is a writer covering faith, architecture, and the built world around us. She lives in Raleigh, NC, and has been featured in Mere Orthodoxy, Common Good, and Dwell.

O Tread and See that the Lord Is Good

Rabekah Henderson

There’s No One Equation for Educating Christian Kids

Gretchen Ronnevik

The post The Quest for a Good Children’s Bible appeared first on Christianity Today.

When my alarm buzzes on the morning of an especially busy day, I often respond with a strange lack of urgency. A low rumble of dread builds as I ponder all the chores, errands, or work tasks that need completing. But instead of resolving to get up and get cracking, I linger in bed, nearly paralyzed by the weight of responsibility. I know what I need to do, but for some reason I can’t summon the willpower to do it.

Something similar plays out in the lives of many Christians, according to Uche Anizor, a professor at Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology. They know they’re supposed to love God, study Scripture, and pursue a life of holiness, but they can’t escape the clutches of spiritual indifference. In Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care, Anizor appeals to lukewarm believers, not with an accusing glare or a motivational speaker’s bullhorn, but with the compassion of someone who has fought this battle himself.

It’s a worthy choice for CT’s Book of the Year. Across the board, the judges who read and evaluated it commended Anizor for putting his finger on a problem that routinely flies under the radar, even as it sinks so many of God’s people into a spiritual quagmire.

Like Overcoming Apathy, all of our Book Awards winners have the capacity to awaken slumbering souls, whether they ring out with theological wisdom, literary beauty, pastoral warmth, or everyday encouragement. Don’t sleep on any of them. —Matt Reynolds, CT books editor

Apologetics & Evangelism

The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality

Glen Scrivener | The Good Book Company

The Air We Breathe is a book for this moment. Western society increasingly seeks to break free from its Christian moorings, yet at the same time it holds in high regard such values as equality, freedom, science, and compassion. Scrivener shows that these values (and more) are in fact thoroughly Christian. They appear self-evident to our 21st-century thinking, but they were certainly not the norm in the ancient world. Scrivener writes in an engaging and powerfully persuasive way, connecting with key cultural reference points from the past and present and combining apologetic arguments with compelling appeals to believers and seekers alike. His book is honest, eloquent, and at times shocking, but all in the interest of getting to the heart of the matter. —Sharon Dirckx, freelance speaker, author, and adjunct lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics

Award of Merit

Is God a Vindictive Bully?: Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments

Paul Copan | Baker Academic

Many Christians struggle to understand how a loving God could command some of the things he commands, and this book is the best single volume on the subject. Its scope is amazing. Most of us are familiar with what Copan calls “critics from without,” namely those, like Richard Dawkins, who argue that the God revealed in the Old Testament is evil. Copan forcefully answers their charges. But the real challenge today comes from “critics from within,” those who want to “unhitch” the Old Testament from the New, or worse, who wonder if the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New. Copan addresses questions about polygamy, “divine smitings,” foreign slaves, the Canaanite conquest, and much, much more. His work is well argued, discerning, and refreshing. —Clay Jones, chairman of the board of Ratio Christi

Finalists

Why Believe?: A Reasoned Approach to Christianity

Neil Shenvi | Crossway

Logic and the Way of Jesus: Thinking Critically and Christianly

Travis Dickinson | B&H

Biblical Studies

The Gospel and the Gospels: Christian Proclamation and Early Jesus Books

Simon Gathercole | Eerdmans

People are surprised when they first hear there are other gospels besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Why are these not in our Bibles? Various arguments have been proposed. One of the top New Testament scholars in the world, Simon Gathercole, brings all canonical and noncanonical gospels together and argues that the four canonical gospels share key theological elements that differentiate them: Jesus’ messiahship, his death, his resurrection, and his fulfillment of the Old Testament. While this book is geared toward scholars, it is an important argument for differentiating the canonical gospels from all the others. —Patrick Schreiner, associate professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Award of Merit

The Book of Jeremiah

John Goldingay | Eerdmans

While it is difficult to get excited about a Bible commentary these days, Goldingay’s volume is a treasure trove of explorations into the text, traditions, and theology of the Book of Jeremiah. As a modern commentary, this volume interacts with an enormous amount of recent research and reveals Goldingay’s years of Old Testament scholarship. Without a doubt, The Book of Jeremiah will be a new standard reference for all researching and teaching the message of the Weeping Prophet. —William R. Osborne, associate professor of biblical and theological studies at College of the Ozarks

Finalists

The Samaritan Woman’s Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo

Caryn A. Reeder | IVP Academic

The Gospel of John: A Theological Commentary

David F. Ford | Baker Academic

Bible & Devotional

Heaven and Nature Sing: 25 Advent Reflections to Bring Joy to the World

Hannah Anderson | B&H

Written with creative eloquence, this book invites readers to pause and reflect on the hope, faith, joy, and love communicated through the coming of our Savior. Anderson uses ordinary, everyday moments as a lens through which to gain insight into parts of the Advent story we often overlook. While each devotional runs only a few pages, all are full of wisdom. In a time when Christmas tends to be tainted by commercialism, Heaven and Nature Sing is a breath of fresh air. —Elizabeth Woodson, author and Bible teacher

Award of Merit

Literarily: How Understanding Bible Genres Transforms Bible Study

Kristie Anyabwile | Moody

Gaining tools to understand the Bible can feel like getting your prescription glasses updated: Things you didn’t realize you were missing suddenly emerge to your joy. That’s what happens when one uses the strategies Anyabwile recommends in this book. Her accessible writing is a helpful starting point for understanding the various forms of writing we find in the Scriptures, and her warm and passionate tone reminds us that our goal is not just knowledge, but transformation under the Word. —Taylor Turkington, author and director of BibleEquipping

Finalists

Scribes and Scripture: The Amazing Story of How We Got the Bible

John D. Meade and Peter J. Gurry | Crossway

Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms

Ryan Whitaker Smith and Dan Wilt | Brazos Press

Children

A World of Praise

Deborah Lock | Eerdmans

There’s beauty in this book, not only in its captivating pictures, but in its affection for the places and people that span God’s world. It makes us marvel at the earthly home God has created for us and long for the day Jesus returns to make it all flawlessly, sparklingly his. This book has a song-like quality. It’s a carol to the Lord of all the earth. Read it alongside a psalm that sings of how the world bursts with the Creator’s glory. Or read it alongside the prophets, who gaze at distant lands with the good news that the Savior is coming to restore all beauty and be the delight of all nations. —Jack Klumpenhower, author of Show Them Jesus: Teaching the Gospel to Kids

Award of Merit

How to Fight Racism Young Reader’s Edition: A Guide to Standing Up for Racial Justice

Jemar Tisby | Zonderkidz

How to Fight Racism gives a challenging overview of the history of racism in the US, opening the eyes of young people to the inequalities and segregation existing today. With practical advice and inspiring stories, Tisby empowers children to engage with the reality of racism and change things for the future. It’s great to see a book encouraging young people to seek out relationships across racial divides, armed with the humility of Christ’s example and the truth that all people are made in God’s image. —Steph Williams, children’s writer, illustrator, and graphic designer

Finalists

Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week

Mitali Perkins | WaterBrook

Fly High: Understanding Grief with God’s Help

Michelle Medlock Adams and Janet K. Johnson | End Game Press

Young Adults

Who Am I and Why Do I Matter?

