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.
Subscribe to the CSA Newsletter
CSA’s free weekly publication, a carefully curated collection of original articles at the intersection of spiritual formation and social action.
Last month, I took my 14-year-old daughter to Miami Beach for a girls’ getaway. We had never taken a vacation just the two of us, and she has always loved palm trees, beaches, and pastel architecture.
Last month, I took my 14-year-old daughter to Miami Beach for a girls’ getaway. We had never taken a vacation just the two of us, and she has always loved palm trees, beaches, and pastel architecture.
By Nia Campinha-Bacote
Embracing the Both-And
During my time at divinity school, I interned as a hospital chaplain. I worked at a Level I trauma center, meaning many of the patients who came into our emergency room had severe and often life-threatening injuries.
By CSA Staff
What does it mean to stay long enough to see resurrection? For more than three decades, the Rev. Dr. Reginald Smith has lived that question in Roosevelt Park, a predominantly Latino neighborhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
By Melanie Springer Mock
The exposé landed on Facebook in mid-February 2022, a long screed calling me an anti-Christian pathological liar who deserved to be fired from my faculty job at a Quaker university, primarily because I led students away from Christ.
By Scott Bessenecker
I had a dream that I was eating at an outdoor café in Mexico City. I watched a man going from table to table, presumably asking for handouts. He had a young girl with him.
By Halley Kim
My doula clientʼs baby was born dead, and within minutes, my doula client was dead, too.
As her body went into shock while the staff was focused on her newborn, I saw her become anxious, then panicked, then disoriented, then vacant.
By Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon
This past year, I transferred my ordination in Word and Sacrament from the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), where I had been ordained since 2008, to the Reformed Church in America (RCA).
By AnaYelsi Velasco Sánchez
(Editor’s Note: We often measure progress by who has gained access to power, influence, or opportunity. Representation matters, and history reminds us that those victories should never be minimized. But the Christian story invites us to ask an even deeper question: What if justice is not only about who has a seat at the table, but about reimagining the table itself?
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
(Editor’s Note: Throughout this series, we’ve explored what people carry with them into church, how Scripture and church history envision communities of refuge, and why justice is essential to building trust and belonging.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
(Editor’s Note: Churches are often evaluated not only by how they treat the people sitting in their pews, but by how they respond to those who are most vulnerable. Throughout Scripture, God’s concern for the oppressed, the marginalized, and the stranger is woven into the story of redemption, reminding us that justice is not separate from the church’s witness but central to it.
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 Terence Lester, PhD, and Emiola Oriola Jr., EdD
“If you scared, go to church. You knew the job was dangerous when you took it.” [1]
Ice Cube did not write those words as theology.
By Liz Cooledge Jenkins
(Editor’s Note: Every person who walks into a church carries a story. Some come seeking community. Others arrive bearing invisible wounds from spiritual abuse, exclusion, grief, injustice, or other painful experiences that have left them wondering whether the church is truly a place of refuge.
By Steven Félix-Jäger
Every 4th of July, my family follows the same ritual. As evening settles in, we carry blankets into the backyard and wait for the sky to turn dark. From our home, we have a clear view of downtown Pomona’s (CA) annual fireworks display just beyond the wall that borders our yard.
By Andre Henry
(Editor’s Note: Racism is one of the most painful and misunderstood realities shaping both society and the church today. Many Christians want to engage these conversations faithfully but feel uncertain about where to begin, how to think biblically about race and justice, or how the church itself has contributed to racial harm throughout history.
By Andre Henry
(Editor’s Note: Racism is one of the most painful and misunderstood realities shaping both society and the church today. Many Christians want to engage these conversations faithfully but feel uncertain about where to begin, how to think biblically about race and justice, or how the church itself has contributed to racial harm throughout history.