The Early Church Grew by Caring for the Sick

Sociologist Rodney Stark has written a brilliant book, The Rise of Christianity, in which he describes how Christianity arose from a small group … ...

Jewish 'Shiva' Practice Helps Loved Ones Grieve

After witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of civil war, oppressive regimes, and natural disasters, Palmer Chichen has observed that the Hebrew ...

Basketball Player Shares His Shoe with a Teammate

In Malawi, practically any shoe is a luxury. Lilongwe, the capital, is maybe the only African city where I have seen grown men walking down the streets ...

Vulnerable Girls in Ethiopia Run to the Church for Safety

While Paul Knight, a pastor from Grand Forks, North Dakota, was visiting Fiche, Ethiopia, he had the chance to meet the little girl his family had been ...

Author Wendell Berry on the Perils of Individualism

Novelist, essayist, and farmer Wendell Berry has a unique image for the perils of individualism. As he was walking with his friend Wes Jackson, they observed ...

How the Church Acts Like a Mother

An early church leader named Cyprian once said, "No one can have God as his Father who does not have the church as his mother." Augustine also ...

We All Need Others to Help Us Succeed

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell tells the strange story of Christopher Langan, a genius with a staggering IQ of 195. (For some perspective, Einstein's ...

Is the Church More Like an Old-Fashioned Hardware Store or a Home Depot?

Pastor Kevin Miller writes:

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings were chore day. Often my dad would say, "C'mon kid," and I'd hop in the ...

Father Responds to His Son's Rant about the Church

At one point in his journey towards Christ, Nathan Foster (the son of author Richard Foster) was living "a ragged attempt at discipleship." ...

Death by Loneliness

God said from the beginning: "It is not good for man to be alone." Data collected from 148 studies, involving more than 300,000 people, conducted ...