Image © Moe Photography | Flickr | Used under Creative Commons license. Americans Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd were hiking the Iraqi mountains in July 2009 when they were arrested for allegedly illegally crossing the border from Iraq to Iran. Sarah was released in 2010 after more than a year in solitary confinement. [...]

A few years ago, an older friend lost his wife to a sudden, unexpected illness and death. He was overwhelmed with grief and wondered how he would go on living without her. One of their old friends phoned him when she first heard the news. She was living in Europe at the time and had [...]

I stood before our congregation in the fall of 2004 and said, “I want you to have a slim Christmas this year . . . and whatever you spend on your family, bring an equal amount for hunger relief in the Sudan. Because Christmas is not your birthday; it’s Jesus’ birthday.” That Christmas, our people [...]

Did Mary Want to Be Mary? Thirteen-year-old Mary, standing by the spring of Nazareth and listening to the sound of water bubbling forth from the rock, heard the words of the messenger, and she tried desperately to take it all in. Would she really be the mother of the Messiah? She was to be pregnant, [...]

News Headlines Egyptian Coptics Attacked, Dozens Slightly Injured – CNN St. Paul’s Still Suffering Huge Losses Because of Protest Camp – Telegraph Church Leaders Urge Scottish Government Not to Redefine Marriage – Christian Today Queen Celebrates Anniversary of King James Bible, 1611 Translation is ‘DNA’ of English Language – Christian Post Tea Party, Occupy Movements [...]

A Road Retraveled set up by the Basilica of St Francis by Eusebius at Commons by Mark Gstohl by cmatulewicz by Liverpool Design Festival Earlier this week, someone asked us to list five things that churches really need to do at Christmas. The Ministry Matters team brainstormed the question and came up with the following [...]