by | Oct 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
As the International Religious Freedom Act turns 25, advocates look ahead to next steps.
Religious freedom advocates lamented the loss of civilian lives in the Israel-Hamas war, antisemitism, and Islamophobia on the 25th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).
The bipartisan and multifaith US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), created by passage of the act in 1998, commemorated the 25th anniversary of IRFA at an October 23 event on Capitol Hill with an overview of USCIRF accomplishments, panel discussions, congressional remarks, and historical summaries of the act’s passage.
“As a clergy, as a man of faith, I am really disturbed by the loss of civilian life in Israel and Palestine,” said USCIRF commissioner Mohamed Magid, cofounder of the Multi-Faith Neighbors Network to build bridges between Muslim, evangelical, and Jewish communities.
“And also, I stand against antisemitism and Islamophobia in America, on campuses. Also the loss of many lives as we speak now, of civilians in Gaza, of children, and therefore we have to value all human life,” Magid said. “But I’m really standing with my brothers and sisters in Jewish community, and brothers and sisters in Muslim community.”
Commissioner Frederick A. Davie, USCIRF vice chair and senior strategic adviser to the president at Union Theological Seminary, reiterated USCIRF’s October 11 call for an international prayer service in response to the Israel-Hamas war. Death tolls vary, but thousands have been killed and injured. The US has confirmed the deaths of at least 33 Americans.
Davie offered USCIRF’s help in organizing and participating in such a prayer service that would acknowledge “the brutality and the horror and the depravity that is taking place in the …
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by | Oct 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
Breaking free from disinformation and systemic oppression entails discipling a nation.
In the Philippines, my home country, fake news travels fast—not only through social media, but through word-of-mouth communication spread by “Marites,” a Tagalog word for a person who gossips.
This is a compound word from mare, meaning “godmother” as well as clusters of friends in the neighborhood, and the English word latest. In effect, it means “Mare, what’s the latest?” So gossip goes around very fast, especially in densely populated, poor urban communities.
Technology has accelerated and expanded the spread of misinformation beyond what chatty friend networks ever could. It happens in the US and the West as a whole, as well as in countries where the government influences or restricts the media.
Analysts say that part of the reason Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his allies have returned to power is the way they have been able to massively use social media to revise narratives of our experience of authoritarianism under his father’s rule.
Christians across the world have rightly lamented the spread of fake news in their communities, the prevalence of conspiracy theories, and the skepticism toward ever being able to know the truth. Those of us in the Majority World are also sensitive to another dimension of this phenomenon: We are more likely to see the spiritual reality behind it.
We sense how the demonic could lodge and entrench itself in media technologies—our contemporary version of what Paul calls the “prince of the power of the air” in Ephesians 2:2 (ESV).
Paul’s language of “thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” in Colossians 1:16 (NKJV) suggests that the demonic manifests itself not only in personalities, …
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by | Oct 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
The path to restoring Christian credibility is paved with embodied action, not empty words.
It’s no secret that people today are questioning their faith and leaving the church because of religious hypocrisy—there’s even a recent study showing this to be the case.
The unbelieving world is paying more attention than ever to whether Christians’ beliefs and actions match up. If there’s anything we’ve learned in recent years, it’s that our simply knowing what is right doesn’t necessarily mean we will do it.
Of course, this kind of hypocrisy is not unique to religious people.
My sister, a nurse, once strolled by a couple of pulmonologists she knew as she was leaving the hospital. They were standing outside smoking cigarettes. She was struck by the irony: These doctors know all there is to know about lung disease and the toxic effects of smoking, and yet that did not prevent them from doing it anyway.
Similarly, there’s a world of difference between our intentions and our actions when it comes to doing the will of God. Yet many of us believe that if we think about the truth, theologize about it, and talk about it, we are doing God’s will. This is a mistake. Having a rational understanding of God’s will does not amount to true belief unless and until we act on that knowledge.
That’s because our being is shaped by our doing, rather than the other way around like many assume. We might know we should trust Jesus, for instance, but that’s different from actively putting our trust in him. Wanting to obey God is not obeying him. As Jesus puts it simply, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15, NASB).
Our kinship with others flows out of our relationship with God because God has made us the keepers …
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by | Oct 25, 2023 | Uncategorized
Pandemic disruptions spurred many churches to minister outside the walls of the church.
The pandemic held up a mirror to the American church. Congregations that rarely stepped back to evaluate their endless calendars of events were forced to assess whether their ministry models reflected the mandates given by Christ and the example of the early church. For many congregations, what they saw in the mirror was not pretty.
One East Coast pastor gave a common assessment.
“We’re not really as open and involved in the community as we could be, as we should be. I see nice little buildings. I see fancy decorations outside on the lawns, manicured perfectly, and the steeple is still bold and standing. I just think that as a household of God, there’s so much more we could do.”
For many, COVID-19 became a catalyst for change, an opportunity to recalibrate rhythms and fall in better alignment with the church we are called to be in Scripture.
Based on Chapter 6 of the report, in this episode host Aaron Hill (editor of ChurchSalary) sits down with two researchers from the Arbor Research Group, Ebonie Davis and Terry Linhart, to talk about how the pandemic pushed some churches to venture outside the walls of their church building in new and exciting ways. Featuring an in-depth interview with Dan Nold, a lead pastor of a multisite church who leveraged the pandemic to launch a monthly “Church Without Walls” Sunday, where instead of gathering for worship at church, members venture out and minister to their neighbors.
Hosted by Aaron Hill, editor of ChurchSalary
“COVID and the Church” is produced in conjunction with the Arbor Research Group and funded by the Lilly Endowment Inc. through a grant from the Economic Challenges Facing Pastoral Leaders (ECFPL) initiative.
Executive produced by …
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by | Oct 24, 2023 | Uncategorized
Last year, Thailand legalized abortion up to 20 weeks.
Getting pregnant at 15 hadn’t been part of Anong’s plans. The young Thai teenager ran away from home to live with her boyfriend’s family, and though they helped a little, the young couple still felt at a loss about how to navigate their situation.
What hospital should she go to? How would she get insurance? How would she take care of a child? Questions like these piled up and threatened to overwhelm Anong.
Should she just abort? That would be easier, she confided in a friend.
Months before Anong’s dilemma, IMB missionary Beth Hipps began building a network of believers and healthcare professionals in Chiang Mai, Thailand, who desired to walk alongside those experiencing unexpected pregnancies.
One of those believers heard Anong’s story and called Hipps.
“Can you come help her?” Hipps remembers the phone. All she could think was that Anong was the same age as her own daughter.
That day, Hipps and a friend were able to take Anong to a clinic for an ultrasound. Over the next few weeks, they talked through her questions and problems and helped her see she wouldn’t be alone if she decided to give birth.
Four months later, Anong gave birth to a healthy baby girl. As she settled into motherhood, she continued to have support from Hipps and other believers. She heard the gospel and knew her family was prayed for.
This was a life-changing experience, not only for Anong and her family but also for Hipps. She’d been praying and hoping to establish Chiang Mai’s first crisis pregnancy center but had no idea how to start outside of building a network of connections.
Working with Anong clarified for Hipps that helping didn’t have to be complicated. More than anything, those in crisis …
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