Prayer Changes Everything, But Prayer Doesn’t Fix Everything

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December 10, 2022

I believe that prayer changes everything, but it doesn’t fix everything. I’ve been a praying person for much of my life. Has it worked? Has it fixed me entirely?

Apparently not, because I still have a long way to grow.

You’ve no doubt prayed about some things, hoping for prayer to fix it, right?

When we’re sick, we pray for God to heal us.

When we’re poor, we pray for God to provide.

When we’ve been wronged, we pray for God to make it right.

All of those prayers are good prayers. God calls on us to trust him in such moments to move, to work and to act on our behalf.

But still, praying doesn’t “fix” all of the situations we encounter.

In the Book of Acts, chapter four, we read the story of Peter and John being arrested for preaching about Jesus. Later, they’re released after a strong lecture from the temple police about not continuing to spread the gospel.

How Prayer Changes Everything But Doesn’t Fix Everything in the Bible

The church, in response, begins to pray. And here’s the spoiler…the persecution issue actually gets worse.

Prayer didn’t fix it. The problem remained. But prayer did change the situation. Here’s what the church prayed…

‘The Church Doesn’t Flee’—How One Organization Empowers People Suffering From Extreme Poverty

By

Jessica Mouser

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December 9, 2022

Five Talents is a Christian organization that seeks to help people in some of the poorest countries in the world by partnering with local churches to facilitate microenterprise. Through its efforts, the group is changing people’s lives by giving them the tools they need to better their situations.

“I became transformed in learning how to plan a business, and the qualities of a godly woman and mother,” says Frida from Burundi. “Since joining the program my life has changed. God has transformed my life (from prostitution and alcoholism) in how I plan and how I behave. In my community, I was chosen as a local leader and a counselor. As a widow, I have finally built my own house and my children have continued their studies. I was very glad to leave my past situation. My children now trust in the power of Jesus Christ.”

Five Talents: Empowering Women, Changing Lives

Every 10 years, the bishops in the Anglican Communion meet in Lambeth, England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury. At the meeting that occurred in 1998, Bishop Simon Chiwanga from Tanzania said he could not share the hope of the gospel when people in rural Tanzania were starving. “Empty stomachs make for blocked up ears,” he said. “How can the church respond wisely to extreme poverty?”

It was through the bishop’s remarks that Five Talents was born. The organization does not have a single founder per se, but grew out of a collaboration of leaders who “prepared a strategy for empowering the world’s poor through the ministry of the church,” says Liz Ha, Director of Strategic Partnerships for Five Talents. “These leaders were shaped by the Parable of the Talents and their belief is that each person is created with God-given dignity, abilities and resources that can be identified, cultivated, and multiplied.”

Five Talents partners with local churches in countries primarily in Africa, although it also has a presence elsewhere in the world, such as Myanmar. The group’s efforts, says Ha, are “very grassroots.” There is often not much government infrastructure or even NGOs in the areas where Five Talents goes.

Through its partnership with local churches, Five Talents teaches people basic literacy and numeracy. Once participants are competent in those areas, they have the opportunity to enter a savings and loan group led by a Five Talents facilitator. These groups are similar to fellowship groups, says Ha. Attendees learn how to save money and start a business. Each group comes with an emergency fund because most members have no other resources if an emergency should arise.

After six months of saving, the savings and loan group enters what is known as the “Shark Tank” phase. In this phase, members present their business ideas to their peers, and the group provides feedback as to whether the member pitching his or her idea is ready to receive a loan.

Ha explained that Five Talents does not hand out loans to members; rather, the loans are all derived from the savings of the group, so there is a high degree of accountability. “It’s the difference between dependence and empowerment because they have skin in the game,” she says, noting that it’s “powerful” for people to trust others with their money and “equally powerful” to get such support from a group of peers.

Also, “Gender inequity is such a driver in the countries that we work in,” says Ha, that most women would never qualify for a loan without this opportunity. Five Talents groups average 95% loan repayment rate, and in some countries, such as Burundi, the rate is even higher.

The Satanic Temple Puts Up Holiday Display Next to Nativity, Menorah in Illinois Capitol

By

Stephanie Martin

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December 9, 2022

A controversial holiday display has returned to the State Capitol Rotunda in Springfield, Illinois. The Satanic Temple, a nontheistic group, is once again showcasing its values near more traditional displays such as a Christmas tree, nativity scene, and Jewish menorah.

This year’s Satanic Temple exhibit features a crocheted snake, apples, and a once-banned astronomy book by Copernicus. Because the rotunda is designated as a free-speech area, previous displays by the Satanist organization are legally permitted. Last year its exhibit showcased a swaddled baby version of the deity Baphomet, and a December 2018 statue was dubbed Snaketivity.

Satanic Temple Display Honors Sol Invictus Holiday

The December 25^th holiday Sol Invictus, formerly designated to celebrate Roman gods, now honors “being unconquered by superstition and consistent in the pursuit and sharing of knowledge,” notes the Satanic Temple website. The group says the Copernicus tome represents banned books and religious plurality.

