Orthodoxy in Exile: Church as an Alternative Community
One day, as I was serving meals in my church for the unhoused community in East Hollywood, a man stopped me in the hallway and said, “Hey pastor, I just want you to know I’m only here to serve. I do...
View ArticleWhy We Share the Good News
We live in a bad-news world. Each morning, we wake up and see it in the headlines on our news apps. In the evening, we see bad news again on the local news. The daily reports are relentless and...
View ArticleChrist’s Presence Guarantees Mission Success
As Jesus gave his disciples their final instructions for carrying out his mission on earth, he left them with this promise: “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). But what...
View ArticleOur First Evangelistic Task: Make Christianity Comprehensible
“For many people today, to set aside their own path in order to conform to some external authority just doesn’t seem comprehensible as a form of spiritual life,” writes Charles Taylor in A Secular Age....
View ArticleDon’t Overlook Commuter-Campus Ministry
I was blessed to spend 13 years working in college ministry, mostly at two large residential universities in Virginia. Those were wonderfully sweet years of ministry for our family. We had the...
View ArticleHow New Atheism Collapsed and Gave Way to New Faith
If you know Justin Brierley, it’s probably for the debates and interviews he hosted for many years with the Unbelievable? radio show and podcast. He interviewed some of the most outspoken atheist...
View ArticleAugustine’s Apologetic Vision and How Doubt Can Lead to Faith
What if the best way to defend our faith today can be found by visiting premodern North Africa? That’s the premise of the latest book by the dynamic apologetics duo Josh Chatraw and Mark Allen: The...
View ArticleReintegrating the Atonement in Missions
After a long day of travel on a dusty mountain road, a local pastor and I finally walked toward his village. He described how the gospel first came to this remote area two decades earlier. His parents...
View ArticleWelcome and Witness: How to Reach Out in a Secular Age
What’s special about church? For this final episode of Post-Christianity?, Glen Scrivener and Andrew Wilson are joined by Rebecca McLaughlin, author of Confronting Christianity and The Secular Creed....
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Tim Keller and TGC’s Next Decade
Don Carson and Sandy Willson discuss their friendships with Tim Keller, the work of The Gospel Coalition, and the importance of focusing on God’s greatness.
View ArticleYes, There’s Room for Women in Missions
If you spend any time in Christian missions, you’ll almost certainly notice more women serving than men. That’s what I’ve observed wherever I’ve traveled overseas, and the statistics bear this out. For...
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How Cultural Narratives Affect Our Gospel Presentation
Michael Keller identifies four prominent secular cultural narratives and advocates for Christians to present a compelling alternative, rooted in the gospel.
View ArticleThe Powerful Witness of Long, Ordinary Obedience
My parents are business owners. Growing up, I often sat in the office of their manufacturing plant with my siblings, making paper airplanes, spinning in chairs, and doing what we could to pass the...
View ArticleLily in the Desert: The Missionary Example of Lilias Trotter
As a promising young artist, Lilias Trotter was offered the opportunity to go viral in Victorian England. Her exceptional talent caught the eye of a leading art critic who offered to catalyze her...
View ArticleAngels, Visions, and the Necessity of Missions
Among missiologists, it’s not uncommon to hear how an individual from an unengaged, unreached people group becomes a follower of Jesus through a vision or dream. Assuming the truth of such stories,...
View ArticleWhy You Should Understand ‘New Religious Movements’
In 1998, when my college classmates were dancing on tables, puking on the beach, and picking up STIs, I went to Salt Lake City with my Bible, some clothes, and no idea what Mormons believe. I was...
View ArticleDon’t Underestimate Generational Changes—and the Need for Cultural Apologetics
If you work in youth ministry or education, as I do, you won’t be surprised that we’re facing the largest gap in generational attitudes since the 1960s. According to Jean Twenge’s research, “When you...
View ArticleMy Dad (Tim Keller) Listened to History to Speak the Gospel
Between his medical procedures last year, I asked my father, Tim Keller, about how he’d presented the gospel in the 1980s to 2000s. Specifically, I wanted to know the effects the Puritans, Jonathan...
View ArticleEvangelists, Let the Doctrine of Predestination Batter Your Heart
“What do we call the test?” Leslie Groves asked Robert Oppenheimer. “Batter my heart, three-person’d God,” he replied. “What?” “Trinity,” Oppenheimer explained. In Christopher Nolan’s newest film, the...
View ArticleThe Most Pessimistic Religion in the World
“Christianity and Islam worship the same God and are fundamentally the same at their core.” I regularly encounter this assertion in my church-planting efforts in Dearborn, Michigan. (Dearborn has the...
View ArticleWin People Rather Than Arguments
“I’m a Christian, but I’m not a fan of the church. It’s a literal cult!” “I think most Christians would be shocked to find out Jesus was probably bisexual.” “I have no problem with religion. I have a...
View ArticleGen Z’s Biggest Obstacles May Be Their Greatest Gospel Opportunities
By now, you’ve seen the headlines: Gen Z is the least religious generation in America. Study after study has shown this to be true. However, most don’t reject religion outright. They simply don’t think...
View Article‘Nones’ Have Always Been with Us
Over the past decade, a new demographic has steadily risen to prominence in the landscape of religious affiliation—the “Nones.” “Nones” is a term used to describe individuals who, when surveyed about...
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The Improbable Love Story Behind Alpha’s Origins
Just over 30 years ago, the Alpha course was launched internationally out of the Holy Trinity Brompton church in London. The classes, which explained the basics of Christianity, caught on immediately....
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See a Tough Neighborhood Through God’s Eyes
When pastor Jay Harris first went to look at the inner-city building that would house his church, it was discouraging. The parking lot was gated for safety. The interior was grimy and falling apart....
