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Learning Sign Language for the Church Setting
09/22/2021

Department: Author: Becky Jones, Coreen GruppusoAt the Disability Concerns Leadership Training in August 2021, the ministry launched a program titled “Who’s Missing in my Church?” During the training event, disability concerns advocates heard from allies who spoke about what the church must do to f

Real Talk with Zuby Podcast
09/21/2021

Department: Author: Trevor DenningThe name Zuby might not be familiar. But his 447,200 Twitter followers and countless fans have made him the highest-funded U.K.-based rapper on Kickstarter, and his self-published health and fitness guide has sold thousands of copies. Born in England, raised in Sau

Efren Divided
09/21/2021

Department: Author: Sonya VanderVeen FeddemaAt 11 years of age, Efren has a lot on his mind. He realizes his hardworking, loving mother and father—Ama and Apa—do all they can to give him and his 6-year-old twin siblings, Max and Mia, a secure life. But life feels anything but safe because, though E

Genesis of Terrian
09/21/2021

Department: Author: Paul DelgerTerrian breaks into the solo Christian EP music scene with her six-song recording Genesis of Terrian. Best known for her work with veteran musician TobyMac and his band Diverse City, Terrian offers listeners a solid message percolating with hip hop, gospel, and strong

How Can We Teach Our Kids (and Ourselves) Media Literacy?
09/20/2021

Department: Author: Dean R. HeetderksAs a boomer (born between 1946 and 1964), perhaps I’m a lost cause when it comes to changing my bad habits online, but what about our kids and grandkids? Is there anything we can do?First off, you’re not a lost cause. You learned to treat the tabloids screaming

Thinking Historically About Church Conflicts
09/20/2021

Department: Author: Will KaterbergEditor’s Note: This article is the first in an online series called “Past Controversies, Present Insights.” The series explores issues that shook our denomination at the time, but now we might wonder what the big deal was. In the articles, William Katerberg, curato

Reply All
09/20/2021

Department: Author: Christians and GunsWe as people of faith are called to defend our families and extended families at our worship facilities (“Big Questions,” May 2021). I see this as a biblical call from the Lord. For reference, I find my Bible provides the proper justification: Exodus 22:2 and

Afterlife
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Sonya VanderVeen FeddemaIn her mid-60s, Antonia Vega—author, retired English professor, and recently widowed—feels the secure foundation of her life in a small Vermont town crumbling beneath her. No stranger to domestic conflict and political unrest as a child growing up in the

His Faithfulness Continues
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Robert J. KeeleyIn the first half of the 20th century, Dutch immigrants to North America started a number of CRC churches and, often, just a few years later, Christian Schools. One such school, the Timothy Christian Schools in the Chicago area, is the subject of His Faithfulness

Blue Miracle
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Mary Li MaA true story about how an orphanage tries to survive financial hardship by entering a fishing contest might sound mundane, but extraordinary is exactly what this movie achieves. First of all, watching a movie titled “Blue Miracle” with every scene intentionally decorat

About Those Awards
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Shiao ChongI was hesitant to write this blog because I was afraid it might come across as bragging. However, I do think it is important to mark, celebrate, and acknowledge achievements. It not only encourages our souls, as an editorial team, but also encourages our readers and s

Ontario Church’s Grief Support Ministry Hosts Butterfly Release
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Alissa VernonOn Sept. 1, 100 monarch butterflies flew from envelope enclosures into the freedom of King Edward Park in Brighton, Ont., winging their way on a migration to Mexico. The release of the tagged insects is a yearly undertaking by local researcher Don Davis. For two yea

Ministries to Seafarers Connect Crews to Clinics, Support
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Maia VanderMeerSeafarer centers across North America are liaising between ships and government clinics in order to provide seafarers with access to vaccines against COVID-19. It’s been a long time coming. Michelle DePooter-Francis, lead chaplain of Ministry to Seafarers (M2S) Mo

Taking Care of Our Kids During COVID
09/17/2021

Department: Author: Linda L HanstraAs I Was Saying is a forum for a variety of perspectives to foster faith-related conversations among our readers with the goal of mutual learning, even in disagreement. Apart from articles written by editorial staff, these perspectives do not necessarily reflect t

Justice and the Gospel
09/15/2021

Department: Author: Colin P. Watson Sr.Our world is replete with problems! Global conflicts, growing food insecurity, racial inequality, economic disparity—there seems to be an unending list of wrongs that need to be righted. Some have said that these things are a sign of the end times—but are they

Modern Love Podcast
09/14/2021

Department: Author: Kayleigh FongersMarriage. Death. Adoption. Catfishing. For 16 years, The New York Times’ Modern Love column has brought the joys and complications of real-life relationships to its readers through reader-submitted essays. Now, in recent years, the Modern Love podcast relays some

Outside In
09/14/2021

Department: Author: Mary Li MaThis Caldecott-winning book offers a lyrical journey exploring common grace, as manifested in the relationship between human beings and their natural environment. It all began with original unity: “Once we were part of Outside and Outside was part of us. There was noth

Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful
09/14/2021

Department: Author: Paul DelgerApollo LTD, the duo named after the NASA program that sent people to the moon, provides a large dose of encouragement with its second release—“Nothing is Ordinary. Everything is Beautiful.” “That's a narrative we always weave into our music, which is the desire to bel

New Mexico Church Slow to Recover From Break-in
09/13/2021

Department: Author: DeAndra ValdezEditor’s note: This story, originally published Sept. 3, 2021, has been updated to reflect the actual date of the break-in and to clear up a misunderstanding about coverage of the damage costs. Ten months after their church building was burglarized, members of Crow

What Does It Mean That Man Is Totally Depraved?
09/13/2021

Department: Author: Felix FernandezWhen I was growing up in church, the analogy that the fiery evangelist loved to use to compel the lost to come to Christ was that of a person drowning out at sea. All they needed to do, he said, was take hold of the life preserver called the gospel of Christ, and