The Back Page | Philip Yancey: Getting a Life
The most fully alive persons are those who give their lives away.
Philip Yancey

Shopping for the Real Me, Part 1 of 3
Why nothing ever quite fits right.
by Lee Knapp

Shopping for the Real Me, Part 2 of 3
Why nothing ever quite fits right.
by Lee Knapp

No Easy Saint
Bonhoeffer and just war.
Ragan Sutterfield

With a Little Help From My Friends

Stewardship of Power
Arthur DeKruyter

What Hal Lindsey Taught Me About the Second Coming
At UCLA, amid war protests and police helicopters, teachings on an imminent end made a lot of sense.
Chris Hall

THE LANDMARK SERMON
A clear word at the right time can keep the church from getting separated.
Jack Hayford

Good News or Old News?
The Via Negativa as Road to Renewal
Mark D. Filiatreau

Surviving a Power Play
Marshall Shelley

Pastors Killed, Churches Burned
New wave of violence begins.
by Richard Nyberg

"Big Numbers, Big Problems"
Christianity is in the midst of a massive global shift. But how much of a difference is it making in its new homelands?
John Wilson

Ex-Gay Leader Disciplined for Gay Bar Visit
Exodus removes John Paulk as board chairman, places him on probationary status as member.
By Evangelical Press with additional reporting by Jody Veenker

Are Conservative Christians Abusive Parents?
Plus: An ex-gay leader goes into a bar, and blaming spanking for youth violence.
Compiled by Ted Olsen

Feeling Good About the Non-Urgent
Steven L. McKinley

Staying on the Job

Staying Balanced

Religious Cleansing
What you can do to help persecuted Christians in Indonesia
Jeff M. Sellers

Nigeria: Sub-Saharan Powder Keg
What you can do to help persecuted Christians in Nigeria
Jeff M. Sellers

Heightened Hostilities in Egypt
What you can do to help persecuted Christians in Egypt
Jeff M. Sellers

Oil and Water
"In third-century Rome, baptism was high drama"
Elesha Coffman

Willow Creek's Place in History
It turns out that the church that made seeker-sensitive a part of our vocabulary is not as revolutionary as its critics have said.
By Michael S. Hamilton

Russia: Ready to Stand on Their Own?
In the former Soviet Union, evangelical churches are growing but not yet mature.
By Beverly Nickles in Moscow

What New Christians Need Most
"Dean Merrill, E. Stanley Ott"

Baby Lambs and Old Sheep
Earl Palmer

Keeping Visitors Coming Back
Don Michael McDonald

On Foot
The virtues of walking
Paul Willis

Youth: DC/LA Events Let Teens Put Faith on Display
by Mark Moring in Washington, D.C.

TOUGH FAITH
One church leader's experience of living by faith when deprived of virtually everything but life itself.
Benjamin M. Weir with Dennis Benson

Two Iraqi Churches Bombed
Plus: Mr. Bean opposes British religious hate-crime bill, religious summit opens in Indonesia, Vatican condemns 'Christianophobia', Christmas dilemma, praying for the home team, and other articles from online sources around the world.
Compiled by Rob Moll

Terrorizing Ally
Saudi Arabia tortures Christians even as it makes human-rights gestures.
by Jeff M. Sellers

Back to the Basics
Christian-Muslim violence requires a 'new' missions strategy: Forgiveness and love.
By Obed Minchakpu in Jos

Means and Ends
The spiritual theology of Eugene Peterson.
Lauren F. Winner

Once Upon Tribulation
Telford Work

More Than an Empty Bed
J. Todd Billings

Breaking 80
Golfers don't want to be better people. They want to be better golfers.
Mark Galli

God the Economist
John Polkinghorne's Trinitarian reality.
Catherine and Andy Crouch

A Theology of Sound
Attentive listening.
Craig Mattson

Cooling off Gay Agenda
PCUSA conservatives turn back liberal challenges
Douglas LeBlanc

Power in Punjab
Christians see churches—and opposition—grow among Sikhs
Manpreet Singh