Chris Morphew | The Good Book Company

In the latest installment in his Big Questions series, Morphew asks—and answers—what are perhaps the primary questions adolescents wrestle with: Who am I? Why do I matter? Relatable and accessible, the book never talks down to its young readers. Rather, their concerns are taken seriously, whether fitting in with friends, grappling with social media, or simply wondering if they can be themselves without social repercussions. Morphew takes readers back to Scripture, offering examples from the Bible and plenty of reminders that we are made in God’s image, that we have worth based on that simple fact, and that we are called to follow Christ. Even better, he offers the hope of the gospel, so that past mistakes don’t define current self-worth or the future. —Betsy Farquhar, managing editor and staff writer at Redeemed Reader

Award of Merit

The Dragon and the Stone (The Dream Keeper Saga, Book 1)

Kathryn Butler | Crossway

With nods to Narnia and The Neverending Story, Butler has crafted a portal fantasy adventure with charm and wisdom for middle-grade readers. After encountering a dragon slurping chili in her kitchen one afternoon, main character Lily McKinley is led by the creature into the Realm, a new dimension where dreams live and the nightmarish Shrouds threaten at every turn. It’s a timeless formula, and Butler captures the high-stakes quest with a confident knowledge of her own world, as well as humor and a truly engaging voice. —Glenn McCarty, author of the Tumbleweed Thompson series

Finalists

You’re the Worst Person in the World: Why It’s the Best News Ever that You Don’t Have It Together, You Aren’t Enough, and You Can’t Fix It on Your Own

Scarlet Hiltibidal | B&H

Your New Playlist: The Student’s Guide to Tapping into the Superpower of Mindset

Jon Acuff | Baker

Christian Living & Spiritual Formation

Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care

Uche Anizor | Crossway

One of the more surprising temptations I’ve experienced in recent years isn’t toward overt or egregious sin, but toward numb inaction. In a postpandemic world where politics are polarized and the news cycle constantly yells, “Fire!”, many followers of Christ are too overwhelmed to care. We’re paralyzed and unsure how to hold all the sorrows in our hearts. Anizor graciously meets Christians in their apathy, helping readers discover the origin of their own numbness and offering gospel-rooted reasons for renewed passion. He challenges us to love deeper, with a Christlike affection that throws off apathy and propels us to action. —Emily Jensen, cofounder and content director of Risen Motherhood

(Read CT’s interview with Uche Anizor.)

Award of Merit

Jesus and Gender: Living as Sisters and Brothers in Christ

Elyse Fitzpatrick and Eric Schumacher | Lexham Press

Jesus and Gender is an incredibly timely book. There is much debate in evangelical circles surrounding the roles of men and women in the church, with complementarianism and egalitarianism the two common categories. But Fitzpatrick and Schumacher tackle the subject with fresh language, calling us to be “Christic” men and women who seek to “cooperate together for [God’s] glory” rather than “compete for glory amongst themselves.” —Vance Pitman, president of Send Network and founding pastor of Hope Church Las Vegas

(Read CT’s review of Jesus and Gender.)

Finalists

Good and Beautiful and Kind: Becoming Whole in a Fractured World

Rich Villodas | WaterBrook

(Read an excerpt from Good and Beautiful and Kind.)

How to Inhabit Time: Understanding the Past, Facing the Future, Living Faithfully Now

James K. A. Smith | Brazos Press

Church & Pastoral Leadership

The Flourishing Pastor: Recovering the Lost Art of Shepherd Leadership

Tom Nelson | InterVarsity Press

Without attempting to be novel or imposing unreasonable expectations, Nelson sets out to recover what he considers the lost art, among pastors, of shepherd leadership. Refreshingly, he doesn’t come off as superior or the lone expert in the field. He admits mistakes in his personal walk, ministry habits, and pastoral labors. I found plenty of pastoral encouragement, practices to ponder, and workable habits for shepherd leadership. —Phil Newton, director of pastoral care and mentoring for the Pillar Network

Award of Merit (TIE)

The Pastor’s Bookshelf: Why Reading Matters for Ministry

Austin Carty | Eerdmans

As a lifelong reader, I’ve seen the value and richness that come from reading widely and deeply. A pastor whose mind and heart are formed by deep engagement with books can understand and communicate capital-T truth more clearly, creatively, and insightfully. By giving pastors permission to include reading as part of their regular schedules, Carty offers the gift of slowing down to think deeply and the opportunity for timeless spiritual themes to take root in their hearts. This is a recipe for greater wisdom, empathy, and love—qualities that in turn benefit the people God has called them to shepherd. —Kelley Mathews, author and editor

Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters

Bob Smietana | Worthy

Smietana helps church leaders face the sobering reality of the religious landscape in which they serve. Drawing on statistics and real-life stories, he demonstrates the waning influence of organized religion in many people’s lives. Alongside pictures of churches in decline, however, he shows us churches that have turned the corner toward growth and relevance in their communities. And he reminds us of the positive contributions churches make in American life and the negative impact our culture will experience as they decline or cease to exist. —Michael Duduit, dean of Clamp Divinity School and executive editor of Preaching magazine

Finalist

On Earth as in Heaven: Theopolis Fundamentals

Peter J. Leithart | Lexham

Culture & the Arts

Christian Poetry in America Since 1940: An Anthology

Edited by Micah Mattix and Sally Thomas | Iron Pen

I was very impressed with this anthology, which has a detailed and thoughtful introduction, helpful introductions to each poet, a few well-placed and appropriate footnotes, and amazingly good poems: challenging, diverse, and unsentimental. There is a great balance between famous and lesser-known poets, denominational backgrounds, and formal and free-verse poetry. A colleague of mine, who teaches on Christianity and literature, told me he has never encountered a resource like this and that he would find it very useful for his class. —Eleanor Nickel, English professor and program director at Fresno Pacific University

Award of Merit

The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints

Jessica Hooten Wilson | Brazos Press

Wilson deftly plows the fertile field of literature, wonder, and the Christian mind. The book reads as both journal and love letter to her own past and her passion for literature. Her chapters brim with wonderment and awe, and I enjoyed the feeling of longing to read the books she celebrates. In the hands of another author, this book could have felt academic and stuffy. But Wilson’s prose is elegant and clear while retaining the warmth of a voice inviting you to come sit by the fire and listen to a story. —John Hendrix, illustrator and children’s author

(Read an excerpt from The Scandal of Holiness.)