A Satanic Temple Illinois leader who identifies himself as Minister Adam tells a local TV station, “The serpent of Genesis and the apples symbolizes that whole ‘forbidden knowledge’ sort of thing. The book, obviously, is one that was banned, but also something that is really important to remember, which is that Copernicus himself was not actually persecuted by the church. Instead, he worked in harmony with them. And we like to see that this is an affirmation of our Satanic values, by existing in harmony with other religions.”

As a “nontheistic” group, The Satanic Temple says it doesn’t believe in a literal Satan, worship Satan, or proselytize. Its controversial After School Satan Clubs “focus on free inquiry and rationalism,” according to the group. “We prefer to give children an appreciation of the natural wonders surrounding them, not a fear of everlasting other-worldly horrors.”

State Can’t Censor Holiday Displays

The Illinois Secretary of State’s office permits the holiday displays every December. A sign in the rotunda notes: “The State of Illinois is required by the First Amendment to allow temporary, public displays in the state capitol so long as these displays are not paid for by taxpayer dollars. Because the first floor of the Capitol Rotunda is a public place, state officials cannot legally censor the content or speech of displays.”

Critics of The Satanic Temple displays include Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki, who has challenged and warned about the exhibits. “Christians look forward to eternal happiness with God in heaven,” he says. “Those who worship Satan are doomed to suffer the pains of hell with the Evil One and his minions forever.” Adding that people are “free to choose” their belief system, he says, “I pray for the conversion of sinners and their eternal salvation.”

Amy Grant To Host Niece’s Same-Sex Wedding, Believes Jesus Wants Us To ‘Love God and Love Each Other’

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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December 9, 2022

Amy Grant is Christian music royalty, having been recognized by The Kennedy Center Honors earlier this month (Dec. 6). Along with being nominated for 20 Grammy awards, Grant has been awarded over 20 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards over her successful career.

Grant pushed the boundaries of Christian pop music with her 1991 release of “Heart In Motion.” The album would cross the barriers of Christian music, going on to sell more than 5 million copies.

Grant’s hit singles “Baby, Baby,” “That’s What Love Is For,” and “Every Heartbeat” propelled her into the limelight of secular radio stations and into the homes of pop listeners around the world.

The Christian music queen of pop’s success opened doors for other Christian artists like Michael W. Smith, who crossed into the secular music world with his hit album “Change Your World” in 1992.

Grant’s influential platform has given her the opportunity to speak out for the LGBTQ community. In 2013, Grant did her first LGBTQ+ press interview with PrideSource.com for the promotion of her “How Mercy Looks From Here” album.

In that interview, Grant answered questions about her faith and the LGBTQ community. She shared, “I know that the religious community has not been very welcoming, but I just want to stress that the journey of faith brings us into community, but it’s really about one relationship. The journey of faith is just being willing and open to have a relationship with God. And everybody is welcome. Everybody.”

Grant told “Proud Radio” host Hunter Kelly in 2021, “Nothing about who we are or what we’ve done. That’s why to me it’s so important to set a welcome table, because I was invited to a table where someone said, ‘Don’t be afraid, you’re loved.’ Gay. Straight. It does not matter.”

It “doesn’t matter how we behave. It doesn’t matter how we’re wired,” Grant said. “We’re all our best selves when we believe to our core: ‘I’m loved.’ And then our creativity flourishes. We’re like, ‘I’m gonna arrange flowers on your table and my table.’ When we’re loved, we’re brave enough to say yes to every good impulse that comes to us.”

More recently, Grant shared with The Washington Post that she and her husband will be hosting her niece’s wedding at their 450-acre farm.

How God Saved Nickelodeon Star Kel Mitchell From Suicide To Become a Youth Pastor

By

Jessica Mouser

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December 9, 2022

Actor, producer and comedian Kel Mitchell, who in the 1990s starred in Nickelodeon’s “All That” and “Kenan and Kel,” says that he went through an extremely dark period in his life that almost led to suicide in 2005. But God saved him and eventually called him to become a youth pastor.

“When I got the call to be a youth pastor, God spoke to me so clearly in my time of prayer,” Mitchell told Fox News Digital. “And I said, ‘Yo, I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it.’ He’s been there for me. And I want others to feel this joy and to feel this peace. We want people to live. We want people to enjoy life. And I’m all about that.”

Kel Mitchell: We Are ‘Born for a Purpose’

Kel Mitchell, who is from Chicago, got his break when a talent agent noticed him acting on stage and helped him get cast at age 15 in Nickelodeon’s “All That,” a comedy sketch series. Mitchell appeared in the show from 1994 to 1999, and he and his “All That” costar Kenan Thompson starred in the spinoff, “Kenan and Kel,” which ran from 1996 to 2000. Mitchell and Thompson also starred in the 1997 film, “Good Burger,” based on a sketch from “All That.”

