Christian Practices

Restorative justice practices teach high school students to share stories and resolve conflict

A nonprofit hosts conversation circles in schools as part of its commitment to healing trauma and preventing violence in Chicago’s Bronzeville community.

By Alison Bowen Journalist

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Cultivating a practice of awe reinforces our reverence for God

Research shows that embracing awe can make us better people, writes an associate director of the Thriving Congregations Coordination Program.

By Angel Eaglin Associate Director, Thriving Congregations Coordination Program

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It’s time to reclaim creativity

Christians should embrace creativity as a way to make space for God and to imagine things beyond their own capabilities, writes a pastor and denominational leader.

By Chris Aho Director, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Thriving Congregations Initiative

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When songs become sermons — a different way of preaching

No longer able to sustain a choral program and facing clergy overload, members of a Maryland congregation now tell the old, old story by leaning into music, their pastor writes.

By McKenna Wallen Pastor, Maryland Presbyterian Church

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Advent feels as if it were made just for me

The season of longing encompasses both the joy and the pain of our very human desire for God, writes an author.

By Jean Neely Scholar and writer

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‘Faithful, Creative, Hopeful: Fifteen Theses for Christians in a Crisis-Shaped World’

In this excerpt from his upcoming book, a scholar reflects on wandering and welcome.

By Jesse A. Zink Principal, Montreal Diocesan Theological College

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A note to pastors from a visitor in your pews

Writing from her perspective as a former pastor and now frequent church visitor, an associate director for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity’s Thriving Congregations Coordination Program suggests simple, concrete ways to welcome the visiting stranger.