Finalists

A Supreme Love: The Music of Jazz and the Hope of the Gospel

William Edgar | IVP Academic

(Read CT’s review of A Supreme Love.)

Reading Black Books: How African American Literature Can Make Our Faith More Whole and Just

Claude Atcho | Brazos Press

(Read CT’s interview with Claude Atcho.)

Fiction

Count the Nights by Stars

Michelle Shocklee | Tyndale

In this dual-timeline novel, Shocklee tackles challenging topics like immigration, discrimination, and human trafficking with grace and hope, and her vivid use of historical detail adds intrigue to the story. Her writing is smooth and engaging, and I found myself pulled into the storylines of both time periods, which rarely happens with books of this sort. The way this book opens hearts and minds to the trauma experienced by victims of human trafficking is truly commendable. —Christina Suzann Nelson, author of What Happens Next , Shaped by the Waves , and other novels

Award of Merit

The Book of Susan

Melanie Hutsell | Paraclete

My reaction to this book might be biased by the fact that I watched the wife of a close friend endure the anguish of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder after the birth of their first child, an experience that shattered their marriage. The Book of Susan stirred memories of that time, reminding me how vital it is to embrace compassion and tenderness toward those suffering the ravages of this illness. Hutsell’s writing is raw, real, and beautiful. While taking us inside a journey few can truly understand, she guides readers into the reality that all of us are flawed, bruised, and broken. Within that admission, there is hope and the chance for healing. —James L. Rubart, novelist and professional marketer

Finalists

Absolute Music

Jonathan Geltner | Slant

The Baxters

Karen Kingsbury | Atria Books

History & Biography

An Odd Cross to Bear: A Biography of Ruth Bell Graham

Anne Blue Wills | Eerdmans

This is historical biography at its finest. Wills has a profound empathy for Ruth Graham, born of meticulous research and the insights of gifted scholarship. Graham was a critic of second-wave feminism, and yet, as Wills shows, she also “devised her own ethic of Christian womanhood, characterized by ‘adjusting’ to” her famous evangelist husband. This concept of “adjustment” becomes a central thread of the book, not only clarifying how Graham negotiated her own womanhood but also illuminating the complex relationship between evangelical womanhood and feminism. Both moving and captivating, An Odd Cross to Bear will be the standard work on Ruth Graham in her own right, as well as essential reading for anyone wishing to better understand Billy Graham, Ruth Graham, and their movement. —Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, associate professor of history and Western civilization at Australian Catholic University

Award of Merit

Denmark Vesey’s Bible: The Thwarted Revolt That Put Slavery and Scripture on Trial

Jeremy Schipper | Princeton University Press

Schipper’s book offers a concise but comprehensive look at how the Bible was litigated by enslaved people and white slaveholders before, during, and after Denmark Vesey’s planned 19th-century slave rebellion. It was common, in early American history, for debates on morality and criminality to involve dueling interpretations of Scripture, and Schipper illustrates how biblical language was co-opted by whites not only to strengthen slavery in the abstract but also to aid white legal responses to Vesey and his coconspirators. —Miles Smith IV, assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College

(Read CT’s review of Denmark Vesey’s Bible.)

Finalists

A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship: Understanding the Ideas That Reshaped the Protestant Church

Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong | Baker Academic

Cotton Mather’s Spanish Lessons: A Story of Language, Race, and Belonging in the Early Americas

Kirsten Silva Gruesz | Harvard University Press

Marriage & Family

Teach Your Children Well: A Step-by-Step Guide for Family Discipleship

Sarah Cowan Johnson | InterVarsity Press

No parents can guarantee their children will walk in faithfulness to Christ. Our children’s eternal souls are first and foremost in the hands of God. But God, in his sovereign design, has not only given parents children, but given children parents. Johnson encourages and challenges parents with the call to be the primary disciplers of their children. She offers practical help supported by experience, research, and Scripture alike. —Curtis Solomon, assistant professor of biblical counseling at Boyce College

Award of Merit

Habits of the Household: Practicing the Story of God in Everyday Family Rhythms

Justin Whitmel Earley | Zondervan

There is no shortage of parenting books on the market, but Earley manages to break through the noise and offer a timely (and timeless) appeal to the power of liturgy within the home. The household rhythms and practices he advocates are neither onerous nor ridiculous, but simple ways for parents to lovingly disciple their children through the power of habit. Earley’s humor and honest vulnerability shine through, and the reader has a sense of getting to know his lovely family on each page. I’ll be returning to this book with joy for many seasons. —Jonathan Holmes, founder and executive director of Fieldstone Counseling

Finalists

It Takes More Than Love: A Christian Guide to Navigating the Complexities of Cross-Cultural Adoption

Brittany Salmon | Moody

The Race-Wise Family: Ten Postures to Becoming Households of Healing and Hope

Helen Lee and Michelle Ami Reyes | WaterBrook

Missions & Global Church

No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions

Matt Rhodes | Crossway

This volume provides a thorough appraisal of methods in American missionary circles that have gained massive popularity because they promise a vast harvest of new converts in the shortest possible time, with minimal effort or preparation from the missionaries themselves. For Rhodes, the appeal of these “silver-bullet” formulas reflects a “distaste for professionalism” and the abandonment of the painstaking training associated with earlier Western missionary heroes like William Carey and Adoniram Judson. His assessment is careful but devastating. He weighs in on erroneous obsessions with statistics, disparagement of traditional missionary methods, false or misleading representations of success, and distorted (or defective) biblical understandings of mission work. Most of the book, however, is devoted to making an energetic case for the missionary vocation as a profession, with the Pauline phrase “ambassadors for Christ” as a centerpiece. —Jehu J. Hanciles, director of the World Christianity program at Candler School of Theology and author of Migration and the Making of Global Christianity

Award of Merit

Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church

Edited by Hannah Nation and Simon Liu | Lexham

The Chinese church has long been a model of how to chi ku (eat bitterness) while still walking faithfully with God. This book affirms that in the face of persistent persecution and suffering, the Chinese church, broadly speaking, continues to forge ahead in spreading the gospel throughout China and beyond. The personal reflections gathered here will humble readers and, hopefully, expand their understanding of the global church. There is much to learn from the Chinese church, and Faith in the Wilderness offers a good place to start. —Jamie Sanchez, associate professor of intercultural studies at Biola University

(Read an excerpt from Faith in the Wilderness.)

