Over the last few years, conservative evangelicals in the Church of England have been united in their opposition to new services of blessing for same-sex couples. They have dug their heels in on General Synod to try to vote down the project at every stage, winning numerous victories along the way. Earlier this year, the bishops formally shuttered the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) project, leaving further liberal reforms unlikely in the near future.
Despite these victories, there are signs of fracture the movement. While united in their support for traditional teaching about sex and marriage, conservative evangelicals are divided about their place in a church where same-sex relationships can now be blessed.
William Taylor is not the first to make such a call or Lee Gatiss to oppose it. See 50 Years Ago Today: The Split Between John Stott and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Understanding Opponents. In the nineteenth century J. C. Ryle resisted similar calls.Canadian woman approved for euthanasia after losing ability to cook
A woman in her 70s who felt she no longer offered value to her family because she lost her cooking ability was reportedly approved for euthanasia in Canada, prompting doctors in Toronto to raise the alarm at the ease with which Canadians can undergo physician-assisted suicide.
Madeline Li and Gary Rodin, who are professors of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, mentioned the unidentified woman in a Monday op-ed for The New York Times, offering her as an example of the expanding consequences of Canada legalizing "medical assistance in dying" (MAiD) in 2016.
Illinois Parish’s St. Francis’ Statue Stolen, Scrapped for $100
In a news release shared with local media on October 1, the Alton Police Department said it had identified the individuals believed to be responsible for the theft. Investigators also noted that less than 48 hours after it was taken, the statue was scrapped for $100 somewhere in St. Louis, Missouri, a roughly 30-minute drive from Alton.
2,700 conversions recorded as Germany’s Free Evangelical Churches report renewed growth
Baptisms and conversions have risen across Germany’s Federation of Free Evangelical Churches, as new figures suggest congregational life has largely rebounded after the setbacks of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Federation of Free Evangelical Churches in Germany (FeG) had 504 congregations and 40,933 members at the end of 2025, according to its latest statistics.
The book that changed Sweden: 500 years of the Swedish New Testament
2026 is the 500th anniversary of the first New Testament in Swedish. This is the story....
A Manhattan Parish’s ‘Magic Sauce’
For one Episcopal parish in the heart of Manhattan, it’s hard to pinpoint what makes them thrive when the magic sauce is seemingly all over the place.
St. James’ Church, a predominantly neighborhood parish that prides itself on actively sharing the love of Jesus Christ with each other, their city, and the world, the “magic sauce” means not taking themselves too seriously—precisely because they take Jesus and his kingdom most seriously.
Why We Need History More than Ever Before
“I’m just . . . disconnected,” a friend said, pausing before emphasizing the last word. I was chatting after church with some young adults, and one of them, with her characteristic candor and insight, touched on something. This sense of disconnection was the same thing I was hearing from my students at university. In contemporary culture, many people are rootless, atomized, and unsure of where they belong.
When life is all about self-invention, history is deemed irrelevant. And yet the culture of “you do you” is producing an epidemic of loneliness, an “anxious generation” (to use Jonathan Haidt’s term), and rapid polarization as people desperately try to find meaning and purpose in the myriad of idols of this world, from politics to wellness to transhumanism. People are yearning to be part of a larger story.
This is an opportunity for Christians. God invites his people to be part of a much larger historical story. If we understand something about why history matters biblically, and how to steward it well, then history can help us speak the gospel into this rootless age.
Did Early Christians Believe Jesus Was God? Philippians 2
About 20 years. That is roughly the gap between the crucifixion and a hymn early Christians were already reciting about Jesus, one that puts him on equal footing with God. If that timeline holds, the popular idea that Jesus’ divinity was added later runs into a problem. There was no “later” for anyone to add it in.
Theologian Gavin Ortlund builds that case in a video response to what he calls “evolutionary Christology,” the theory that belief in Jesus as God grew slowly over the decades after his death. Ortlund, who leads the Truth Unites ministry and serves as theologian-in-residence at Immanuel Nashville, argues for something closer to what New Testament scholar Larry Hurtado called a “big bang.” In that view, Jesus’ earliest Jewish followers recognized his divine status quickly, not gradually.
Is Jesus the Social Justice Champion of Progressives?
Progressive Christians often present a truncated portrait of Jesus, highlighting the parts of his ministry that fit their emphasis on social reform. In their view, Jesus was a social justice warrior who stood in solidarity with the poor and marginalized, challenged unjust systems and structures of power, and called his followers to pursue love, inclusion, and liberation.
10 Things a Pastor Should Never Do (If You Want to Last)
These 10 patterns have wrecked gifted leaders and wounded the people they were called to serve. Read them as guardrails, not gossip. A pastor should never....
When Ministry Is Harder On the Pastor’s Spouse
When you love someone, you’d do anything to take some or all of their pain on yourself. But you seldom can.
Don’t Suppress Young Men. A Pastoral Skill
I’ve seen it many times. The young guy is zealous. He absorbs theology like a sponge. He reads. He writes. He reflects. He engages. He’s what every church wants right?
But for many zealous young men, the pastor is constantly wet-blanket-ing them. We’re not talking about the wise correction that applies prudence to actions or precision to claims. Instead, there is a habit of exacerbation and frustration which the pastor adopts with nearly every interaction with the young zealot. A pastor’s actions can go against the wisdom of Eph 6.4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
While God Pursues the Prodigal, How Do We Love the Mourning Family?
As leaders in ministry, here are three ways we can offer families biblical hope and practical help for loving their prodigal children.
Get a Grip: “Claude” Isn’t a Person
Anthropic is anthropomorphizing its AI program known as “Claude” with the apparent intention of convincing us that powerful computer programs are — or can become — conscious “persons” with “feelings.” And, they think, Claude should one day be treated as such, to the point that they have held meetings with religious leaders to discuss the moral concepts that might apply.
Nothing good can come from so anthropomorphizing AI. (I don’t care what President Trump wants to call it.) Understanding the moral distinction between humans and machines is essential to maintaining a proper sense of moral hierarchy in our affairs.
Leaning Into the Grind
It’s time to lean into the grind. What does that mean? Read on to find out!
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