Mitchell has remained in show business and appears in the new movie, “All I Didn’t Want for Christmas.” He also recently appeared on the Dec. 3 episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) where he and Thompson (now an SNL cast member) joined host Keke Palmer for a sketch titled “Kenan and Kelly.”

“That was awesome! Such a fun blessed night!” said Mitchell on Facebook. “God I’m so grateful! Proverbs 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him], And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance].”

Kel Mitchell shared with journalist Jemele Hill that he went through some “really dark areas” in his life from 1997 through 2005, but wasn’t talking to anyone about what he was going through. Eventually, in 2005 he stood on the balcony of hotel about to commit suicide, but he did not jump because something stopped him. That “was the Lord speaking to my spirit at that moment,” said Mitchell. It was then that the actor started a “faith adventure” to seek God’s face and turn his life around.

Mitchell told Fox News Digital that he grew up in church, but “there’s a difference between knowing God and having a relationship with God. And I just got to a point in my life where I wanted to make sure that he was in everything that I do. Because when I was trying to figure out everything on my own, I got into a lot of frustration and situations. And the thing about it is that a lot of depression comes from internalizing frustration, and you need to get it out. And you need to know that you’re loved by God and you were born for a purpose. When I figured that out, I wanted others to know that as well because he was always there for me in the ups and downs of my life.”

39% of Americans Believe the World Is Ending, but Most Evangelicals Don’t Believe Global Warming Is To Blame

By

Dale Chamberlain

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December 9, 2022

global warming — Photo by Ana Arantes (via Pexels)

Roughly 2 in 5 Americans believe that we are living in the end times, according to a new study conducted by Pew Research. This number jumps to 63% among evangelicals and 76% among Black protestants.

Notably, only a minority of mainline protestants and Catholics agree: 31% and 27%, respectively. These numbers are much more in line with religiously unaffiliated Americans, 24% of which believe we are living in the end times.

Nevertheless, despite the common belief in religious spaces that the end is near, evangelicals are among the least likely to see the potentially existential threat posed by climate change as an issue of serious concern. Only 34% of evangelicals believe that global warming is an “extremely/very serious problem,” compared to 55% of mainline protestants, 68% of Black protestants, 57% of Catholics, and 70% of the religiously unaffiliated.

Evangelicals are also the least likely to believe that climate change is affected by human activity, with only 34% believing so. This is compared to 55% of all Americans and 66% of the religiously unaffiliated.

Nevertheless, 64% of evangelicals agree that the earth is sacred, and 86% mostly or completely agree that “God gave humans a duty to protect and care for Earth.”

In attempting to explain these numbers, Pew discovered that no single explanation can be found. However, researchers did note that lowered concern about global warming among evangelicals could be explained by a variety of factors that were both political and theological in nature.

From a political standpoint, researchers discover that, across every category of religious affiliation, those who leaned Republican or were registered Republican were far less likely to agree that global warming is a serious problem. Given that a majority of evangelicals in America lean Republican, this political factor could partly explain the skew in responses.

In line with Republican philosophy of government, 56% of evangelicals fear that environmental regulations “will cause a gradual loss of individual freedoms” and that the government will “overreact to global climate change by creating unnecessary environmental regulations.” Among all Americans, 42% agree with the former statement, and 39% with the latter.

Nevertheless, religious factors are also at play. Among respondents who were religiously committed (defined as attending a religious service at least once or twice a month), only 8% said that they have heard a great deal about climate change in sermons or spiritual teachings.

In fact, 81% of evangelicals said that their exposure to conversations regarding global warming from the pulpit was “little to none.” Relatedly, 86% of evangelicals said that they have had few to no conversations about climate change with other people in their congregation.

University of Idaho Settles Christian Students’ Free Speech Lawsuit

By

Rebecca Boone

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December 9, 2022

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The University of Idaho will pay $90,000 to settle a lawsuit from members of a Christian law students’ organization who claimed their freedom of speech was violated when the school’s civil rights investigation office issued no-contact orders against them.

The settlement, filed in Idaho’s U.S. District Court this week, resolves a case brought by three students belonging to the Christian Legal Society and the law school professor who serves as the group’s faculty advisor. The group sued the university in April, contending the school illegally punished them for expressing their religious beliefs.

In court documents, attorneys for the University of Idaho noted that the no-contact orders were issued after another student reported she felt harassed by group members who had expressed negative opinions regarding her sexuality in person, left her a note about the matter and said they would continue to try to talk to her and other students about it.

As part of the settlement, the university also rescinded the orders. Attorney Tyson Langhofer of the Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented the CLS students, said in a news release that he hoped the settlement would encourage all public universities to support the freedom of students and professors to share their deeply held beliefs on campus.

“Today’s university students will be tomorrow’s leaders, judges and school administrators, so it’s imperative that university officials model the First Amendment freedoms they are supposed to be teaching their students,” Langhofer said.