Finalists

The Realities of Money and Missions: Global Challenges and Case Studies

Edited by Jonathan J. Bonk, Michael G. DiStefano, J. Nelson Jennings, Jinbong Kim, and Jae Hoon Lee | William Carey Publishing

Virtuous Persuasion: A Theology of Christian Mission

Michael Niebauer | Lexham

Politics & Public Life

Beyond Racial Division: A Unifying Alternative to Colorblindness and Antiracism

George Yancey | InterVarsity Press

Yancey proposes a compelling alternative to our current racial stalemate that—dare I say it?—actually gives me hope. Instead of touting colorblindness or antiracism, Yancey asks us to consider how we approach this issue instead of focusing on a desired outcome. Attempts to thread the needle between two extremes so often get the worst of both or simply fail spectacularly. They call it the mushy middle for a reason. But Yancey is not mushy. On the contrary, he writes clearly and persuasively, and he advances an argument that is internally coherent and backed by social science. Finally, Yancey writes movingly about his own experiences, demonstrating that he, like all of us, has much to learn. —James E. Bruce, professor of philosophy at John Brown University

(Read CT’s review of Beyond Racial Division.)

Award of Merit

Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community

Bonnie Kristian | Brazos Press

There is a discernment crisis in pulpits and pews across the nation: We have lost the ability to name truth. In a climate where conspiracy theories and half-truths abound, Kristian writes with piercing insight into the epistemological crisis facing the church and the broader society. She examines the issues that have brought us to this state of affairs and offers wise counsel for navigating our current media and information envi- ronment. —Kathryn Freeman, writer, speaker, and cohost of the podcast Melanated Faith

(Read CT’s review of Untrustworthy.)

Finalists

What Are Christians For?: Life Together at the End of the World

Jake Meador | InterVarsity Press

(Read CT’s review of What Are Christians For?.)

Uncommon Unity: Wisdom for the Church in an Age of Division

Richard Lints | Lexham

(Read CT’s review of Uncommon Unity.)

—

Theology (popular)

You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News

Kelly M. Kapic | Brazos Press

Some theology books offer in-depth treatments of a particular doctrine. Others seek to serve as guides for studying theology. You’re Only Human might seem much more practical than either of these, since it calls us to accept the limitations of being human as good gifts from God. But Kapic manages to convey incredible depth of doctrinal insight and teaching for such a supposedly “practical” book. From the nature of the Incarnation and the proper understanding of Mary to our union with Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, Kapic covers enormous theological ground with detail and nuance, all while keeping the discussion alive and intimately connected to our own lives. Each chapter could be a book in itself. —Emily G. Wenneborg, Pascal Study Center director and assistant professor at Urbana Theological Seminary

(Read CT’s interview with Kelly Kapic.)

Award of Merit

The Thrill of Orthodoxy: Rediscovering the Adventure of Christian Faith

Trevin Wax | InterVarsity Press

This book presents a well-written, accessible, and winsome apologetic for recapturing and embracing the orthodox and historic Christian faith in the modern world. The church desperately needs to read and heed books like this. I plan on using this book in the context of my local congregation. Superb! —Anthony Selvaggio, senior pastor of Rochester Christian Reformed Church

(Read CT’s review of The Thrill of Orthodoxy.)

Finalists

Fruitful Theology: How the Life of the Mind Leads to the Life of the Soul

Ronni Kurtz | B&H

Reading Theology Wisely: A Practical Introduction

Kent Eilers | Eerdmans

Theology (academic)

Jesus and the God of Classical Theism: Biblical Christology in Light of the Doctrine of God

Steven J. Duby | Baker Academic

In this erudite and substantial volume, Duby examines New Testament Christology and how it relates to the doctrines of so-called classical theism. It is an important work, especially at a moment in evangelical theology, and in Christian theology more broadly, when contemporary theologians are rediscovering and reappraising the rich resources of the Christian past. Duby interacts with a wide range of sources: ancient philosophers, church fathers, medieval doctors, Reformers, and post-Reformation scholastics, as well as modern theologians and biblical exegetes. But most impressive is Duby’s deep engagement with the text of Scripture itself, which he treats with exegetical care and theological earnestness. —Luke Stamps, professor of biblical and theological studies at Oklahoma Baptist University

Award of Merit

Trinitarian Dogmatics: Exploring the Grammar of the Christian Doctrine of God

D. Glenn Butner Jr. | Baker Academic

This book helpfully lays out the landscape of Trinitarian dogmatics. Butner does a fine job at presenting the major issues and carefully defining the edges of orthodoxy from the vantage points of Scripture, history, and philosophy. He is refreshingly reserved, too, on many difficult issues on which orthodox theologians have historically differed. In that sense, while Butner is clear, persuasive, and convictional, he is also modest in his aims. I predict this book will become standard in the classroom for a long time. The truly curious reader will not walk away empty-handed. —Samuel G. Parkison, assistant professor of theological studies at Gulf Theological Seminary in the United Arab Emirates

(Read CT’s review of Trinitarian Dogmatics.)

Finalists

Justification by the Word: Restoring Sola Fida

Jack D. Kilcrease | Lexham Press

God in Eternity and Time: A New Case for Human Freedom

Robert E. Picirilli | B&H

Book of the Year

Overcoming Apathy: Gospel Hope for Those Who Struggle to Care

Uche Anizor | Crossway

“Meh” may be the spirit of the age in which we live, but it is more than mere indifference—it is a spiritual sickness that infects believers, churches, and cultures alike. Even if we feel like our lives are unending episodes of Seinfeld, that famous “show about nothing,” Anizor calls us from our spiritual slumber to wake up and care again. —Douglas Estes, associate professor of biblical studies and practical theology at Tabor College

Overcoming Apathy addresses an issue that feels quite prevalent in the American church, even if we hardly talk about it. Anizor succeeds in taking a vague, somewhat hard-to-define issue and turning it into a readable, immensely practical book. The real problem, as he observes, is not that believers care too little but that we care about the wrong things, while often showing indifference toward God and matters of the Spirit. I plan on recommending this book to fellow church members. It was refreshing and convicting. —Andrea Burke, women’s ministry director and host of the Good Enough podcast

(Read an excerpt from Overcoming Apathy.)

