Showing titles in Social Issues

The American church is at a critical crossroads. Our witness has been compromised, our numbers are down, and our reputation has been sullied, due largely to our own faults and fears. The church's ethnocentrism, consumerism, and syncretism have blurred the lines between discipleship and partisanship. Pastor Eric Costanzo, missiologist Daniel Yang, and nonprofit leader Matthew Soerens find that for the church to return to health, we must decenter ourselves from our American idols and recenter on the undeniable, inalienable core reality of the global, transcultural kingdom of God.

The Bible tells Christians to expect persecution—and those pressures are daily rising in our culture. How do we respond with faith rather than fear to cancel culture and weaponized media narratives? The answer: being filled with and following the Holy Spirit as the early Church did in the Book of Acts. This is the only force powerful enough to turn riots into revivals, darkness into light, hardship into triumph, and fear into bold faith.

Humanity's diverse nationalities, ethnicities, and races were intended to be a blessing from God. However, due to sin and rebellion, these differences often result in alienation, hatred, and even violence, becoming one of the most urgent problems facing the world. Cultural divisions are unfortunately common in the church, too. How can Christians embrace God's purposes for diversity and experience renewal and unity as his people? Steven Bryan presents a biblical framework for thinking about cultural identity and experiencing cultural diversity as a positive good that God intended.

A dangerous and revolutionary philosophy is responsible for the street fires in America. It fuels the actions of Black Lives Matter and Antifa. It invades curricula in public schools and in our military. It is in our churches. You have heard the phrase “white privilege,” the need for “safe spaces” on campuses, and perhaps the tongue-twister “intersectionality.” Behind all of these is an ideology called critical theory, which is a form of cultural Marxism that divides society into the oppressed and the oppressors.

Some Christians see loyalty to America as central to our faith and identity. Other Christians are skeptical that our nation warrants such devotion or attachment. But Richard Mouw encourages Christians to have a healthy sense of national peoplehood that promotes civic kinship and responsible citizenship. He navigates between Christian nationalism on one hand and cynicism about country on the other to avoid the perils of both idolatry and disengagement.

The New York Times bestselling author of Radical challenges Christians to break free from an American gospel that prostitutes Jesus for comfort, power, prosperity, and politics—and fully pursue the true gospel that exalts Jesus above all. Pastor David Platt believes we’ve gotten really good...

Abby Johnson thought she knew what mercy was when she ushered desperate women toward abortion as the director of a Planned Parenthood facility. She was wrong. It wasn't until she understood the blood on her hands that she personally experienced the power of God's fierce yet tender mercy to transform her life. But she never imagined what could happen once she allowed that very mercy to infiltrate her life and spill out into a hurting world. In Fierce Mercy, Abby calls you to experience a transformation of your own.

Turning the other cheek does not mean standing by while the enemies of God dismantle Christian civilization and brainwash our children. Decrying the cowardice that masquerades as meekness, Eric Metaxas summons the Church to battle. An attenuated and unbiblical “faith” based on what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” has sapped the spiritual vitality of millions of Americans. Paying lip service to an insipid “evangelism,” they shrink from combating the evils of our time. Metaxas refutes the pernicious lie that fighting evil politicizes Christianity.

L’Église d’aujourd’hui a besoin d’un réveil. Comme l’affirme Paul Washer : « Nous ne pouvons pas simplement faire ce qui semble juste à nos yeux, puis nous attendre à ce que le Saint-Esprit vienne bénir nos efforts. » À vrai dire, le diable n’a guère besoin de s’opposer aux prières de l’Église pour un réveil, à moins que le peuple de Dieu ne cherche réellement à vivre et à diriger ses assemblées selon la Parole de Dieu. Ce livre examine dix domaines où l’Église d’aujourd’hui a négligé de suivre les directives bibliques.

