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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By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
(Editor’s Note: What does it mean for a church to be a place of refuge? Throughout Scripture, Jesus consistently restores the dignity of those who have been marginalized, excluded, or harmed, while the earliest Christian communities became known for their radical hospitality and care for the vulnerable.
By John Seel
Over the course of the next few weeks the fate of DACA recipients—the “Dreamers”—hangs in the balance. When interviewed about these developments on the nightly news, Dreamers lament being seen and used as a political football.
By Drick Boyd
Several years ago, I joined a group called NewCORE, which stands for New Conversations on Race and Ethnicity.
By Stephen Mattson
More often than not, what Christians think of as ‘patriotism’ is what God defines as ‘idolatry.’
Jesus once said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
By Nathan Kiehn
In London, England, there is an attraction called the Churchill War Rooms, a museum dedicated to showing viewers the tunnels where Winston Churchill worked during the course of World War II. Not only are these tunnels recreated to showcase what life was like living in such cramped quarters, but the war rooms are also a museum covering the life of Churchill himself.
By Craig Wong
As I write to you, almost a year has passed since a new president was inaugurated in our nation’s capital. A lot has happened since then. It is possible that your political sentiments are changing. Maybe they’ve hardened.
By Megan Staub
I moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina two weeks before a major, evacuation-inducing hurricane and five weeks before last year’s presidential election.
I discovered that there’s nothing like a natural disaster to create camaraderie among strangers.
By Drick Boyd
It was a few days after President Trump had made his statement that there was “blame on all sides” in the confrontations in Charlottesville
By Randy Woodley
In the anxiety of battle between good and evil, sensible compromise and sinful submission to worldly systems confronting me at my fingertips, I often retreat to my front porch swing for solace.
By Ron Sider
I am a very unlikely candidate to speak at this important occasion honoring Dr. King’s historic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” I came to this country from Canada 51 years ago on a student visa to do graduate study.
By John Seel
They received a warning, in fact nine warnings, but they were largely ignored. After the RMS Titanic received the iceberg alert, Captain Edward J. Smith made an incremental change in response, turning to a slightly southern course.
By Drick Boyd
White people, like myself, need to recognize our responsibility to talk with other white people about race, especially in light of current events and the increasing polarization in our nation around issues of race and ethnicity.
By Gregory Coles
A celibate gay Christian speaks of the pain that lies on both sides of the church’s closet door
By Aimee Fritz
The power of social media grows every day. According to Forbes, over 78% of Americans have a social network profile. More than three quarters of our population is doing some sort of image management or cyber-stalking when they’re online.
By Aimee Fritz
If you’re reading this, you’re online. You’ve chosen to spend some of your time (perhaps wisdom acquisition time?) on a website dedicated to social justice. Where will you click next? One of the dozens of links on this page?
By Aimee Fritz
Some people just love buying, collecting, and discussing books. But a recent study by the Pew Research Center shows that 26% of adults in the United States haven’t read a single book, in any format, in a year.
By Aimee Fritz
Our collective response to the August 2017 solar eclipse proves the power nature has to delight, humble, and unite us. When we soak in the transcendent beauty of a star, a planet, a mountain top, an ocean wave, or a newborn baby, we must acknowledge that we didn’t and couldn’t make those things happen.