Jodi Walker, a spokeswoman for the University of Idaho, called the settlement a “business decision” that was made in the best interest of students, the university and the state.

“Litigation costs money and time as well as creates the potential for ongoing trauma to students,” Walker said via email. “The university is often disadvantaged in such a case as laws prevent us from sharing the full story. This case, for us, has always been about safe access to education, which is paramount.”

The conflict that led to the lawsuit arose in the spring after an anti-LGBTQ slur was found written on a whiteboard at the University of Idaho’s Boise campus, roughly 300 miles south of the school’s main campus in Moscow.

In response, the College of Law held a public event in Moscow to condemn the slur and support the community.

Members of the CLS, which requires its members follow a code that includes renouncing any sex outside of heterosexual marriage as “immoral conduct,” attended the event and prayed publicly.

A university student referred to as Ms. Doe in court documents questioned why the CLS students were there, noting the group’s stance toward LGBTQ rights. What happened next is a matter of dispute.

Attorneys for the CLS students said they responded respectfully, explaining their beliefs based on their interpretation of the Bible.

Pennsylvania Panel Updates Anti-Discrimination Regulations

By

Mark Scolforo

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December 9, 2022

anti-discrimination — FILE - Philadelphia's altered gay pride flag is seen outside City Hall on June 19, 2017, in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania government regulations would be revised with extensive definitions of sex, religious creed and race under a proposal set for a vote on Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022 — a change some Republican lawmakers see as an overreach on a subject they think should not be addressed without legislation. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A state panel on Thursday narrowly approved new definitions of sex, religious creed and race in Pennsylvania’s anti-discrimination regulations, with three members appointed by Democrats in favor and two Republican appointees voting no.

The Independent Regulatory Review Commission signed off on the set of definitions that concern the types of employment, housing, education and public accommodations discrimination complaints that can be brought before the state Human Relations Commission.

Supporters said the definitions will provide greater clarity to people who bring such complaints as well as the employers, organizations and others who must defend against them, while opponents said the Legislature was better positioned to make those changes.

“It just seems to me that the Legislature has not adopted definitions over the course of numerous, numerous years,” said the regulatory panel’s chairman, George Bedwick, a Democratic appointee. He called it “strong evidence that the intent” when the Human Relations Act was first adopted in the 1950s and continues to be “to allow the commission to define those terms.”

Republican appointee John Soroko said his “no” vote was based “solely and strictly” on his belief that the change in regulations was outside the Human Relations Commission’s authority.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said he supported the change, which is expected to take effect early next year.

“I have been clear — hate has no place in Pennsylvania,” Wolf said in a statement issued after the vote. “This includes protecting the rights of individuals facing discrimination by a school, landlord, or employer based on who they love or their gender identity.”

The move to clarify the terms “sex,” “religious creed” and “race” builds on a 2018 decision by the Human Relations Commission to start accepting complaints about LGBTQ discrimination.

The regulation defines “sex” as including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, sex assigned at birth, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, and differences in sex development.

“Race” discrimination includes ancestry, national origin, ethnic characteristics, interracial marriages and association, traits such as hairstyles that are historically associated with race, and national origin or ancestry.

And “religious creed” covers all aspects of religious observance, practice and belief.

In a May letter to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission, state Rep. Seth Grove, R-York, argued the new definitions were in effect an end-run around the Legislature.

Ministry Helps Parents of Prodigals ‘Realize They’re Not Alone’

By

Scott Barkley

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December 9, 2022

Couples involved in Prodigal Child Ministries took part in a retreat earlier this year. Dr. Mark Crawford, wearing glasses, stands in the back beside John Brocard, in checkered shirt, who is next to his wife, Fair, in the off-white shirt. Photo courtesy of PCM

MARIETTA, Ga. (BP) – Only three couples were entrusted to be praying for John and Fair Brocard on the night they risked everything to save their family.

It wasn’t because the Brocards didn’t believe in prayer. What was about to go down was too painful to share with many others.

On this night they had enlisted help from an organization. Two men would arrive around 3 a.m. to transport their out-of-control son to a waiting plane that would take him across the country. He would spend eight weeks in the Utah wilderness at a special camp for teens.

All of it was a desperate move to get their 16-year-old away from bad influences that had transformed their comfortable home into a scary place. It worked for the Brocards, but even more important, it transformed their lives and established a mission to help parents caught in a similar situation through the formation of Prodigal Child Ministries (PCM).

RELATED: To the Parent of a Prodigal

“It’s key to have a strong support system,” said Fair Brocard. “We didn’t have that when dealing with Bubba. It helps parents to realize they’re not alone.”

At the time, Fair was an associate in the children’s ministry at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. She moved on from that role with PCM’s founding, but she and John remain members. Johnson Ferry has become pivotal to the ministry’s efforts by providing space on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month for a “Parents of Prodigals” support group.

John continued his attorney career. But his direction changed from civil and personal injury litigation to working with kids and young adults mired in the consequences that follow bad choices.