Everyday Truths
"Simple activities bind families together and deepen their relationship with God, says the author of Sacred Stories of Ordinary Families"
Cindy Crosby

Florida Bishop Defies Episcopal Church Head
The consecration of a new bishop becomes the latest battleground between Frank Griswold and the American Anglican Council
Douglas LeBlanc

Watch Your Mouth
"Church controversies in Britain and Australia focus on a dirty word, the Word of God, and whether premarital sex is really a sin."
Ted Olsen

Chicago Church Raises Money to Hire Prostitutes
Plus: Dignified anger and judgment at Anglican meeting, Messianic Muslims, and The Cider House Doesn't Rule.
Compiled by Ted Olsen

Taking the Unpopular Stand
Jack Hayford

When You Need to Motivate -- or Correct
Leith Anderson

When You Need to Confront
Daniel Brown

Forgetting God
Why decadence drives out discipline.
By Philip Yancey

Power: Preaching for Total Commitment
Bill Hybels

Anglican Priest Hopes to Boldly Go Where No Clergyman Has Gone Before
Ken Clapham wants to be the international space station's chaplain.
Cedric Pulford

"Feature: New Disciples: Born, but Also Made"

'I'm Only Doing What God Told Me to Do'
"The founder of Campus Crusade for Christ talks about America's moral disintegration, Christians in politics, and his hopes for the greatest spiritual awakening in the history of the world."
1976 interview with Bill Bright

Dreamin' and Teamin'
An interview with Wayne Cordeiro

Leading Worship Leaders
4 ways I'm learning to guide artists.
Nancy Beach

No-Fault Division?
It may be time for mainline churches to consider an amicable divorce.
A Christianity Today editorial

Discipleship
Quotations to stir heart and mind
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

The Lord Our God Is One
Three Christians trace their roots back to the Hebrew Bible-and encounter God's present-day chosen people.
By Steven Gertz

Forgetting God
Why decadence drives out discipline.
By Philip Yancey

Pondering a Divorce
Some United Methodists think their differences are irreconcilable.
By Kathleen K. Rutledge

Finding a Spiritual Director
Eugene H. Peterson

From the Archives: Instructions to Young Converts
Charles Finney (1792-1875)

First Things First
Teaching about worship by asking the right questions
Ron Rienstra

Johnny Cash's Song of Redemption
How the coolest man in the music industry became that way while singing about Jesus and the Cross
Ted Olsen

The Smiling Grandfather Clock
"On Father's Day, the Holy Ghost helped me finally connect the dots and glimpse God's character"
Evelyn Bence

Yancey: Getting to Know Me
In most ways important to God, I had failed miserably.

Trying Patience on for Size
If Christians are to be clothed with patience, why do so many of us feel naked?
Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

Rediscovering the Holy Spirit, Part 1
Bible scholar Gordon Fee thinks we have domesticated the Holy Spirit and missed the point of his mission
By Wendy Murray Zoba

Despite Protestant Growth, Hispanic Catholicism Holds Steady in U.S.
Younger generations leaving for Protestant churches, but immigrants make up difference
Jeff M. Sellers

Incarnating Mystery
Michael Card argues that a proper view of Christ is a key to creativity.
By Wendy Murray Zoba

This World Is Not My Home
What some mainline Protestants are rediscovering about living as exiles in a foreign culture.
By Richard J. Mouw

Maintaining Momentum
Myron Augsburger

The Many Sides of Administration
Arthur DeKruyter

Can Finance People Be Ministry Minded?
Richard Bergstrom

Feeling Good About the Non-Urgent
Steven L. McKinley

Pulling Weeds from Your Field of Dreams
Dave Hansen

Perils of the Professionally Holy
Mark Galli

Is Growth a Decision?
Eugene Peterson

The Leprosy Doctor
Paul Brand showed how to serve others sacrificially and emerge with joy
Philip Yancey

Despite Protestant Growth, Hispanic Catholicism Holds Steady in U.S.
Younger generations leaving for Protestant churches, but immigrants make up difference
Jeff M. Sellers