View ArticleUnexpected Pathways to Faith
If you listen to or watch this podcast, you probably consider yourself a Christian. But I bet you have questions about Christianity. You might even doubt aspects of it. If not, then you know someone...
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4 Surprises About America’s Religious ‘Nones’
Pew Research Forum, one of the best and most consistent centers for research into religious belief and observance in the United States, recently released a report on religious “Nones”—the category of...
View ArticleHow I Learned to Share My Faith on the Pickleball Court
I don’t live in a field fertile for evangelism. My earthly home is Door County, the beautiful Wisconsin peninsula that juts into Lake Michigan. Our year-round population is mostly white, wealthy, and...
View ArticleOne Way to Share the Gospel During Ramadan
During the month of Ramadan, Muslims worldwide are praying, fasting, and reading the Qur’an in hopes of drawing near to God and earning their way to heaven. Islam requires adherents to pray five times...
View ArticleDon’t Let Deconstruction Run Off with Your Faith
When I became a Christian in 2005, the Emergent movement was near its apex. That loose-knit group of church leaders, writers, and provocateurs embraced a new kind of Christianity for the postmodern...
View ArticleHow the Babylonian Exile Informs Gen Z’s Evangelism
Around 2,600 years ago, a domineering Babylonian army carried many defeated Jews into exile. Israel’s sin had piled up over the years, resulting in God removing his protection from them. But God didn’t...
View ArticleCan I Tell an Unbeliever ‘Jesus Died for You’?
Some who read this article’s title might wonder why anyone would ask such a question. “Of course you can! How else can you share the gospel?” For Christians who believe in general atonement—the idea...
View ArticleLessons on Evangelism from an Unlikely Evangelist
As a Christian, you probably feel at times like a stranger in a strange land. And you’ve considered how to respond. Should you retreat in cultural isolation? Or should you engage in political...
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Remember the 4 ‘Alls’ of the Great Commission
In the Great Commission Report, issued ahead of this year’s meeting of the Lausanne Congress for World Evangelization in Seoul, South Korea, Victor Nakah and Ivor Poobalan offer a theological basis for...
View Article5 Ideas for Teaching the Gospel to Young Kids
I vividly remember taking my youngest daughter to a zoo when she was about 20 months old and telling her, “When we walk around this next corner, you’re going to see the biggest land animal in the whole...
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An Unequally Yoked Small Group
About 14 years ago, Mun Kit Au and his wife, Josephine, were in a church small group they loved. They group had been meeting for years and felt comfortable together. It was easy to laugh, to enjoy each...
View ArticleTestimony from L’Abri: Francis Schaeffer Left an Enduring Legacy
Forty years after Francis Schaeffer’s passing, his contributions to the church and the world are still visible. His legacy lives on most obviously through his writing and recorded teaching. Less...
View ArticleRespond to Conflict like Francis Schaeffer
I tend to tune out social media controversies and negative online comments. It’s generally a good course of action given the storms of shock and outrage about nearly everything on any given day. Even...
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Why Male Friendships Are Growing in America’s Most Average Town
In the most average town in America, something unusual is happening. Waupun, Wisconsin, got its name from a misspelling of the Ojibwe word “Waubun” that nobody corrected. It’s been easy to overlook...
View ArticleImpressive ‘Xp.’ YouTube Series Seeks to Reach Unchurched Youth
What do you do when you have the opportunity to share the gospel with youth and young adults who have little knowledge or experience of Christianity—perhaps even little interest? The newly released xp....
View ArticleMy Friend, Randy Newman (1956–2024)
I’m profoundly saddened by the passing of Randy Newman (1956–2024). When news of his death became public, it was touching to see how many people expressed their thankfulness for and appreciation of...
View Article‘Live My Truth’: The Gospel in an Age of Privatized Faith
When you overhear conversations that touch on something spiritual, you’ll often hear two words come up: “For me.” They rush in as soon as the discussion turns toward claims about truth and falsehood:...
View ArticleEvangelize Like You’re a Sinner
“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29) When was the last time you heard the Samaritan woman at the well presented as a model for anything, let alone...
View ArticleDon’t Underestimate Protestant Theology
A surprisingly large number of conservative intellectuals in the United States are Roman Catholic. Consider, for example, that six of the nine justices on the U.S. Supreme Court are Catholics. Many of...
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How Hellion Teenagers Sparked Revival in a Small West Virginia Town
Twenty-five years ago this month, a full-page advertisement appeared in the middle of a small-town newspaper in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The ad showed a cartoon of Jesus in the style of the TV...
View ArticleLausanne at 50: Effective Mission Still Depends on Right Theology
Fifty years ago this week, the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland, hosted the First International Congress on World Evangelization (known as Lausanne 1, or Lausanne ’74), a gathering Time...
View ArticleI Feel Called to Missions. What Next?
As a pastor and missions leader, I’ve heard the question many times: “I feel called to missions. What should I do now?” I’m always thankful for what the question represents—a willingness to serve the...
View ArticleHow Churches Can Support Christian Teachers in Public Schools
I sat in the pew next to one of my students, both of us dabbing tears as we listened to words about her classmate and my former student who passed away a few days prior. Everyone who knew Kyleigh knew...
View ArticleBe Ready with the Gospel. Memorize the Bible.
When I was in third grade, my mother enrolled me in Children’s Bible Drill. It was certainly a well-titled activity. After hours of memorizing Bible passages, the class “drilled” together, competing to...
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Let Kingdom Expansion Encourage You
Trevin Wax explores the challenges of spreading the gospel in a culture of expressive individualism.
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