Gratitude is powerful medicine. It is like oxygen for the soul. We don’t thrive without it. We are hard-wired to say "thank you". Psychologists now confirm what scripture has always taught: grateful people are happier, healthier and more hopeful. In contexts of rising conflict, gratitude is a healthier way forward. Ask the Holy Spirit to form that fruit in you for your benefit and those around you.
As the shock-wave from the shut down of most US Aid initiatives continues to impact real lives, the global Church has been given an opportunity to reinvent approaches to well-being that don't replicate bloated bureauracies or irresponsible charity. True justice must begin with lament and proceed with mutuality. Here's how we can move forward in a post-aid era.
After a miraculous healing and turning to Jesus, an Indian family has faced persistent persecution. Recently it became so fierce they were forced to flee. Nevertheless, a powerful witness to faith in Christ remains in their village that we pray will one day bear much fruit. Here is their first-hand story.
As the ceasefire and exchange of people signals relief in Gaza and Israel, those who live and serve in the Holy Land know how fragile this peace can be and how difficult it will be to rebuild livelihoods. Hope of lasting peace will only be found when all people living in the land are able to live freely and are treated with dignity. In the meantime, followers of Jesus in the land remain faithful, trusting not in geopolitics but in the Prince of Peace.
Evangelicals yearn to see crowds entering God's Kingdom and this is legitimately happening in some parts of the world, commonly known as people movements. By removing some persistent barriers, it is possible to see the Church reactivated as a movement, even as it already is in some of the most hostile of contexts. This opinion links to a statement that encourages the Church worldwide to reactivate itself to once again see crowds coming to Christ.
The rise of politicians from America to Russia claiming to champion Christian values and peace yet preaching hatred and division is polarizing families, churches, and communities even far beyond their own countries. Something like this has happened before. Will we Christians learn from recent European history and seek first Christ's kingdom or continue to ride the slippery slope to human totalitarianism in our contexts?
As new Christians (especially if you're non-Western) we are too often taught that our ethnic identity should be ignored or even suppressed in favor of a spiritual identity. Our teachers ignore the fact that Evangelical Christianity is heavily interpreted through a Western lens. Non-Westerners will flourish in Christ if they are encouraged to embrace the redeemed benefits of their unique ethnicity, because that is part of them being a gift from God as a blessing to the Church and the world.
Five years ago, on August 4, 2020 one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history rocked Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. Today the entire nation is still struggling to recover from the tragedy on top of many other pressures, external and internal, bearing down on the population of Lebanon. Here, we receive an insider's perspective.
We live in a day of lies—a time when repetition masquerades as credibility, and the sheer volume of falsehoods threatens to drown out the still, small voice of truth. This is no more evident than with the AI generated videos of Charlie Kirk living in and speaking from the afterlife. Christians should be shocked by what is best considered synthetic martyrdom, sadly many are being wooed by it.
Christian Zionists' proclamation of unconditional love for Israel feels hollow in the Middle East. The General Secretary for the Middle East & North Africa Evangelical Alliance continues, "rather than opening doors to the gospel, it hardens suspicion. If evangelicals support Israel merely to trigger Armageddon, then our love is no love at all—it is manipulation".
The suicide rate in the USA among 10-14-year-old children had nearly tripled in the last decade, while the rate for older teens increased by 76%. Children and teens worldwide can experience social isolation, health fears, and the uncertainty all around them, realizing that their parents don’t always know how to deal with difficult circumstances. All these can easily lead to depression. But we can provide real hope by helping them to rest in God.
The United States is a nation gripped afresh by violence. Many of its people are struggling to feel, to understand, to see a way forward. US peace and reconciliation advocate, Jim Eaton, calls Christians to a better way, the way of Jesus; a way that is not partisan but peaceful, not livid but loving.