The post Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards appeared first on Christianity Today.

The crowds were a spillover from an emergency legal clinic held earlier that week in partnership with Catholic Charities. They were there to get help for their family members trapped in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

Every day for weeks, Afghans have showed up at the Hope Center, a ministry of local nonprofit, Building Hope in the City. They’re placed on a waiting list to be assigned a pro bono lawyer to help them file immigration paperwork for up to three family members back home.

“I think we’ve met most of the Afghan people in Cleveland,” said Wilson, who directs the nonprofit.

A founding member of the Refugee Services Collaborative of Greater Cleveland, Building Hope in the City is the only evangelical organization in Ohio providing specialized services for refugees, including a full-time attorney on staff, after World Relief Akron shut down in 2019.

Within four days, it was able to exceed its fundraising goal and collect over $66,000 from donors, enough to file applications for over a hundred family members under the provisions of a designated immigration status called humanitarian parole.

With 18,000 Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applications already backlogged and the lengthy timeline of the traditional refugee route, parolee status—once rarely used—is now being encouraged by the government as a stopgap legal measure to get as many Afghans into and through the immigration pipeline as quickly as possible, once their application is approved.

The parole application is a 30-page document, written in complex language with legal nuances only an immigration lawyer can navigate, and costs $575 per person to file. So if a father were filing for his wife and three children to join him in the States, he would have to come up with $2,300, which could triple after the legal fees of hiring an attorney at an hourly rate.

But in just over a week, Building Hope in the City collected over $100,000, including donations from nearly a hundred first-time donors. Most of the money went to filing applications, and the rest has been set aside to help with the costs of resettling them once they get approved to arrive in the Cleveland area.

“As a combination of an immigration, school, and community center, we are uniquely situated by God,” Wilson said. “And we are more fluid because we’re not government funded. We are funded by individuals, organizations, and churches—so we are funded to be able to move quickly if we need to.”

Wilson says they are still filing parole applications, and while none have been approved yet, they were told the government would fully process them within an estimated 90–120 days. The administration announced Wednesday which states would take in a share of the first 37,000 arrivals.

More arrivals, quicker processing

The Hope Center in Cleveland is one of many organizations all over the United States rallying evangelical support for incoming Afghan refugees, as Christians across the ideological spectrum have united in prayer, fundraising, and programming to help.

World Relief, an evangelical resettlement organization that began serving refugees in the wake of the Vietnam War, has seen an unprecedented level of support from local church partners and community members.

In light of the Afghan refugee crisis, the organization gained 3,000 new donors between August 7 and September 7, a 1,500 percent increase over the same period last year.

While the uptick in funding is a good start, World Relief is still far short of what will be needed to resettle its share of incoming Afghans. Of over 50,000 Afghans expected to be received in the next 90 days, the ministry will oversee 7,000–10,000 resettlements, most of whom are parolees.

“We’re anticipating resettling roughly as many individuals in the next three months as in the past three years combined, with a capacity that’s been significantly reduced during the previous presidential administration, and with ongoing uncertainty about how much governmental support the 7,000–10,000 Afghans being paroled into the US will qualify for,” said Matthew Soerens, US director of church mobilization for World Relief.

Up to 20,000 of the incoming Afghans may also be SIVs, which is a special status for those who have worked with the US military. They got stuck in the pipeline during the Taliban takeover, unable to activate their SIV status before the US embassy closed or to locate the military member they worked for to sign their paperwork in time. The number of Afghans who will apply for refugee status and wait to be screened later in United Nations camps abroad is yet to be seen.

Parolees are essentially coming in under similar legal provisions for residence in the US as SIVs and refugees, but they are being approved to arrive at a much quicker pace.

“We don’t have a year and a half to three years for them to be processed,” said Soerens, “So the goal here would be to get them to the United States and to safety as soon as they have cleared the security vetting process.”

Parolee status is a temporary solution to getting people into the country and does not offer a path to permanent residency or citizenship like the others. Parolees also do not get the same federal funding allocated as the government provides for refugees and SIVs, but resettlement agencies are hoping the State Department will begin to offer similar levels of support through their recently established Afghan Placement and Assistance (APA) program.

“This is an opportunity, as we're anticipating 70,000 Afghans to come to the United States, over 50,000 without that SIV status,” World Relief’s Karen Spencer said last week at the Care for Refugees workshop, which outlined how local churches can help welcome and resettle their new Afghan neighbors. “No one knows how we're going to provide services for those 50,000—whether they are resettled through World Relief or another resettlement agency—so churches need to rise up.”

Right now, World Relief is promising a $100,000 matching opportunity for new members of their monthly giving community, The Path, as a way to encourage recent followers to sustain their support for Afghans.

Church partners

World Relief and Send Relief, the compassion ministry arm of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), cohosted the workshop event that kicked off a new partnership between the two organizations. Nearly 500 leaders and laypeople registered to attend, most of them tuning in online.

Those in person met near Send Relief’s headquarters in the small city of Clarkston, Georgia, designated for refugee resettlement since the ’70s and dubbed “the most diverse square mile in North America.”

In the past month, 240 local churches have expressed interest in partnering with their efforts to resettle Afghans, and more than 3,500 people have applied to serve as volunteers.

The Chicago-area World Relief office has processed over a thousand new volunteer inquiries. At least 350 indicated they would like to become a “Friendship Partner”—which involves the high level of commitment in walking alongside an individual for the first several months after they arrive in the country. The Durham office had 946 new volunteers fill out applications, with another 223 waiting for follow-up.

Let the Afghan Refugees Come Unto Me

Russell Moore

Over 200 leaders participated in a National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) webinar on the refugee crisis. The NAE has met with members of Congress and White House staff to help bring more Afghan families to safety after the military’s August 31 deadline for withdrawal.

“The NAE is continuing to push for stronger diplomatic and humanitarian efforts to protect and resettle our allies who were left behind,” said Galen Carey, VP of the organization.

The speed and volume at which these parolees are being processed, compared with the years it would take for SIVs and refugees, has caused concern for some who question whether it is enough time to properly vet them.

“Once people have been evacuated, and they’re in this—what they call lily pads, or third countries—they are doing those same security checks,” said Elizabeth Neumann—the former assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention at the US Department of Homeland Security—during the NAE webinar. “They’re collecting biometrics, they’re collecting their biographics, and they’re running them against all of the US government’s holdings, or derogatory information. And if there is a hit, they’re putting those individuals into secondary and they’re getting processed accordingly.

