Christian Piatt The stats say that women in the workplace – from seminaries to the boardroom – have become the norm, but being a stay-at- ...

Julie Polter Novels to stretch the mind and heart. Glorybound, by Jessie van Eerden. WordFarm. A luminou ...

Secretary of State John Kerry is calling for the release of an Iranian-American minister from a Tehran prison, a welcome step for advocates who had accused the State Department of being “AWOL” on the case. ...

Kendall Clark Baker Building community and clout through congregation-based organizing. In any genuine comm ...

I empathize with people fleeing the local church. Churches can be battlefields instead of harbors, pits of condemnation or politics rather than wells of living water. But the endless search for something “new” ...

LOS ANGELES — In a matter of days, some 1,400 American pastors are planning to break the law. And they’re likely to get away with it. As part of “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” on Oct. 7, religious leaders across the ...

Stacey Schwenker Ashamed No More: A Pastor's Journey Through Sex Addiction. IVP Books PASTOR T.C. RYAN s ...

The saying “you can't go home again,” probably originated from Tom Wolfe's novel, You Can't Go Home Again. It's the story of an author who leaves his home, writes about it from a distance a ...

The number of congregations that host worship services at more than one physical location has grown to more than 5,000 in the last decade, according to a new report. The number of ...

The Rev. Andrena Ingram is currently the only known Lutheran ordained pastor living openly with HIV. Her husband's death from an AIDS-related illness, and the shame that he felt, inspired the pastor to be open about her own diagnosis with HIV. She ...

The Rev. Lorenza Andrade Smith been living on the streets to bring attention to homelessness, but Sunday night the San Antonio pastor spent the night behind bars. From WOAI-TV ...

I imagined the spaces and places other than church that might be out there for churchless people “like me.” Bars? Starbucks? Soccer games? Bars? (Sorry, did I mention 'bars' already? I get a bit dist ...

BosNewsLife.com reports : TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran has released Pastor Mehdi “Petros” Foroutan who served about one year in prison following a police crackdown on his and other house churches,  a spokesman told BosNewsLife late Tuesday. Jason ...

It was drilled into my brain that even though I felt a “calling” as a writer, a storyteller, etc., it was extremely different from 'the call.' Read: What your husband is doing is more important than ...

After searching for a while, I found a post by the American Center for Law and Justice that confirmed what had become my hope: Reports of Nadarkhani's execution were false. L ...

At the very least, this suggests that Christians who think they can impose what they perceive as “Biblical values” on secular society are—more often than not— wrong. My pastor and ...

Rob Bell, 41, the founding pastor of Mars Hill church in western Michigan, bid adieu to his congregation in a 5,000-word epistle about grace and peace, which he preached the Sunday before Christmas to thousand ...

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 'The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the ...

The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a pioneer and giant of the civil rights movement, died Wednesday at 89. The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a pioneer and giant of the civil rights m ...

Below is a compilation of recent media reports where the word "evangelical" is invoked. When you read these, evangelical brothers and sisters, do you recognize yourself in how the word is used and de ...

UPDATES: Earlier today (Friday, Sept. 30), the Iranian Embassy in the U.K. issued the following statement regarding Pastor Nadarkhani: UPDATES: Earlier ...

The Gate of Forgiveness, Jerusalem. Photo by Deror Avi. The Gate of Forgiveness, Jerusalem. Photo by Deror Avi. In the wake of Troy Davis' exe ...

Make no mistake, Christians should be biased. I know there has been a lot of conversation in the past few years about Christians cleaning up their image. We are often known more for our prejudices than princi ...

I think I was about nine or ten years old when I first heard the passage read. Or first really listened to it, anyway. I sat in church, likely running the crease of the bulletin under my fingernails, trying ...

Earlier this summer I attended a church service where the pastor, a man struggling with what appears to be his final bout with cancer, preached about the hope that Jesus promises to those who trust ...

Rev. Steve Stone was just trying to be a good neighbor. Rev. Steve Stone was just trying to be a good neighbor. Two years ago, the pastor of Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tenne ...

The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, 'Here I am, for you called me.' Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. ...

Mark O. Hatfield's political witness shaped a whole generation of students, teachers, pastors, and social activists in the evangelical community and beyond. Mark O. Hat ...

The markets are watching, the Republicans are watching, the Democrats are watching, the media are watching, the pollsters and pundits are watching. The markets are watching, ...

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greates ...

You don't need a ton of proof to know that more and more churches are struggling to survive. It seems churches that are in this predicament have one of two options: revive or die ...

Don't get me wrong -- I love sitting behind my computer here at Sojourners, or proofreading a stack of magazine-pages-to-be, fresh from Art Director Ed Spivey's printer. But sometimes there's no ...

After posting a blog about my <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/06/13/10-problems-of-a-dying-church-and-how-to-fix-them/" target="_blank">observations of a dying church</a>, th ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/06/15/more-great-summer-reading-ideas/" target="_self"></a>In addition to my summer reading recommendations from the other day, I nee ...

This hymn was originally used for the dedication of the 180 solar panels on the sanctuary of Limestone Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware where I am the co-pastor. This h ...

The Hebrew scriptures recount time and again how God blesses the earth with enough provision and food for its inhabitants. The Hebrew scriptures recount time and again how God ble ...

Any discussion of shared authority and responsibility between men and women must start with the importance Jesus placed on unity among his followers. Any discussion of shared auth ...

After my <a href="http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/rapture/" target="_blank">recent intense post about the rapture</a> that has come and gone, I thought I'd write ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/05/18/what-are-your-life-giving-questions/" target="_self"></a>I love what I do, but it's amazing how even that which you do and ...

<p><a href="http://blog.sojo.net/2011/05/13/8-lessons-learned-as-a-pastor-and-mother/" target="_self"></a>I love this photo. Exemplified in this photo is where my life as ...

Some controversy has arisen about an ad campaign that a new coalition wanted to run in Sojourners on the issue of the LGBTQ community and the church. [ Update : For a list of ...

I've often wondered what people in America think when they actually read the story of Jesus rising from the dead for the first time. I've often wondered what people in A ...

<em>[<strong>Editors' note: </strong>Below is a hymn written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette to celebrate <a href="http://blog.sojo.net/tag/palm-sunday/" target="_blank&quo ...

<p><a href="http://www.ryanrodrickbeiler.com/Protests-and-Rallies/Egypt-Solidarity-Rally-in/15817757_mcbiZ#1180102181_Mup8Q" target="_blank"></a>After decades of repressio ...

Last winter, in the flurry of Christmas parties and potlucks, I was called in for jury duty. Last winter, in the flurry of Christmas parties and potlucks, I was called in for jury ...

With all the angst about the economy, the deficit, and a looming government shut-down, I'm still concerned that we're treating symptoms rather than diagnosing the underlying disease. ...

Over the course of this past weekend and my recent post about <a href="http://eugenecho.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/what-the-hell/" target="_blank">hell, universalism, exclusivism,</a ...

Sometimes when I'm bored I kind of like to fill in sound effects that I think the crowd listening to Jesus might have responded with. Sometimes when I'm bored I kind of ...

Congress is working on the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year 2011. Congress is working on the federal budget for the rest of the fiscal year 2011. It is now clear tha ...

February is Black History month. February is Black History month. In public schools and community centers across the United States, Black History month means that the busts of pre ...