The sexual-abuse scandals of the past 20 years have brought shame to the church around the world. In America they have also brought financial strains. By studying court documents in bankruptcy cases, examining public records, requesting documents from local, state and federal governments, as well as talking to priests and bishops confidentially, The Economist has... Continue Reading

Imagine Christ stepping onto the floor of the assembly. Would we yield him 90 seconds at the microphone (the normal time allotted to commissioners on the assembly floor)? That was all it took at key moments in his ministry for him to spell out his first priorities for the church: the Great Commandment and the... Continue Reading

I’m determined to show bits of progress. You have to look closely but signs of progress are there… New churches are being planted. A school has been founded in the village of Dociné where 225 kids attend. This fall they will have 270! And all the teachers have proper teacher certificates. It’s not slip shod:... Continue Reading

To throw someone under the bus” is defined as meaning “to sacrifice; to treat as a scapegoat; to betray,” but . . . the key to the phrase really lies in the element of utter betrayal, the sudden, brutal sacrifice of a stalwart and loyal teammate for a temporary and often minor advantage.”    ... Continue Reading

The Rev. Michael Keller, who grew up in Manhattan and who leads the Reformed University Fellowship City Campus ministry at Redeemer, said New York’s commodified approach to sex makes life more difficult for the abstinent. “If everyone else is using sex as something to consume, you will too,” he said.     Trinity Laurel moved... Continue Reading

Biblical scholarship is an academic discipline, taught and studied at universities, colleges and divinity schools all around the world. So it should be no surprise that biblical scholars run in all shapes, sizes, colors and denominations. What would surprise many people, though, is that a very large number of us love Jesus and the church,... Continue Reading

Biola University and Grace College of Indiana on Thursday filed suit against the Obama administration and its contraceptive mandate. Now eleven colleges and universities have sued the federal government over the issue, including major schools like Wheaton College, the University of Notre Dame, and Catholic University. The federal government is facing 25 lawsuits across the... Continue Reading

Multisite churches have grown from fewer than 200 in 2001 to 1,500 in 2006 to an estimated 3,000 in 2009 to more than 5,000 today. In comparison, U.S. megachurches have grown from about 50 in 1970 to about 1,650 in 2012 in North America.     The number of congregations that host worship services at... Continue Reading

The sharp contours of our future are coming into focus—a future inhospitable to Christian truth. The literature and language of the two-thousand-year-old “Christian” civilization, which assumed the normative male/female distinctions, will become homophobically unspeakable, culturally silenced and legally prohibited.     Hakuna Matata, “don’t worry”: same-sex marriage will not harm ordinary marriage. But way back... Continue Reading

In a society that celebrates sexual freedom and personal rights to sexual expression, why the collective outrage over Sandusky’s acts? Does not today’s ethic insist Sandusky has a right to his own sexual fulfillment, however he chooses to attain it? Does he not have the right to engage in sex where he wants, with whom... Continue Reading