“I was so pleased that in the process of redesigning the system, that corners weren’t cut,” she said. “I’m glad that they were able to accomplish that in a very short period of time.”

The speedy process still presents several challenges on the resettlement front, mainly finding places for them to live during an already tight housing market. Many Afghans requested cities with well-established Afghan communities and their own family members: Sacramento and Modesto, California; Washington, DC; Seattle; and the Dallas–Fort Worth metro areas.

“About one in nine Afghans in the United States lives in the Sacramento area,” said Soerens. So far, more than half of the 400 SIVs World Relief has welcomed since the beginning of August have been resettled there. State Department projections show California will take in more Afghan arrivals than any other state.

For incoming families who are unable to stay with their family and friends, World Relief is partnering with Airbnb to provide free temporary housing.

The initial 90-day window focuses on the basics: finding housing and employment, applying for a social security card, enrolling children in a local school, said Kerry Ham, the local director for World Relief Sacramento. Then, they can work their way up the hierarchy of needs to establish deeper levels of integration in their communities.

Trauma and mental health needs

One of World Relief’s focuses is on dealing with the trauma incoming Afghans will face upon their escape from Afghanistan and entrance to America. Because of these accelerated immigration processes, their experiences in their home country will be much fresher than for Afghans resettled in previous years.

“I can tell you there is a significant amount of mental health needs. The refugee process is born out of trauma always,” Ham said. But for Afghans “this is very acute, and it's a lot of people at one time”—so “much of the funding we’re looking at for the next year is developing those pathways to help have thriving, integrated, brand-new Americans.”

World Relief Sacramento has enlisted Afghan counselors from the community to come alongside newly arrived Afghan individuals in the process. Many evacuees suffer from survivor’s guilt in leaving behind loved ones who are now facing the risk of being targeted and killed by the Taliban.

The primary factor when it comes to dealing with mental health issues is being aware of and sensitive to the religious background of Afghans, who are coming from a country that is over 99 percent Muslim.

“The vast majority of Afghans have never been around a Christian, have never been in a Christian home,” said Ham. “But that brings a great opportunity.”

“We have a biblical calling to welcome the stranger—and there are no qualifications or caveats on that,” he said. “The refugee program is something I believe the United States can be very proud of the 40-plus year history of doing just that—regardless of ethnicity, regardless of faith.”

Ham’s staff recently sent out an Amazon Wishlist link for people to order supplies for the newly resettled Afghans, and his office receives an average of 80 boxes a day, piling up higher than the door. World Relief offices in Chicago, Durham, and other places are also reporting fully stocked warehouses and higher levels of engagement across every single metric.

“We look to live out our values and the example and teachings of Jesus—to be able to live out that biblical calling—and so I'm happy that we are still doing that,” Ham says. “Seeing the welcoming nature of churches has been very heartening.”

Advocacy in Canada and the UK

The US is not the only nation where Christians are leading the welcome effort for Afghans.

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau promised to resettle 20,000 Afghans in the wake of the crisis. As in the US, many of Canada’s resettlement organizations are faith-based.

The country also has a sponsorship program where private citizens, often churches and ministries, commit to support a refugee or family for a year. “This has been a great opportunity for churches to respond to those in need of refuge. And they did,” said Anita Levesque, with the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).

Journey Home Community, an evangelical resettlement agency operating in the Vancouver area, has begun by advocating to reunite members of the Afghan community with family members trapped in Afghanistan.

“Some of these are named on permanent residence applications in some stage of processing, so we decided to respond by advocating for these families—bringing names and file numbers to the attention of members of Parliament and hopefully to Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada,” the government department overseeing immigration, said Brad Kinnie, director of Journey Home.

“In this unique time, we feel a responsibility to our friends,” Kinnie says. “God loves us and loves the Afghan community and people. And it has been a privilege to walk alongside our community in this way.”

Across the pond, a network of evangelical organizations in the United Kingdom is also mobilizing to equip local churches to welcome a wave of its newest neighbors—including Afghan Welcome, a coalition formed in partnership with Welcome Churches.

“I received a last-minute call from the UK Home Office asking for emergency help supporting Afghan refugees,” said Afghan Welcome’s director Krish Kandiah. “A few emails later, and 35 church leaders—in exactly the right towns—came out to assist Afghan families evacuated into hotels near their churches. Due to a political communication breakdown, the families had received very little support until the churches showed up.”

The joint venture includes an Emergency Afghan Fund to cover the cost of services and support to meet practical needs and help them adjust into a new community. The initiative began with a focus on mothers and children under five, collecting 33,000 donates of baby supplies. It’s transitioning to helping with education, employment, and social integration.

“Our team has had the privilege of traveling around the country, visiting newly arrived Afghans who served alongside British troops in Afghanistan as interpreters, mechanics, and embassy staff,” said Welcome Church’s joint CEO Emily Holden. “We have been connecting them with local churches who are ready to welcome them.”

Since the situation in Afghanistan unfolded, Holden says they have seen a huge increase in the number of local churches who have signed up to be a part of their network.

“We have over 600 churches signed up to welcome refugees and asylum seekers arriving in the UK, including Afghans,” Holden says. “This isn’t about one organization responding to the needs on our doorstep; it is about God’s church coming together to fulfill our calling to ‘welcome the stranger.’”

As Kandiah said, “The Christian response to Afghan refugees has reminded me how much I love the church”—living up to its potential as “an incredible force for good in the world.”

Was Afghanistan Worthwhile or Wasted? Christians Lament, Pray, and Learn as Taliban Retakes Control

Morgan Lee

Dari TV Host: Afghanistan Will Now See ‘Pure Christianity’

Jayson Casper

The post The Afghan Immigration Crisis Is Bigger, Faster, More Traumatic. Are Ministries Ready? appeared first on Christianity Today.

While that particular Sunday was unusual for most churches due to the outbreak of COVID-19, it also reflected an already-evolving reality of how the story of God now gets told in the world: through streaming services and online content.

Preachers must sort out where their words fit in as more people spend time online, a context already inundated with words and images. Questions abound: How does the art of preaching change in a world in which people are scrolling for truth on social media? When people are now used to offering feedback on everything from their Uber ride to their latest e-book, where does that impulse belong in a church environment? If many congregants are now conditioned to pay attention to online videos for just two minutes, will they really watch the same screen for a 40-minute sermon?

