|
This edition is sponsored by The MomCo |
|
"Here’s the scene: One day you’re catching up with a friend, and he tells you, after some deliberation, that he’s recently joined a new group. It immediately sounds weird, even alarming. He’s hesitant to answer your questions but finally spills the beans." |
|
The group has "voluntary" monetary donations, and is led by a mysterious figure nobody has seen for years. That leader’s message is "bewildering": "The world is not what you think it is. The authorities cannot be trusted. Something is off." |
|
This isn’t the Branch Davidians, or QAnon, or something about UFOs and aliens. It’s Christianity, argues Brad East, a conspiracy theory "by any reasonable definition." Describing our faith this way might seem odd. But understanding what our own "fringe" beliefs teach about authority and knowledge can help us be compassionate towards "neighbors, friends, and family members under sway of foolish or fantastic notions." |
|
"Our duty to them is love," East continues. "We need not look on them with mock sympathy or condescension. Nor should we imagine that we can bully them out of their beliefs with stats or fact checking or expert opinion. … We will one another’s good by sharing life together, and life is shared face to face—not in constant bickering about the details of distant debates but in drawing near to God and the ordinary goods he has granted us to hold in common." |
|
How does "sharing life" start to happen? Perhaps by choosing our friends with more intentionality, on a stronger foundation than "hobbies and happenstance." Or perhaps by understanding our churches as counterweights to isolation—the kind of loneliness indicated, perhaps counterintuitively, by the closure of places like Hooters. |
|
"The [restaurant] chain is not closing because a superior view of marriage and family and sexuality won the argument," writes editor in chief Russell Moore in this week’s column. "In a real sense, Hooters is gone because the argument was so decisively lost." |
|
"The nightclub down the road from you might be empty—but it’s because the people who once went there now prefer to get drunk at home, bingeing Netflix alone. The teenager next door to you might not be having premarital sex—but it’s more likely because he’s never around people in real life than because he’s crucified his lust with the gospel." |
|
"What if your church were a place that offered something strange to an era of rule by appetite? What if it were a place where men and women learned to serve and love each other, not to use each other?" |
|
Spend the weekend catching up on Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, our limited series on the Satanic Panic that gripped the US in the 1980s and ’90s. The two most recent episodes focus on false memories and rumors of backmasking: hidden, subversive messages slipped into popular music. |
|
Moms are keeping families in church—but who’s reaching them?
Did you know 80% of moms are the decision-makers for their family attending church? Yet, many moms feel lonelier and more isolated than ever. MomCo Ministries equips your church to engage moms, develop leaders, and strengthen congregational commitment. With a proven framework, you’ll have everything needed to disciple moms and grow your church.
Ready to reach more families? Download a free digital report and discover how MomCo can help your church. |
|
Morgan Lee, CT Global managing editor: I’m loving Lady Gaga’s return to her over-the-top "Bad Romance" persona ("Abracadabra"), her rebuke of how the public interacts with her fame ("Perfect Celebrity"), and even her seemingly Taylor Swift–inspired tunes ("How Bad Do U Want Me?"). I recommend listening to Mayhem loudly in your car. |
|
Alex Mellen, senior copy editor: Can I plug Severance, even though we’ve reviewed it? My boyfriend and I were the last in his family to finish season 2, and at a recent dinner together the eight of us spent probably an hour discussing theories and naming our favorite parts. |
|
Emily Belz, staff writer: Following the advice of my family who were cut off from power and communications during Hurricane Helene, I bought this hand-crank radio. No disasters here yet, but it’s been so wonderful to have a radio in the kitchen to listen to news, sports, and the weather without opening an app. |
|
 |
|
| PAID CONTENT FOR COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL |
|
|
If you’re looking for family devotionals that bridge your home to the world, check out Compassion International’s free resources today. In an era of packed calendars and overscheduled children, many…
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CT Partners are making a global impact through the One Kingdom Campaign |
|
So much has already been accomplished since the launch of the One Kingdom Campaign in September 2024. From beautiful storytelling that lifts our eyes to Jesus working in our midst to global reporting that reminds readers of the cost of following Jesus around the world, God is at work through our generous CT Partners.
See what God is doing through the One Kingdom Campaign and how you can participate in this important community. Learn more. |
|
|
|
|
|
The televangelist misappropriates God’s promises to ancient Israel in Exodus as a prosperity gospel for today.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Christians should oppose evils and errors in our society, but we are called to more than mere resistance: vision, tenacity, grace, the proclamation of the gospel.
|
|
|
|
|
Can the next secretary general represent 600 million Christians and get them all to work together?
|
|
|
| | | | | |