“The Lord changed my heart when we went through what we did with Bubba,” he said. “So, I changed my practice toward adults and kids and families who struggle.”

Their work over the last 24 years has helped hundreds of couples. Do the math. That doesn’t affect just two parents and one child. It spreads to siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles and other relatives and friends burdened by a family’s conflict.

From January to Easter, the Brocards host a Bible study in their home with parents of a prodigal. Another couple in Canton also hosts a group over Zoom. The bimonthly meetings at Johnson Ferry feature prodigals sharing their stories, but also psychologists, law enforcement officers and others in various fields.

While the Bible studies are closed-group affairs, the meetings at Johnson Ferry are open to the public and held from 7-8:30 p.m. The next one is this Thursday, Dec. 8.

Bubba, their son, was a big, muscular kid and part of the swim team. For most of his childhood things were good. He was on his way to becoming an Eagle Scout when he began hanging around a different group at school.

Conflict followed along with his drug abuse. Bubba lost interest in athletics, Scouts, church and anything positive in spite of his parents’ attempts to the contrary. Soon, he wouldn’t hesitate to challenge John, a former college football athlete and still in good shape, to a fight. Brocard expected his son to fight the men who were hired to take him on May 12, 1998, to yell and make one more traumatic scene in front of his mother and two siblings before leaving.

Instead, Bubba surrendered and left with only the pair of pants and T-shirt he wore. He went willingly, quietly and without a fight – the three specific prayers the Brocards had been asking their small group to lift up.

Mark Crawford, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist based in Roswell, Ga. During his 33 years of experience, he has written numerous articles on families and parenting and made multiple appearances on broadcasts such as ABC’s Good Morning America, ABC News, House Call with Sanjay Gupta, and CNN Headline news. From 2003-08 he was the team psychologist for the Atlanta Hawks.

He was also the one who was counseling the Brocard family at the time they were trying to figure out what to do with their son.

‘Silence Is Golden’: Vatican Archivist Defends Pope Pius XII’s Response to the Holocaust

By

Claire Giangrave

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December 9, 2022

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — For decades, historians have argued over the role played by the Vatican and Pope Pius XII in the persecution of Jews during the German Third Reich and the Second World War. Johan Ickx, director of the Vatican archives, defends Pius, saying the pope chose to remain silent even as he instructed clergy around the world to help Jewish communities.

But, Ickx said in a recent interview, don’t hold your breath looking for proof.

“Pius XII was aware of his silence,” Ickx told a small group of Vatican journalists on Tuesday (Dec. 6). But “silence is golden” in the world of diplomacy, Ickx argued, and Pius’ silence was essential in allowing the church freedom of action to help and save persecuted Jewry.

“It was the pope who gave the instruction to do this,” he said, despite “the great fear of being discovered.”

Pius XII reigned in the turbulent period between March 1939 and October 1958. Before his election, he had been a Vatican diplomat in Germany and in England, and his experience dictated his mild and conciliatory manner of speech as pope. After aligning itself with Germany during the First World War, the Vatican publicly kept its distance from the Nazi regime and drew closer to the Western powers, Ickx said. Documents show Pius supported the German resistance and worked closely with Allied forces.

Johan Ickx, director of the Vatican archives. Photo via Vatican News

The pope’s public silence on the Holocaust became especially controversial after the publication of “Hitler’s Pope,” a 1999 book by the journalist John Cornwell, which portrayed Pius XII as an antisemite more concerned about securing the future stability of the Vatican than saving Jewish lives. Critics and supporters of this view took to writing books and articles defending their interpretation of history in what were later known as the “Pius Wars.”

Historians and researchers heatedly debate the pope’s lack of condemnation of Hitler and his genocidal regime to this day.

As of June 2022, Pope Francis allowed anyone to have digital access to the Historical Archive of the Secretariat of State pertaining to Pius XII’s pontificate up to 1948. (The files had already been made available to researchers in March 2020.) With more than two decades of experience in the Vatican archives and Roman Curia, Ickx was chosen to oversee the digitization of the massive amount of data stored in boxes inside the Catholic city-state.

“It was like launching with a spaceship toward the nearest galaxy,” he said, referring to the effort of digitizing more than 1.6 million documents. Ickx said he was “shocked” when he found an entire folder dedicated to “Jews,” which contained previously unknown history of the Vatican’s wartime activities. While he had been aware that the church had saved a number of Jews, he had never understood where the order had come from.

“The input came from Rome, in particular from the Secretariat of State,” he said, which had established “a thick network in Italy and in the world” that helped bring Jewish families to safety.