But amid these questions are profound spiritual opportunities. People are hungry and thirsty for good words. They are consuming them in new ways, inviting them into their cars and coffee breaks. Online preaching expands the reach of churches, removing geographical—and maybe even emotional—limits to church attendance. This is a moment for pastors to find new answers and to reimagine the work of preaching.

Use Specific and Detailed Language

As the potential listening audience gets wider and more churches upload their content, the language of the preacher actually needs to get narrower and more specific rather than more general. For example, when we use words like we or you or them in a sermon, we have to describe whom we’re addressing: What are their pains and strengths? What defines the community we’re trying to build, especially if it isn’t proximity to a building? Preaching online requires us to call out what actually defines the community of faith, whether it is a faithful life in a particular neighborhood or the righteous presence of the church throughout the whole world.

These questions can help us better connect with the lives of the people we hope hear the story of God’s redemption through us. A few years ago, I intentionally made a shift from writing sermons in an office to writing them in coffee shops. The change in venue helped me put my words through new filters: Is this true for our whole city? How could I communicate this to the student drinking a latte next to me? Or to the woman sitting in the corner?

Preaching online also requires us to use clearer language about our beliefs, particularly for listeners who have little familiarity with church. When I train other preachers, I advise them to decide early on how they are going to talk about Christianity’s core ideas. For example, what are their words for the life and death and life again of Jesus? Do they know how to talk about sin to someone who didn’t grow up in the same world as they did?

Establish Your Voice

I’ve found that online preaching has similarities with guest preaching: Just as we need to let a new room know who we are, we need to be intentional about letting an online audience know who we are. When I go into new environments to preach, I notice that I have to establish my voice more quickly. Similarly, online, I have to be purposeful and strategic about establishing my voice. For example, as someone who tells dry jokes that people sometimes mistake for serious statements, I know I need to offer more cues—like being very purposeful about vocal inflections and facial expressions—when I preach online.

Connect Through Stories

In a local church context, a congregation naturally comes to know the personality and the character of the preacher. In addition to establishing our voice, we can work to build essential connection and rapport by telling stories that help online viewers get to know us and grow to trust us.

Whether they are personal stories or Scripture’s narratives, the best stories often rest on particular details that open our imaginations and connect better to our own worlds. When we craft online sermons, we can describe exactly what the Good News looks like in the homes, businesses, and intersections of our community. Consider Jesus’ example: He pointed to a particular field and called out the lilies to help the world see a universal truth about anxiety. He told detailed stories about a lost coin in a house and lost sons in a family.

Attend to the Listeners’ Context

Perhaps the most exciting reorientation that online preaching requires is for preachers to reimagine their listeners receiving the sermon in their context. The online sermon enters right into the space where listeners live. As we preach about the power of forgiveness, they may be sitting in the kitchen where they just had a fight with their spouse or in the break room right before a heated meeting. They may be driving by the neighborhoods, parks, stores, and restaurants where they could carry hope. They are listening in the very spaces where they need these words to come to life.

Online preaching can intentionally draw listeners’ attention to God’s presence in their context. For example, in a recent online sermon, I invited everyone to pause and pay attention to what they sensed around them—to thank God for what they saw, heard, smelled, tasted, touched. We praised the God who shows up in every room.

Initiate Interaction

Online preaching is an invitation for us as preachers to reform our understanding of ourselves. There are dangers in this context, to be sure. For example, the temptation for comparison is strong as we evaluate metrics such as viewing data or the number of likes a sermon received. The potential for discouragement looms if we open ourselves up to the gauntlet of comments sections.

But for all the dangers of ego, there are also opportunities for growth. Online preaching provides the opportunity for us to make the sermon less preacher-focused and more interactive, such as by inviting people to post questions or answers or to press pause for conversation with others. The shift invites us to help listeners see and articulate where the Spirit of God might be working in and around them.

God Gave You a Specific Congregation. Preach to Them.

Aaron and Michelle Reyes

The Word in Their World

Psalm 107 describes how different groups of Israelites arrive at the temple. Some wander through the desert, some travel through storms at sea, and some make their way out of prison or sickbeds. But they all cry out to God and wait for God’s response. When they reach the sacred space, the psalm reframes their world. Rather than inviting them to set their journey aside now that they have arrived, the psalm gives them the right words to celebrate the specific ways God rescues them.

Our best preaching should do nothing less, whether it’s to a crowded sanctuary or through an internet connection: We call out how and where God is working. The online sermon allows us to tell a full and rich story of how the Spirit of God moves as listeners receive the Word in their everyday context. And while we may not know exactly who’s listening, or when or where, God does. And God is there.

Laura Buffington is the online community pastor for SouthBrook Christian Church near Dayton, Ohio. She holds a doctor of ministry degree from Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan College in Tennessee.

The post How to Preach When You Don’t Know Who’s Listening appeared first on Christianity Today.

This morning NASA launched a new mission to Mars with a launch period. It has me thinking about our place in the world, our place among the worlds, and our neighbors in space.

The Mars 2020 mission will place a new rover on the surface of Mars by Feb. 18, 2021, if all goes according to plan. This mission takes the next step in searching for life and preparing for human space travel. The car-sized rover, named Perseverance, will resemble Curiosity, the rover that landed on Mars in 2012 and still remains active. It will have a whole new suite of instruments, however, and will land in an exciting new location: near the Jezero Crater, on the edge of Isidis Basin, which contains the remains of an ancient river delta. It will collect and package samples that can be returned to Earth by a future mission.

I believe that God calls us to explore space, to see what God has made, to share our love and wisdom, and to care for creation. But we cannot go alone. We travel with a host of other creatures—the animals, plants, and even bacteria that live with us daily and keep us alive. God calls them as well, and we cannot understand our call until we understand theirs. Questions about the journey, where and when and how we go, involve other species. We cannot go alone, technically or morally. We take others with us. And that requires understanding our interdependence.

Planetary Protection

The exploration of Mars pushes us to the very limits of our technology as we attempt to discover new life, while keeping it separate from Earth life. NASA has detailed protocols for return samples, making sure that alien organisms, no matter how improbable, could not escape to harass us or our environment. NASA has already brought back samples from the Moon (Apollo 11–17, 1969–1972), solar wind (Genesis, 2004) and comet Wild 2 (Stardust, 2006), as have Soviet missions (Luna 16, 20, and 24, 1970–1976). The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) returned samples of asteroid Itokawa (Hayabusa, 2016). Both agencies have plans for future missions.

Lisa Pratt, a specialist in extreme biology, has the odd title of planetary protection officer (PPO). She certifies sample-return missions, making sure they meet national and international standards for safety. She ensures that scientists think through the details of contamination, plan properly, and install redundant safety measures. Mars sample return will get extra scrutiny because Mars has a better chance of harboring life than the Moon, comets, or asteroids. The principle remains the same: protect Earth from alien life.