Every Fraud Needs a Cure
How perpetrators are more gullible than their victims. An excerpt from Cleaning Up.
By Barry Minkow

Pop Love for a War-Torn World
Atomic Bomb is classic U2, with a prescription for healing the world.
Scott Calhoun

Praying for Terrorists
Christians seek healing in Beslan.
By Dawn Herzog Jewell

Baptism + Fire
Suffering may build character, but ultimately it's not about us.
By Mark Galli

Wind of Terror, Wind of Glory
We cannot know God's majesty without his terrible holiness.
by Daniel Tomberlin

Perils of the Professionally Holy
Mark Galli

Perils of the Professionally Holy
Mark Galli

The Tension

"Being Holy, Being Human"
Ben Patterson

Working with Your Emotional Type
Gordon MacDonald

The Two Eliots
To all appearance, a biographer writes, "Eliot was conventional, mild, decorous, yet the hidden character was daring and savage."
Jewel Spears Brooker

The Lord Our God Is One
Three Christians trace their roots back to the Hebrew Bible-and encounter God's present-day chosen people.
By Steven Gertz

Living by Law, Looking for Intimacy
What Christians can learn from the debates that divide American Jews. This is the first installment in a five-part series.
Lauren F. Winner

A Passionate Passion
Oberammergau's drama not only survives, it thrives.
By Carol R. Thiessen

This Poor Gray Ember of Creation
Marilynne Robinson's Gilead is a novel to savor
Thomas Gardner

Baptism + Fire
Suffering may build character, but ultimately it's not about us.
By Mark Galli

From Ewww ... to Wow!
What a big difference a small spider made.
By Bethany Torode

Well With My Soul

Grace at Home

With a Little Help From My Friends

Sex Ed. For Adults
God-given longings in a broken world.
By Jenell Williams Paris

Going New School
Emerging business trend can energize ministry.
Angie Ward

Mentoring the Next Generation
Fred Smith, Sr.

Southern Baptist Leaders Lament Funding Cuts
Texas board's action to reduce funding called 'bad for common missions causes'
By David Porter & Art Toalston

A Little Wine for the Soul?
The Bible says drunkenness is a sin (Galatians 5:21). But is occasional social drinking OK for Christians?
By J. Lawrence Burkholde

Amassed Media: The Drink Debate
What Christian leaders past and present have said about social drinking—and where to find them online.
By Ted Olsen

Nightmares and Miracles
A good beginning to the long battle for human rights in North Korea.
A Christianity Today editorial

A Heartless Homeland
Why more North Koreans than ever are fleeing their country.
By Gregg Chenoweth & Tricia Miller

Codependent No More
When Pleasing Others Is Hurting You addresses the need to be needed.
Reviewed by Cindy Crosby

The Marriage Mystery
Steve Tracy

The Quakers

Protest and renewal: Reformers before the Reformation
Alan Kreider

Discipleship
Quotations to stir heart and mind
Compiled by Richard A. Kauffman

Listening Servant

Playing Hurt

Overseeing Staff
Don Cousins

Time Bandits
Steven McKinley

CALLING PLAYS THE PLAYERS CAN PLAY
An interview with Kennon Callahan
Marshall Shelley and Mark Galli

Feature: Including Children in Worship
Virginia Thomas

Friendly Rules

The Tradition Temptation
Why we should still give Scripture pride of place
Roger E. Olson

Catholic + American = ?
How a communal body made its peace with liberal democracy.
by Allen Guelzo

Far from Busyness
"Teaching the Dead Bird to Sing wrestles with overwork, discouragement, and doubt"
Cindy Crosby

Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times
The moral complexity of the American Revolution.
Mark Noll

'Ragamuffin' Author Brennan Manning Dies
The patched-up life and unshabby message of Brennan Manning.
Agnieszka Tennant

Is Growth a Decision?
Eugene Peterson

First Language
Eugene Peterson

Q & A: Bobby Welch
President of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), on his five-week national bus tour, which ended October 7, to jump-start evangelism in the 16.3-million-member denomination. The SBC has experienced a four-year decline in baptisms.
Interview by Stan Guthrie

