Lament, Despair, and Hope
By Rick Barry
Many evangelical Christians confuse lamentation for despair. This confusion can cut us off from one of the most powerful tools in our spiritual arsenal.
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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 Rick Barry
Many evangelical Christians confuse lamentation for despair. This confusion can cut us off from one of the most powerful tools in our spiritual arsenal.
By Rick Barry and Shane Claiborne
Talking with God about how American politics can malform our hearts.
By Rick Barry
Season 6, Episode 6
This week, Nikki talks with Rick Barry, Executive Director of the Center for Christian Civics. Rick helps Christians think about what it looks like for their communities to show up in the public square, and in this episode he helps us to wrap our minds around what civic discipleship looks like and helps break down the variety of ways people understand “politics” today.
By Ron Sider
Season 6, Episode 5
July 27, 2024, will mark two years since Ron Sider, founder and President Emeritus of Christians for Social Action (originally Evangelicals for Social Action), passed away.
By Rick Barry and Lisa Rodriguez-Watson
Fifteen minutes of guided prayer covering a tragic feature of American political life.
By Jasmin Shupper
Season 6, Episode 4
This week, Nikki interviews Jasmin Shupper, the CEO and Founder of the Greenline Housing Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to close the racial wealth and homeownership gaps and reverse the effects of systemic racism in housing by granting access to home ownership for people of color.
By Gabrielle Clowdus
Season 6, Episode 3
This week on 20 Minute Takes, Nikki chats with Dr. Gabrielle Clowdus of Settled, an organization that addresses long-term homelessness through research-based holistic and communal approaches.
By Nishan de Mel
Season 6, Episode 2
This week on 20 Minute Takes, we hear from economist Nishan de Mel. In front of a live audience, Nishan talks about how he and his organization, Verité Research, attempted to tackle corruption in governance in Sri Lanka, as well as what it means to participate in inherently unjust structures with an eye toward truth and transformation.
By Ruth Padilla DeBorst
Season 6, Episode 1
Welcome to Season 6!
In this episode, Nikki talks with Dr. Ruth Padilla DeBorst of the International Fellowship for Mission as Transformation (INFEMIT). They discuss how a global, interdenominational, and intergenerational community like INFEMIT is helping Christians all over the world think about how the church is showing up in their own contexts, as well as the upcoming Stott-Bediako Forum coming up in Medellín, Colombia, this July 15-17.
By Darren Calhoun
Juneteenth and Pride are connected by the pursuit of freedom, justice, and human dignity. Pride Is a protest asserting our right to exist and thrive. Juneteenth is a reminder of delayed justice and the long journey toward liberation.
By Andre Henry
At some point, people who say that they want justice have to be clear about what that actually looks like
By Mark Labberton, Nikki Toyama-Szeto, and Laurel Bunker
In early 2021, CSA Executive Director Nikki Toyama-Szeto and Fuller Theological Seminary president Mark Labberton spoke on the changing state of American evangelicalism. This presentation was part of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ online conference, “Faithful Leadership: Race, Politics & Evangelicalism in America.”
“Evangelicalism is paddling in the shallows … but Jesus invites us into the deep.”
Nikki opens her portion of the presentation with a meditation exercise that offers tremendous calm ahead of a fraught conversation.
We talk with Makoto Fujimura about his art, the Japanese tradition of kintsugi, and the intersection of justice.
By Michael Stalcup
What if, instead,
we had a monstrous steel statue,
a modern-day Molech,
its bloodstained stainless steel
altar rimmed with polished wood,
serviced by priests and acolytes
By Kathy Khang
Editor’s Note: This essay was originally published on September 5, 2016, as This Is My Country and is used by generous permission of the author.
The older man walks up to the closed register next to me and looks at the wretched KFC/Pizza Hut menu at the travel oasis/rest stop near Elkhart, Indiana.
By Alex Haskins
Three nonviolent alternative approaches to navigating conflict in scripture include: “principled pluralism”, “public confrontation”, and “parting ways.” Christians committed to social justice can continue to usher in the kingdom and serve the least of these while nonviolently navigating conflict with coreligionists (and others) who might otherwise impede progress on a range of issues and forms of advocacy.
By Bill White and Brenna Rubio
Dear Pastor Conflicted about LGBTQ+ Inclusion, we have been in your shoes. You’ve started to wonder whether the church – YOUR church – needs to become more inclusive, especially of LGBTQ people, and you feel conflicted. Your heart is torn, your mind is spinning.
CSA is a group of Christian scholar-activists, stirring the imagination for a fuller expression of Christian faithfulness and a more just society.
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