Resisting the Single Story: What Advent Teaches About Power
By Laurie Nichols
Every powerful system has a way of telling its own story.
It tells us who matters, who gets to speak, and who should stay quiet. It rewards certainty and punishes nuance.
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 Laurie Nichols
Every powerful system has a way of telling its own story.
It tells us who matters, who gets to speak, and who should stay quiet. It rewards certainty and punishes nuance.
By Jo Anne Lyon
As one looks at the future it is always beneficial to reflect on the past. For over 2,000 years the church has persevered as the light of Jesus Christ in the world.
By John M. Perkins
The people are getting together and looking at the gospel afresh with a keen awareness of its redemptive purpose. They are drawing this from a holistic perspective
By Eugene Cho
This is a difficult question to answer, because it’s hard to identify a single thing that gives me hope. But my answer to what I’m most hopeful about is also what
By Robyn Afrik
Honestly, when I look at the church today, it’s incredibly hard for me to be hopeful about her. Especially when all the noise points to the fighting, the arguments,
By Willie James Jennings
I see young people who are committed to Jesus and to living the life of faith, concretely in the everyday realities of political and social struggle.
By Brandan Robertson
Recently there has been a lot of talk about how the church is facing its death. Declining attendance, scandals, and culture wars are continually emerging,
By Christine Sine
My hope comes from two places. The first is in established churches like our local St Andrews’ Episcopal church, because it is passionate about issues of
By Kathy Escobar
When I look at the church today, there are a few things that are bringing me hope. The first is that there are more and more women emerging as
By Alexia Salvatierra
Immigrant churches fueled by reverse missionaries from the Global South are often vital and vibrant. Although they may not have a developed theology around justice,
By Phyllis Tickle
In a word, history. A new form of Christian ecclesiology, known today in all its many and varying presentations under the rubric of Emergence Christianity,
By Jon Weece
Our job description as followers of Jesus is to wash dirty feet. At the church where I serve, people see footwashing as a privilege—
By Maria-José Soerens
In 2013 the Senate passed a bipartisan bill for comprehensive immigration reform. However, the bill was stopped in the House when Speaker Boehner refused to bring it up for a vote, despite bipartisan support.
By Grace Sandra
I’m sitting on a double-decker, red-eye Megabus, Nashville bound, nonstop from Chicago. My friend bought me a ticket so I can join her at a retreat she created
By Jon M. Sweeney
I see in the church today a fresh sense of brokenness and uncertainty, a people who remember the hegemony of the past and the power-broking position
By Sarah Bessey
If I am intentional about holding space for the stories of pain and despair and wounding, I am also intentional about holding space for the hope and the victory.
By Jonathan W. Hancock
In 2000, I sat down and calculated how much my wife, Beverly, and I had earned since our marriage in 1986. I found we were approaching a million dollars in earnings, with a shared average annual income of $63,000.