This Online Articles area (formerly our Library) gathers reflections, op-eds, and essays that engage the pressing questions of faith, justice, and public life. Here, you’ll find hundreds of thoughtful and engaging pieces from scholars, practitioners, and everyday Christians — leaders and writers who bring fresh insight and faithful imagination. These articles are meant to spark deeper discipleship, fuel courageous action, and equip the church to embody the gospel in a complex world. We invite you to explore, learn, and join the ongoing conversation toward a fuller expression of Christian faithfulness and a more just society.
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CSA’s free weekly publication, a carefully curated collection of original articles at the intersection of spiritual formation and social action.
By Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon
(Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of a four-part series exploring Christian faith, theology, and peacemaking in the Holy Land. In this installment, Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon turns from history and biblical interpretation to lived experience, examining how physical barriers, borders, and political structures shape the daily realities of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
By Kristyn Komarnicki
It’s all about building community across deep difference
Earlier this month CSA hosted the first Oriented to Love (OTL) alumni reunion. Based on the feedback we’ve gotten, it will certainly not be our last!
By Stephen Mattson
When Christians choose to further the agenda of a politician at the expense of promoting the Gospel of Jesus, their faith—and their witness—are devalued.
It’s one thing to have personal political beliefs and opinions.
By Lyndsay Mathews
I grew up in a small Texas town with a population of around three thousand people. It has one stoplight. Traffic jams only happen if someone is driving their tractor down Main Street.
By Deidra Riggs
It is true that we are broken. And that makes things messy. But brokenness is only part of the journey. The trap we often fall into is, as Bryan Stevenson puts it, our “comfort level with reducing people to their worst act and acting in very extreme, harsh, punitive ways.” We are not the worst thing we have ever done.
From CSA
Christians for Social Action is thrilled to announce the appointment of Nikki Toyama-Szeto as Executive Director!
Read an introduction to Nikki by CSA board member, Kathy Khang.
Nikki Toyama-Szeto brings over 15 years of nonprofit leadership experience to CSA, having previously served both International Justice Mission and InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, where she worked for many years as the program director for Urbana Missions Conference.
By Kathy Khang
Nikki Toyama-Szeto is the new executive director for Christians for Social Action, an organization serving as a catalyzing agent for Christ’s shalom through projects focused on cultural renewal, holistic ministry, political reflection and action, social justice and reconciliation, and creation care.
From CSA
Two of our talented, justice-loving, and much beloved Sider Scholars are graduating from Palmer Theological Seminary, thus completing their time of service to us here at CSA. We will miss them dearly!
Both Jen Carpenter and Josh Carson are heading out with shiny new MDivs, but they’re no newcomers to ministry.
By Sarah Withrow King
I was raised in a Christian house, accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was a child, and have continued to grow (and stumble, and repent, and rejoice) in faith throughout my life.
By Dr. David S. Apple
Larry isolated himself so much that no one knew his problems, and no one visited with him. This Tenth Church neighbor was addicted to alcohol and other drugs for eighteen years.
By John Seel, Ph.D.
Neuroscientists confirm that our defenses go up when our core beliefs are challenged. With self-awareness, we can lower the resistance and listen more effectively. But our attention to more facts—even with less defensiveness—will not change our frame.
By Erica Watts
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been a victim of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime.
By Sue Gilmore
I worshipped in an evangelical church this morning. Like at hundreds of these windowless megachurches across the nation, the song lyrics came up on the screen. I stood, singing in the dark.
By Kristyn Komarnicki
A lesbian friend of mine shared the new Heineken “Worlds Apart” advertisement with me on Facebook, along with this comment: “WOW. Okay, Church, a beer company is responding like Christ would—what do we do with THAT?
By Bryant Myers
We probably all know that Isaiah is a book about a people whom God decides to exile from the land he gave them, as a punishment for their faithlessness. And we all know that the God of the Bible is a jealous God.
By Bruxy Cavey
“We’ve got to protect our borders.” A man named Hank approached me after a talk about Jesus’ way of peace that I gave at a church in the United States, and this is how he started a conversation.
By Elrena Evans
Last month, a young competitor in the National Scholastic Chess Championship in Putrajaya, Malaysia was pulled from the tournament over an outfit that chess officials deemed “too seductive.”
I haven’t mentioned whether the competitor was a boy or a girl, but I’m guessing I don’t need to.