Folders marked with labels reading “Pius XII" are seen through a grating during a guided tour for media of the Vatican library on Pope Pius XII, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. The Vatican’s apostolic library on Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope and his record during the Holocaust, opened to researchers on March 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Folders marked with labels reading “Pius XII” are seen through a grating during a guided tour for media of the Vatican library on Pope Pius XII, at the Vatican, Feb. 27, 2020. The Vatican’s apostolic library on Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope, and his record during the Holocaust opened to researchers on March 2, 2020. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The folder contained more than 2,800 pleas for help from Jews directed to the pope; 15,000 more were sent to the office of the substitute, equivalent to a chief of staff. Papal nunzios, the pope’s representatives to countries around the globe, played a crucial role in providing support for Jews persecuted throughout Europe, according to Ickx.

The lack of written evidence, especially the direct mandate from Rome to help persecuted jews, is due to Vatican officials’ desire for secrecy. “They didn’t want to leave any trace,” Ickx said. But he said the evidence is the number of Jewish families the church was able to move across European borders and other frontiers during the war.

An Open Letter to Pastors (Hint: You’ll Want to Read This One)

By

Brian Dodd

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December 9, 2022

I write this letter to pastors with tears literally in my eyes. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Whenever God means to make a man great, He always breaks him in pieces first.”

As a member of INJOY Stewardship Solutions, I get to have personal one-on-one conversations with over 1,000 pastors each year. I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who stand in our pulpits each and every Sunday. There are several things I want to say to pastors as someone who sits in your church each week.

An Open Letter to Pastors

I respect your competence. You are smart and the world’s best communicators. You have a supernatural ability to take a passage of biblical text and pull out the truths that bring us comfort and guide us toward right living.
I respect your patience and kindness. You love us unconditionally in spite of our bad advise on how you should preach or lead the church.
I respect your bravery. You do not shy away from tough passages which are not well-received in a politically correct culture.
I respect your diligence. There are countless hard choices you are forced to constantly make.
I respect your preparation. Every seven days you give us a fresh word from God.
I respect your family. You live in a fishbowl and have to appear perfect.
I respect your generosity. You love people so much you are willing to earn far below the level of your education so we can know God.
I respect your compassion. Your knees are callused as a result of constantly praying for us.
I respect your commitment to Jesus and His mission. Because you love Him so much you answered the call to go into an incredibly unstable profession.
I respect your vision. You see those in your church as what they could be, not just what they currently are.
I respect you for being by my side. Every significant moment of my life—salvation, baptism, wedding, hospitals, baby dedications, funerals. You were there.
And I respect what no one sees. I respect the fact that you were broken to pieces by God. Personal Heartbreak. Sadness. Doubt. Disappointment. Devastation. Hurt Feelings. Sleepless Nights. Unspeakable Pain. You don’t talk about this part of your journey much. But one of the main reasons God uses you so effectively is you have been broken to pieces for His glory and our benefit and did not quit. You will finish this race.

And for this I say “Thank You.” And I and countless others will thank you every day for eternity because you were willing to pay a personal price others did not. And because you paid that price, I and others I love met Jesus.

You may not think anyone notices the price you paid. But this is not true. You are loved and respected. And I just want to say one more time to you and your spouse, “Thank You.”

This letter to pastors originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

Rocking Grandma: The Reinvention of Rocking Worship

By

Don Chapman

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December 9, 2022

Over the past few weeks as I’ve been teaching worship conference classes, I’ve been intrigued by the change I’ve been seeing lately. There seems to be a greater desire among churches to become more relevant and contemporary. I think this is the next phase of worship – ministries are discovering it’s not enough to merely plug praise songs into their traditional service order – they need to build contemporary rocking worship from the ground up.

I’m also seeing more contemporary worship acceptance by older people.

Rocking Worship

I’ll never forget one little old lady who attended my keyboard classes. I think she said she was 80 – and the petite little thing was something straight out of a sitcom with her cute outfit, granny glasses, and coiffed hairdo.

She told me the story of how her church recently built a new sanctuary but decided not to purchase the new Allen organ she had hoped for. She was devastated. She’d probably been the church organist for years and now the church wouldn’t even have an organ! So she decided to learn something new – the synthesizer. And there she sat in all my classes, learning about drum loops, synth leads, pads, and improv.

Children’s Sermon Guidelines: 4 Tips for a Great Message

By

Mark Pierce

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December 8, 2022

How do you feel about children’s sermon at your church? If you’re on the fence about the effectiveness of kids messages, keep reading…

A mom approached me after a recent Sunday evening worship service. “I wasn’t going to come tonight,” she said. “I worked all day and was tired. So I came home and just wanted to crash. But Anna would have none of it. She said, ‘Mom, I want to go to church!'”

Typically, fewer than 60 people attend our Sunday evening services. Yet our fastest-growing demographic is children younger than 10. Why? Because we make our services child-friendly, with a meaningful children’s sermon.

This year, we added a children’s sermon to each service. We invite elementary children to come up front with me. Usually, I sit on the platform and have them sit around me. These talks typically last 7 to 10 minutes.

What is it about these short talks that makes a child ask to come to church?

4 Tips for Your Children’s Sermon

Use these 4 guidelines to create a great children’s sermon:

1. Use Object Lessons.

I usually have a small table up front that contains an object lesson. It’s always covered up, creating a curiosity factor. The kids can’t wait to see what’s under the tablecloth. Every children’s sermon includes something different.

