Churches love to tell their stories, whether their founding, their accomplishments, or their connections with wider history. How can churches tell their full stories—not just the ones that make us feel good—and how can they be part of wider neighborhood efforts to tell their full histories? Public history has resources to help this process, and in this episode historian Denise Meringolo talks about how to tell such full stories. The way we tell our church’s stories has moral implications, and public history aids this process of morally reflective storytelling.

Check out Dr. Meringolo’s books Museums, Monuments, and National Parks and Radical Roots.

Looking for a public historian? Start by consulting a nearby college or university, or check out the National Council on Public History’s list of consultants.

Access to banking proves vital to participating in our economy, but many people have little or no access to mainstream banking. They sometimes have little choice but to take out predatory loans at extremely high interest rates—sometimes up to 400%. Exodus Lending in Minneapolis gives people an alternative banking tool to get out of predatory cycles.

Ross talks with their co-founder Meghan Olsen Biebighauser about how the organization started, how it listened to neighbors, and how this ministry opened up other vibrant avenues for loving neighbors in their city. Hear a powerful example of congregational discernment about loving neighbors.

Check out the work of Exodus Lending!

Love God and love neighbor are the two great commandments of Christianity given by Jesus. But what happens when Christians don’t love neighbors? What happens when loving neighbors becomes secondary for Christian public life rather than primary? David French explains the Christian right’s support for the MAGA movement, then offers an alternative vision for Christian engagement in public life based in faithful generosity toward neighbors.

Check out his book Divided We Fall and see his columns in the New York Times.

The David Hollinger book Ross mentioned is Christianity’s American Fate.