Wooing the Faithful
President Bush needs evangelicals more than ever, but it's unclear how badly they want him for another four years.
By Tony Carnes

American Idols
Larry Crabb says there's something better than control and success.
The Leadership Interview

Readers' Forum: Get Thou Over It!
By Jody Vickery

Reflections

Salt-and-Pepper Politics
Choosing between candidates whose consciences are too clean.
By Andy Crouch

A Calm Answer
… to a critique of "The Gospel of Jesus Christ: An Evangelical Celebration."
Thomas C. Oden

On Oden's Answer
Robert H. Gundry

In Need of a Good Reputation
Knute Larson

Serving God Without God
The author of Running on Empty discusses his life in ministry with and without a walk with God.

The Leprosy Doctor
Paul Brand showed how to serve others sacrificially and emerge with joy
Philip Yancey

Curing Souls: The Forgotten Art
Eugene Peterson

Good News from the Doctor
A longtime TV physician's tortuous search leads to an informal apologetic.
Jeff M. Sellers

Your Preaching Is Unique
Warren Wiersbe

Good News or Old News?
The Via Negativa as Road to Renewal
Mark D. Filiatreau

Temptations in Disaster
A ministry leader in Sri Lanka advises his colleagues on spiritual disciplines during a crisis.
By Ajith Fernando in Colombo, Sri Lanka

The Good Fight
4 spiritual disciplines to keep fights from scarring your soul.
Mark Buchanan

New Fuel Source

Brown-Out

Currents that shape your soul
Kevin A. Miller

Feature: Stewardship Means More Than $$$
Charles R. Birner

Discerning God's Will
"Quotations to stir the heart and mind from Van Gogh, Dante, Thomas Merton, and others"
Richard A. Kauffman

Chicago's Razzle-Dazzle Runs Rings Around Other Oscar Nominees
Woe to the Academy, a preview of Daredevil, Fuller Seminary promotes Gods and Generals, and critics respond to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Shanghai Knights, Deliver Us from Eva, and Russian Ark.
Jeffrey Overstreet

Listening to the Listeners
Haddon Robinson

Recruiting and Keeping Teachers
Roberta Hestenes

"Knowing What to Teach, and How"
Roberta Hestenes

Counseling the Seductive Female
Andre Bustanoby

Transference: Loosening the Tie That Blinds
Archibald Hart

Perils of the Professionally Holy
Mark Galli

Counseling the Seductive Female
Andre Bustanoby

Pulling Weeds from Your Field of Dreams
Dave Hansen

Perils of the Professionally Holy
Mark Galli

Christianity Today News Briefs
Booting the Salvation Army, falling giving, and suing for rights.
By CT staff

Supreme Court Will Rule on Ten Commandments Displays
Plus: Catholic bishops challenge Kerry as evangelical theologians criticize Bush, 110 Iraqi Christians killed, and other stories from online sources around the world.
Compiled by Ted Olsen

The Evangelical Voting Gap
Plus: Bishop responds to pagan priests story, Godless EU constitution signed, and other stories from online sources around the world.
Compiled by Ted Olsen

Cheated by the Affirming Church
Contrary to what some churches teach, it is homosexuality—and not its suppression—that enslaves people like me.
by Anonymous

The War Within Continues
Name Withheld

Beyond Crisis

The Religious Reagan
Spiritual influences on the president's life were strong and varied.
By Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans

Is a Mustard Seed Enough?
Faith and unbelief
Richard P. Hansen

Sunday's Comin'
M Craig Barnes

Republicans Willing to Okay Overseas Abortions
Cedric Pulford
Jody Veenker

El Espiritu Santo
Exploring Latino Pentecostalism.
By Douglas Jacobsen

What Would Buffy Do?
Is it possible to call for help ironically—and really mean it?
by Todd Hertz

Kingdom Prodigy
How an 8-year-old girl from Georgia began a community program that has fed thousands.
By Joe Westbury

Why I Don't Set Goals
Jack Hayford

Zeal vs. Art: The Preacher's Dilemma
Calvin Miller

Passion or Polish?
Calvin Miller