When talking about living a fruitful life, for example, I showed them two dishes. One had really rotten bananas, and one had fresh bananas. “What kind of life do you want to offer God?” I asked.

When talking about God’s help in life, we set up bowling pins of plastic 2-liter bottles. When we try to do things on our own without God’s help, we bowled with a ping-pong ball. With God’s help, we bowled much more successfully with a basketball.

The key is to be creative. Kids love seeing how things work, and they have a much greater imagination than adults. Have fun and be a kid yourself!

2. Focus your entire attention on the children.

At first, children may be nervous about being up front. Look them in the eyes. Tell them this is their special time with the pastor. Everyone else can listen in, but this is their time. Ask questions. Listen to their answers. Respond.

Don’t be locked into a script. Have a general plan, but be willing to adjust on the fly. Kids really do say the darndest things. They will ask the questions everyone wants to know! So enjoy this conversation with young churchgoers.

3. Never forget your adult audience.

While your attention is entirely focused on the children, know that adults will be hanging on your every word. Pastor, you work hard on every adult sermon and dream of grownups tuning in to your every word. After a few years, you begin to realize this will probably never be as true as you wish it to be. Until it comes to delivering a kids sermon!

Suddenly adults are craning their necks, leaning forward, entirely focused! Why? Because of the kids, the uncertainty, and the fun. Bottom line: The children’s sermon may be your best chance to connect with your adult churchgoers.

Kirk Cameron’s Children’s Book Rejected From Story Hour in Over 50 Public Libraries

By

Jesse T. Jackson

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December 8, 2022

It has been reported that the children’s book written by actor Kirk Cameron, titled “As You Grow,” has been denied the request to be featured at the story hour of over 50 public libraries.

The “Growing Pains” star, who is the older brother of Candace Cameron Bure, has been married to former “Growing Pains” actress Chelsea Noble since 1991. The couple has six children, four of whom were adopted.

After his rise to fame playing the character Mike Seaver, Cameron has gone on to star in a number of Christian films, including, “Fireproof,” “Left Behind,” and “Lifemark.”

In December 2020, Cameron drew criticism for organizing a Christmas carol event in California that attracted a large crowd, despite COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on public gatherings.

“If you love God, if you love Christmas, and you love liberty, you’re not going to want to miss this,” Cameron beckoned in a promotional video at the time.

Regarding the event, Cameron told Fox News, “I’m looking around and I’m seeing the devastation and the suffering of people whose businesses have been bankrupted, people dealing with anxiety, depression, suicide is spiking, the abused being quarantined with their abusers, and I can’t just ignore that. I love my neighbors and so I want to give them hope.”

Now, Cameron is calling attention to the nation’s public libraries, which are funded by tax-payer money, for rejecting his Christian children’s book.

According to Fox News, Cameron’s book publisher, Brave Books, has reached out to over 50 public libraries in the hopes of having the actor read his book during story hour.

Cameron describes “As You Grow” as a book that “teaches biblical wisdom and the value of producing the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.”

“All of the libraries that we have contacted have hosted LGBTQ+ story times with drag queens in the past,” Brave Books said. To date, the publisher shared that they haven’t been approved for a single reading of Cameron’s new children’s book.

‘My Generation Did the Younger Generation(s) A Disservice’—Beth Moore Reflects on ‘Christian Celebrity Culture’

By

Stephanie Martin

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December 8, 2022

In a Twitter thread this morning (Dec. 8), Bible teacher and bestselling author Beth Moore shares words of encouragement with younger generations of Christian authors and church workers. Saying her generation introduced “platform culture” and “Christian celebrity culture,” the 65-year-old Moore admits “we made speaking and teaching and traveling, and certainly book publishing look glamorous.”

That’s a disservice, she says, because “it has always been hard. Publishing a book is terrifying. The anxiety can eat up your intestines. The criticism has been ever with us like a codependent frenemy.”

Beth Moore: God Wants Reliance, Not Success

In the thread, Beth Moore focuses on a phrase from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: “and this is from God” (1:28). God appoints or allows “difficulties and disappointments and opposition” as a gift, albeit often unwanted, she says. That’s because God wants his followers “to be filled with his Spirit, not with ourselves. … his objective with us is not to make us successful but to make us reliant.”

To younger generations of authors and ministers, Moore writes, “If some of us made it look easy, forgive us. It never was. We had struggles at home, struggles abroad. We have failed as often as we could have succeeded.” She warns, “There will always be criticism. There will always be offerings we make that will be rejected.”

Moore encourages Christian saints and servants to “hang in there” and “ride it out” because “God is for you.” Disappointments may take years to reveal their purpose, she reminds readers, but “Every single one of our stories, if we are in Jesus, ends magnificently. And this is from God.”

