Coaching: A Year-Round Practice

By Joe Warton, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. In the same way the resurrection isn’t just for Easter, personal growth isn’t just for January. But a new year does prize open a window to talk about a powerful tool that can help you and those around you grow. I’m talking about coaching. Coaching is a huge and…

Classic EWP Talks: Political but Not Partisan

Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. When it comes to what Vince Bacote has called “political discipleship,” the church in the U.S. is already beginning to emerge – yes, it really is! – from a generation of Babylonian captivity. Young Christians aren’t interested in taking their public theology from ideological mouthpieces of the Right, and they also are not overreacting into…

The People of God Are Not a Fee-for-Service Organization

Reprinted from the Chalmers Center. We don’t often connect our work in fighting poverty (and economic life more generally) with our worship of the living God. But we should. When the collection plate is passed around in a church service, pastors often try to connect the dots to how our giving is part of worship. But it doesn’t always register with us.…

“We Need Saints Who…”

By Demi Prentiss, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. Oct 28, 2023, Pope Francis preached in the Casa Santa Marta, where he celebrates daily mass. He urged the church to be a place of open doors, and not of people who seek to control the faith.  He called for broadened expectations of how we might recognize saints among us: We need…

Career and Family (Review)

By David Gill, reprinted from The 313. Claudia Goldin, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2023 for her research on the history of women in the labor market. Her most recent book, Career & Family: Women’s Century-Long Journey toward Equity (2021), summarizes her findings. An economic historian and labor economist, Goldin is the author…

God the Arborist

By David Williamson. One of our favorite half-day ventures is the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, a short distance from our home. We enjoy it throughout the year, in full growth at the middle of summer, a brilliant array of colors in the autumn, with blooming and flowering trees in spring, and even picturesque (there are firs) in the winter.…

A Better Story: Work, Rest and Worship in 2024

By Paul Woolley, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in…

Classic EWP Talks: Planned, Called and Sent

Reprinted from the Oikonomia Network. How can we really, effectively, place the gospel within the larger context of who God is and his plan for all things? God’s unfolding mission of redemption in history is grounded in his eternal plan, which in turn is grounded in his own triune nature – three persons loving one another forever with holy love.…

Epiphany and Poverty Alleviation

Reprinted from the Chalmers Center. At the turn of the new year, many of us make plans. We might want to do more and do better, or we might want to do less and be more intentional in what we pursue.  In life and ministry, setting goals and resolving to move forward with renewed vigor can be a good thing,…

What’s My Advent Vocation?

By Demi Prentiss, reprinted from Living God’s Mission. I’ve been thinking a lot about vocation during these weeks of Advent, and the season has shifted my sense of how I’m seeking to live into the call God has placed on my life.  What is my Advent vocation? And how does that shape my life as a “child of God, beloved…