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Essays

Thoughtful personal reflections from a variety of perspectives about issues relevant to Christian leaders

Eric D. Barreto: Reading the Bible in public

How do we rightly read the Bible in the midst of the political issues of our time? A New Testament scholar calls for a renewed theological imagination, filled with generosity, hope and grace.

By Eric D. Barreto Frederick and Margaret L. Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

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Gretchen E. Ziegenhals: The how of asking good questions

Christian leaders spend their workdays asking questions, but few are trained in how to ask good ones. Good questions are powerful tools for building relationships, assessing needs, creating an atmosphere of inquiry and imagination, and charting a way forward.

By Gretchen E. Ziegenhals Spiritual director and retreat leader

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Velda Love: People want to be part of the conversation about race and equity

The United Church of Christ’s minister for racial justice helps people get started and stay on the journey of dismantling racism and deconstructing whiteness.

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Nathan Kirkpatrick: Tangier Island, the church and living on the edge

Tangier Island is losing up to 16 feet of coastline every year and will be uninhabitable within 50 years. How many congregations find themselves similarly watching the sea rise, and why aren’t we doing more for them?

By Nathan Kirkpatrick Principal, Saison Consulting, LLC

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Rhonda Mawhood Lee: The lie of suicide, and the abundant love of God

In the face of an onslaught of suicide, the church has a powerful counternarrative, says an Episcopal priest. We are made in God’s image and loved more deeply than we can imagine; death will not ultimately triumph over life.

By Rhonda Mawhood Lee Priest, spiritual director and writer

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The nine ingredients of New City Kids 'secret sauce'

The organization’s co-founder, Trevor Rubingh, identifies nine elements of the New City Kids after-school model that contribute to its effectiveness.

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Natasha Jamison Gadson: How I embraced my authority as an African-American woman in ministry

Overcoming stereotypes and assumptions has been difficult for a female minister in a historic African-American church. But, she writes, she was not serving the people by trying to be what others wanted her to be.

By Natasha Jamison Gadson Executive minister, Turner Memorial AME Church

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How a small congregation changed a larger one

After his church merged with a smaller, older congregation, a pastor discovered that -- like the yeast that leavens the loaf -- the addition of new members changed his work in wonderful ways.

By A. Trevor Sutton Pastor and writer

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Edgar Moore: Transforming yesterday's tools of war into museum relics

The activism of Parkland students brings to mind the Old Testament prophetic tradition in which God makes an end run around centers of privilege and power in order to proclaim the word, writes a retired UMC elder.

By Ed Moore Retired United Methodist elder

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Brian Christopher Coulter: Reflections on a gold-fringed stole

A fifth-generation pastor reflects on the gifts he received at his ordination, which point to both the static and the evolving nature of ministry.

By Brian Christopher Coulter Pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Aiken, SC

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