Exploring Faith and Spirituality

Religion

Looksmaxxing Is a Crisis of Modern Masculinity. The Church Has a Cure.

In corners of the internet not far from where you’re reading this, young men are discussing beauty tips and ways of “maximizing” their physical appearance. It’s called “looksmaxxing,” and it’s dubi...

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Meryl Streep’s casting as Aslan has angered the Christian right. Don’t they have more pressing issues?

The Oscar-winner is voicing Narnia’s wise lion in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, leading to roars of fury from US evangelical commentators It is a confusing time to be alive, g...

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Criticize like a Christian

Jethro criticized Moses. Samuel confronted Saul’s disobedience. Paul challenged Peter when he separated from Gentile believers. Jesus chastised the Pharisees. Many of the Bible’s most faithful fig...

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Better Together: Men and Women in the Church

When men and women work together toward a shared mission and vision in Christ’s church, we get a fuller representation of what it means to bear the image of God. But what does that look like? And i...

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‘Heart of the Beast’ Shows Why Man Should Not Be Alone

Why are we so compelled by “solitary man surviving in the wild” stories? We love TV shows like Alone, Man vs. Wild, Outlast, or the long-running Survivor (season 51 premiered this week!). We love b...

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Impossible for Apostates to Return? The True Meaning of Hebrews 6:4–6

Years ago, a woman wrote me with an agonized question. Despite having grown up in the church, she had left it for a life of sin and now regretted her wayward paths. Yet she was unsure if she could ...

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Tim Keller’s Final Exhortation: Notice the Stories that Shape You

Tim Keller spent some of his last days on earth thinking through the stories our culture tells us. In his hospital room during intensive cancer treatments, he used the whiteboard intended to list m...

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4 Missionary Insights for Workplace Evangelism

When I’m in the United States, people can’t understand my Australian accent. For example, when I go to Starbucks and the staff member asks for my name, he or she cannot understand my pronunciation ...

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Pastor Roundup: How to Prepare a Preaching Calendar

I (Jared) began seminary in 2001. Shortly after I arrived on campus, my Greek professor told all the aspiring pastors in our class that we should attend an after-hours workshop on expositional prea...

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Before Your Church Plants, Ask Why

My church in Singapore is preparing to plant a church. We knew there would be questions, starting with “Why are we doing this?” Why choose to make ourselves smaller? Why “lose” faithful members an...

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Editor’s Pick: Children’s Discipleship Resources

Discipling kids at home and in the church is an ever-changing challenge. The truths of Christianity never change, but our culture mutates so rapidly it’s hard to keep up. A friend of mine planned ...

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How Do You Want Your Children to Remember You? (with Michael Keller)

I want to tell a story about how I learned something that changed my life. It was the first Keller Center retreat in 2023. Our inaugural fellows, a couple dozen of them, didn’t know each other well...

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How Your Story of Sorrow Fits into the Gospel Story

Everyone has a story. Your story is shaped by the culture you live in. In my city, we’ve absorbed the story of success, which whispers that we’re only as valuable as our last achievement or our mos...

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When Your Christian Workplace Isn’t Very Christian

I work for a Christian organization that does not have a healthy culture. This leads me to feel a lot of discouragement and cynicism. I know the world is full of sin, including at Christian ministr...

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The Parable of the Cancer Cell

I’m walking through a season of suffering in the form of cancer. My weeks are filled with trips to the hospital, blood draws, and days resting in bed. I’m thankful the cancer is very treatable and ...

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How to Grieve When Loved Ones Leave for the Mission Field

I talk about my soon-to-be missionary parents often, and there’s pride on my face each time. I love to tell how the Lord has gifted them with a heart for the nations and how they’ve prayed for the ...

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What AI Is Teaching My Youth Group Girls

“I can’t even text my friend without asking AI what to say first,” one of the girls in my eighth- and ninth-grade small group told me. It’s no surprise that each generation, for the most part, use...

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Why I’m Not a Christian Nationalist

Not long ago, our church got an unexpected lesson in the importance of religious liberty. We’ve been looking for property for a permanent location for our Chapel Hill campus, which currently meets...

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The Subversive Gospel in a Polarized World (Part 2)

Does the gospel have the power to bridge the chasms within our polarized society? In the second of this two-part episode, recorded at TGC25, Bill Riedel gives pastoral reflections on how we can see...

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How Privatized Spirituality Makes Us Lonely

Over the past three years, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard someone say something like “I believe in God, but I’m against organized religion,” “I’m spiritual, but I’m not religious,” or...

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Live, Laugh, Love, and Blame Christian Women

On rainy Sunday afternoons in my childhood, I’d go over to my grandparents’ house and watch I Love Lucy. In several episodes, Lucy and Ethel head off to bridge club. The card game is an excuse for ...

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