La vie chrétienne est un véritable combat pour la sainteté. Notre vocation à être mis à part nous place dans la ligne de mire d’une culture qui s’oppose à la vérité de Dieu. Même si le monde qui nous entoure change, notre combat reste le même. Dans ce livre, John MacArthur nous présente un plan de bataille fondé sur la Parole de Dieu qui nous aidera à rester fidèles au Seigneur. Dieu a révélé quel comportement nous devons adopter. Par sa Parole et son Esprit, il nous fournit tout ce dont nous avons besoin pour persévérer dans la sainteté et l’humilité.

"Cada um ame o seu próximo como a si mesmo." Não é sem razão que o versículo de Levítico 19.18 é o texto do Antigo Testamento mais citado no Novo. Em dois mil anos de história, o amor tem levado cristãos a superar barreiras em prol do bem comum. Com alguma frequência a Igreja é duramente criticada pelos seus e pela sociedade. Justas ou injustas, as menções pouco honrosas ao cristianismo não conseguem obscurecer a história de cristãos que, movidos pelo amor ao próximo, reverberam o exemplo do bom samaritano.

Following Jesus has never been harder. In a culture that glamorizes sex, chases fame, and shames those who don't fall in line, it takes a rebel to be a Christian. In this book, Sean McDowell aims to encourage and inspire a generation of rebels who will dare to stand up to the madness in a just and loving manner. A Rebel's Manifesto offers clear guidance to help people navigate the many moral issues that plague this generation.

For centuries, skeptics have disputed the claims of Christianity—such as belief in an eternal God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ—arguing that they simply cannot be accepted by reasonable individuals. Furthermore, efforts to demonstrate the evidence and rational basis for Christianity through apologetics are often deemed too simplistic to be taken seriously in intellectual circles. Apologist and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi engages some of the best contemporary arguments against Christianity.

A great reckoning is underway in the church today: a naming and exposing of the exclusivity, abuse, racism, patriarchy, and unchecked power that have marked evangelical Christianity for far too long. What kind of church will emerge on the other side?

Racism is omnipresent in American life, both public and private. We are immersed in what prominent Black church leader Willie Dwayne Francois III calls white noise—the racist speech, ideas, and policies that lull us into inaction on racial justice. White noise masks racial realities and prevents constructive responses to microaggressions, structural inequality, and overt interpersonal racism. In this book, Francois calls people of all racial backgrounds to take up practices that overcome silence and inaction on race and that advance racial repair.

In the 21st-century West, identity is everything. Never has it been more important, culturally speaking, to know who you are and remain true to yourself. Expressive individualism—the belief that looking inward is the way to find yourself—has become the primary approach to identity formation, and questioning anyone's "self-made self" is often considered a threat or attack. Prompted by his own past crisis of identity, Brian Rosner challenges the status quo by arguing that, while knowing yourself is of some value, it cannot be the sole basis for one's identity.

The last surviving witness to the lynching of Emmett Till tells his story, with poignant recollections of Emmett as a boy, critical insights into the recent investigation, and powerful lessons for racial reckoning, both then and now. New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice “In this...

For much of recent history, individuals and institutions could plan, execute, and flourish with their visions of a better world. Volatile, complex forces could be addressed and confronted with planning and management. But crisis is a great revealer. It knocks us off our thrones. It uncovers the weaknesses in our strategies and brings to light our myths and idols. Our past strategies run aground, smashed by unpredictable and chaotic waves. Yet in the midst of the chaos of a crisis comes opportunity.

Most of us don't need to make speeches. We need to make friends. This is the core message of Black and White: racism can be disrupted by relationships. If you will risk forging friendships with those who do not look like you, it will change the way you see the world, and that could change the world. The coauthors, Teesha Hadra, a young African American woman, and John Hambrick, a sixty-year-old white man, bring a confident and redemptive tone to this hope because that is exactly what they've experienced.

National tensions are at a record high. People on all points in the political spectrum care deeply about their country, although they differ wildly in their opinions about what it looks like to serve that country well. As Christians, we love God and seek to follow him. At the same time, nothing shapes us and tugs at our loyalties quite like the place we live. And of course we are regularly encouraged to pledge our allegiance to our country―or particular understandings of it. Who wins when the priorities of God and our country clash?