Pratt has another responsibility. She protects Mars from Earth life. What if we “found” life on another planet only to discover we had brought it with us? Or, what if we destroyed the locals before we knew they existed? It would be a horrible lost opportunity. We would lose out scientifically, unable to study a new kind of life. We would lose out relationally, never knowing our neighbor. Space scientists care deeply about Mars and about learning all we can there.

Planetary protection involves protocols for sterilizing spacecraft before they leave Earth. Each of us walks around in a cloud of microbes, countless tiny organisms living around, on, and in us. These symbiotes live by the billions on every surface we touch. Like good neighbors, they rarely bother us. Often, they help us by digesting our food, keeping us healthy, and protecting us from other organisms. But what is good for us may not be good for Mars. Space engineers construct special clean rooms, where air and surfaces have been sterilized. They use heat, chemicals, and radiation to scrub away as much biology as they can while assembling spacecraft. They seal them in shells then launch those shells through the atmosphere to burn away any life that remains.

The PPO does not make these decisions alone. Planetary Protection was first established by the Outer Space Treaty in 1967. An international committee of scientists designs and reviews the policies that Pratt implements.

Even with all this caution, thousands of extreme organisms can survive the process. Adapted to survive decades of drought and famine on Earth, they can harden their surfaces and slow their metabolism, waiting for a warm, damp environment in which to grow. Even these organisms are unlikely to survive the cold, dry, radiation of space. And yet, just to be sure, we keep Earth robots away from Martian locales where liquid water may still flow. Ironically, we cannot search for life in the most promising places, places where we might destroy it.

Most space scientists agree that protecting Mars will become far more difficult, perhaps impossible, with a human mission. Millions of miles of void separate us from Mars. Our ingenuity is starting to bridge the gap, but we cannot neglect the ingenuity of our microbes. Bacteria have colonized Earth from the upper atmosphere to the deep subsurface. It seems inevitable that microbes will accompany us to Mars along with any plants and animals we bring intentionally.

Planetary Expansion

The exploration of Mars pushes us to the edges of our theology as well. It brings us face to face with God’s command in Genesis 1:28 (NRSV): “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.” The first time I read this in the context of space exploration, I thought, “Excellent. Mission accomplished.” Humans have been fruitful and multiplied; we have filled the Earth. We are nearing eight billion people worldwide, 800 times as many as in the time of Jesus, much less Moses or Adam and Eve. Hardly a species has not been changed by our presence. We have domesticated many plants and animals, exiling countless more to nature reserves. We have changed the chemistry of sea and air so much that creatures in the farthest, deepest, widest wild have had to change their way of life. Truly, we cover the face of the Earth. Truly we have subdued it.

And then, a thought occurred to me. Are earth and Earth really the same? For most of Christian history, earth referred to the dirt below our feet, the land we inhabit, and the extent of humanity. It did not become a planet until the 16th century, when Copernicus named it one of the wandering stars. Earth became a proper noun. Which earth was God talking about? Shall we fill the heavens, with dominion over every rock in space, every patch of dirt? Or have we already achieved our goal?

On the fifth day, God made the creatures of sea and sky. God commanded them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” (Gen. 1:22) Is our earth their earth? Perhaps they were meant to fill the waters above as well as the waters below. The two commands come only six verses apart. Should they not be interpreted the same way? Job reminds us that God has plans for many species; and not all of them relate to humanity.

Neighbors in Space

For me, space ethics is love of neighbor writ large. It seems abstract, though it becomes more concrete as we explore the solar system. It also provides context for decisions we make daily about other species on Earth. They are not just scenery, but fellow actors—if not equals then wards. The stage is surprisingly small, and the parts intertwine.

Some have argued that we should stay home for precisely this reason. In “Religion and Rocketry,” C. S. Lewis argued against space travel. We know we are fallen; why would we bring our fallenness to the stars? More recently, Christian and secular ethicists alike have urged us to wait, asking us to put our own house in order before heading out. Margaret McLean emphasizes our ecological responsibilities here on earth, while Lucianne Walkowicz highlights social responsibilities. De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Gabrielle Cornish explore the ways that nationalism, colonialism, and race shape our hopes for life in space. I share their caution, but I also have hope for the journey.

I believe in self-reflection and contemplation and changing myself before trying to change others. But I also know that I cannot make the change on my own. I need to help others, and I need others to help me. This applies to me personally, to my family, my nation, and even to the planet Earth. God calls us to seek and serve the other, even the alien other. And God calls us not just as individuals, but as members of a larger body. So, I think there is something to be said for space travel. Our wanderlust must be balanced by stewardship, but it will never go away. There is a “come and see” beyond our atmosphere, and we will not know what we went out to see until we see it. It may be alien life. It may only be a new appreciation for the life we bring with us.

Travelling Companions

Space science provides insights here as well. Since the Apollo missions, NASA has researched environmental control and life support systems—creating bubbles of Earth life beyond the Earth. On long-term missions, such as a human mission to Mars, it is impossible to imagine bringing enough food, air, and water for the journey. It would have too much mass to launch into space. It would take up too much volume in the spacecraft. That means we need to bring other organisms with us: bacteria, plants, and animals. Abiological systems have proven less efficient at recycling waste and maintaining the environment. Early work focused on plants like yams and lotus flowers to clean the air and water as well as provide calories for astronauts. Later researchers began to consider the role of insects and fish. More recently, we have learned to appreciate the efficiency and flexibility of bacteria. In addition to caring for our bodily symbionts, we can grow colonies that turn carbon dioxide and waste into clean air, clean water, and edible food.

Every pilgrimage reveals something about home. Thinking about systems in space helps us understand similar systems on Earth, how we depend on other species, and how they depend on us. It shows us that we are part of a larger whole and that God has a plan for all of it. Space travel reminds us of God’s care for the lily and the sparrow. It brings us face to face with a plan for salvation that does not end at humanity. Our final destination will be reached in community, one species among many amid worlds without end.

Lucas Mix studies the intersection of biology, philosophy, and theology. A writer, speaker, professor, and Episcopalian priest, he has affiliations at Harvard, the Ronin Institute, and the Society of Ordained Scientists. He is currently project coordinator at Equipping Christian Leadership in an Age of Science, supporting churches and Christian leaders using the best of science and theology. He blogs on faith, science, and popular culture.

The post Mars Mission: Filling the Earth and Beyond appeared first on Christianity Today.