Opinion
Making Sense of What Happens to You
With over half a million deaths in the US alone, the pandemic has touched all of us. The unseen lines of connection have been skewed or severed, crippling our once familiar communities. How do we rebuild the bridges connecting us?
Look Back | Where Racism Resides
Where does racism reside? Ultimately, it finds its resting place in human hearts. And many of those hearts huddle under church steeples on Sundays. If we want to move on, it requires confession and restoration, not avoidance.
Why Allies Must Speak Up for Each Other – Every Time
If Jews are being vilified or victimized because of an assumed association, those who support religious freedom and oppose hate crimes must take a stand. Allies need to speak up for each other – and act – without equivocation.
Entering Pentecost, Exiting COVID-19 Hibernation
As society emerges from a long period of enforced isolation and uncertainties about the future, the Western church begins to observe Pentecost. Could Pentecost provide insight as we move into our post-COVID-19 world?
Vegetables, Vermin, and Blossom-End Rot
We want our churches to grow and be healthy and produce fruit. We overcome obstacles, but nothing we do will stop the weeds of the world from competing with the kingdom vision. And so, we continue on. It’s what we do.
A New Way to Think About Education
Thinking educationally neither denies history nor embalms it into uncritical permanence. Rather, it enables history to teach its lessons and to become a creative partner in the educational process rather than an idol in place of it.
Don’t Believe Lies Downplaying Town’s Destruction
Greenwood was a thriving African American community in Oklahoma that had it all. Segregated but without racial oppression, it was known as Black Wall Street. Then, during 18 hours 100 years ago, a white mob decimated the town.
Ethical Questions Swirl Around Hybrid Creation
A mythical hybrid beast, the chimera has a modern-day equivalent in a research lab, where a monkey-human chimera has been created. While this represents a potential game-changer for organ transplants, ethical questions abound.
Your Church: Alive with Spirit’s Fire or Just Making It?
The COVID-19 pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink what it means to be the church. With more time to pay attention to our neighbors, people of the Christian faith were invited to see Christianity from a new perspective.
Memorial Day: When Will We Mourn All the War Dead?
Should we legitimately and unreservedly mourn the loss of our war dead on Memorial Day? The answer is a no-brainer. Yes. A thousand times, yes. The larger question: On what day should we also mourn the loss of others’ war dead?
GFM Launches #SacredSpaces Initiative
Good Faith Media is launching a new initiative called #SacredSpaces. As the GFM staff begins to travel across the country again, we want to be intentional about recognizing the sacred locations where God’s presence permeates.
Why Many White Evangelicals Resist Vaccine
White evangelical pastors need to push harder to get more of their white evangelical flock vaccinated, where four out of 10 say they likely won’t get the shot. These resistant folks will keep us from achieving herd immunity.
Emerging Voices | How Your Teen Handles Grief: Part 2
Most adolescents (ages 10 to 19) are mature enough to understand death as being an irreversible and inevitable fact of life. Where they need help is in understanding and navigating the complicated emotions that come from grief.
Island Time, and About Time
While trying to ‘get away’ and relax in a beautiful setting in Hawaii, we couldn’t get away from the knowledge that America remains so polarized it’s practically paralyzed – and that Israel and Gaza were at it again.
Emerging Voices | How Your Child Handles Grief: Part 1
Children are often ignored, or at least overlooked, in conversations about helping people handle grief. Yet, children understand death as early as preschool so it’s vital to know how they comprehend grief and how to help them cope.
When Jesus Almost Came Back in the ’70s
One can only wonder how much more good we could have done in the ’70s – and beyond – if we had only been more dismissive of the doctrinal distractions that didn’t usher in the end times but rather wasted a lot of time.
Educators Deserve Thanks for Thankless Work
Educators, we had no space for your anxieties during the pandemic, but you did what we have come to expect of you: Take our kids. Teach them. Feed them. Love them. And you did all of this brilliantly and exceedingly well.
US Holds Shameful Record on Mental Health Care
The US has only 11 mental health beds in general hospitals per 100,000 people, a declining rate since the 1950s. We must rethink our mental health care system. Our current approach is not compassionate, effective or cost efficient.
Emerging Voices | Harsh Words Reap Consequences
We must properly weigh the effect of words. When judging the efficacy of a leader or the morality of an individual, we cannot set aside their language as a separate matter from their other actions and beliefs.
Emerging Voices | When Clergy Neglect Good R&R
The ability for ministers to serve others well is compromised if they overlook the importance of rest. Whether by the minister’s own choice or by the congregation’s, self-care is often left out. Resting reflects our trust in God.
Pandemic Widens Mental Health Gap in US
The pandemic has further strained an already overburdened US mental health system. The failure to address the system’s disparities isn’t compassionate or cost effective. We are leaving countless vulnerable people to suffer needlessly.
Look Back | Prisons: Largest Provider of Mental Health
Prisons are the largest providers of mental health. As the public is becoming aware of the issue of mental health in prisons, one of America’s most visible pastors is calling on churches to start mental health ministries. Will we?
4 Reasons I’m Keeping My Mask On
The CDC said fully vaccinated adults no longer have to wear masks outdoors or indoors. I have made a conscious decision: Even though I’m fully vaccinated, I will keep wearing a mask indoors in public settings for these 4 reasons.
A Survival Guide for Tired Clergy After COVID-19
Reservoirs are running low, even as we turn the corner on COVID-19. Many clergy have been emotionally on edge in ways that only intensified during 2020. It’s vital to find our ‘fallow time’ to restore ourselves.
Don’t Stigmatize Others Seeking Mental Health Services
People of faith should support families who seek out appropriate mental health services. The notion that people of faith need to rely on Jesus-powered emotional bootstraps in lieu of seeking professional help is harmful.
5 Tips Toward Good Mental Health During Pandemic
The statistics are troubling but not unexpected. Since 2018, we’ve seen a 41% increase in anxiety and depression during the pandemic. These five tips can help you maintain good mental health during COVID-19’s radical shift.
Me Time: Why Society’s Addicted to Narcissism
Narcissism is on the rise. Quite simply, our society is addicted to it. Is there a way back? Yes, but it’s going to require reformatting some of our basic instincts. But we already have an antidote to save ourselves from ourselves.
Party Like It’s 2019? No Thanks
Getting out and about after a year-plus of isolation during the pandemic is exciting. Retaining good and healthy habits, while discarding some bad ones, will serve us and others well as we move into a brave new world.
9 Ways to Overcome Pandemic’s Shadowy Grip
The pandemic has seen so many shadows surfacing amid the isolation, loss and distance. As we navigate the mental, physical and emotional challenges, here are 9 ways to care for ourselves when we’re feeling fragile and uncertain.
Being Honest When You Talk About the Bible
We’re not honest about the Bible. We say it speaks in a single voice when it actually speaks in many, and some of them seem contradictory. We treat the Bible like a how-to manual, but it urges us to wrestle with the hard questions.