Beware the Spotlight, Says Beth Moore

During a recent address at a Living Proof Ministries event, Moore warned Christian leaders about the dangers of being in the “earthly spotlight.” The “potential for darkness…is through the roof,” she says, begging listeners not to “crave” worldly fame or attention. “There is so much of this that is not fun,” including the lobbing of “all manner of criticism.” But if you want God to use you, Moore says, you can’t play it safe or avoid exposure to risk and testing. Instead, God “will entrust suffering to us because it is his job to keep us in need of him.”

Moore’s Dec. 8 tweets garnered thanks from fellow church workers and Christians. Author and seminarian Kaitlyn Schiess replies that it’s “strangely comforting” to know the work has always been—and will continue to be—hard. Other commenters bemoan the concept of celebrity speakers and the “commercialization of the craft.”

Restaurant Staff Refuses To Serve Christian Nonprofit Over Views on Abortion, Marriage

By

Dale Chamberlain

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December 8, 2022

The Family Foundation, a nonprofit organization seeking to preserve and promote “the family in Virginia as God’s foundation upon which all free and thriving societies are built,” was denied service at Metzger Bar and Butchery, a restaurant in Richmond, last week on the basis of their stances regarding abortion and same-sex marriage.

While the reservation had been booked for weeks, The Family Foundation, which is a vocal opponent of abortion access and the Respect for Marriage Act, encouraging voters to cast ballots for conservative candidates, was informed by Metzger about 90 minutes before the event was set to take place that their reservation had been canceled.

“Last night, our team and supporters got that firsthand experience when Metzger’s Bar and Butchery in Richmond, VA refused to service our pre-reserved event, leaving us scrambling just moments before,” said Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation, in a statement published on Dec. 1.

Cobb explained that The Family Foundation had been planning an event for supporters wherein they would share updates on their work.

“About an hour and a half before the event was set to take place, one of the restaurant’s owners called our team to cancel the event,” Cobb went on to say. When the VP of Operations pressed Metzger as to why, the restaurant said that “an employee looked up our organization, and their wait staff refused to serve us.”

Cobb continued, “We know our organization will continue to be cut off from services in the current environment. We know we will pay more for goods and services because our options will be fewer. We know this could become very difficult for our work. This is in part why we purchased our own building, forecasting a day when we would no longer be a welcomed tenant.”

“Our witness will not be diminished, and we will not be silenced,” Cobb wrote. “We will speak out when we see this type of religious discrimination occurring in Virginia.”

The following day, Metzger released a statement of their own via Instagram, which said, “Metzger Bar and Butchery has always prided itself on being an inclusive environment for people to dine in. In eight years of service we have very rarely refused service to anyone who wished to dine with us.”

“Recently we refused service to a group that had booked an event with us after the owners of Metzger found out it was a group of donors to a political organization that seeks to deprive women and LGBTQ+ persons of their basic human rights in Virginia,” the statement continued. “We have always refused service to anyone for making our staff uncomfortable or unsafe and this was the driving force behind our decision. Many of our staff are women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Friction Over LGBTQ Issues Worsens in Global Anglican Church

By

Chinedu Asadu and David Crary of The Associated Press and Catherine Pepinster of Religion News Service

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December 8, 2022

global Anglican church — FILE - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, center right and bishops from around the world gather at the University of Kent for a group photo during the 15th Lambeth Conference, in Canterbury, England, Friday, July 29, 2022. Friction has been simmering within the global Anglican Communion for many years over its 42 provinces’ sharp differences on whether to recognize same-sex marriage and ordain LGBTQ clergy. In 2022, the divisions have widened, as conservative bishops – notably from Africa and Asia – affirmed their opposition to LGBTQ inclusion and demanded “repentance” by the more liberal provinces with inclusive policies. (Gareth Fuller/PA via AP, File)

Friction has long-simmered within the global Anglican Communion over its 42 provinces’ sharp differences on whether to recognize same-sex marriage and ordain LGBTQ clergy. The divisions widened this year as conservative bishops affirmed their opposition to LGBTQ inclusion and demanded “repentance” by provinces with inclusive policies.

Caught in the middle is the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who is the Church of England’s top bishop and the Anglican Communion’s ceremonial leader. He has acknowledged the provinces’ “deep disagreement,” while urging them to “walk together” to the extent possible.

The divide came into the spotlight four months ago at the communion’s Lambeth Conference, which brings together bishops from the more than 165 countries with Anglican-affiliated churches. It was the first Lambeth Conference to which married gay and lesbian bishops were invited.

The conservative primates of Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda refused to attend, while other bishops who share their opposition pushed unsuccessfully for the gathering to reconfirm a 1998 resolution rejecting same-sex marriage.

Now those primates, and their allies worldwide, are looking to an April conference in Kigali, Rwanda. They’re expected to discuss their dismay at some Anglican churches’ support for same-sex marriage and Welby’s approach.

Welby says neither he nor the Lambeth Conference has the authority to discipline provinces or impose demands.

In Nigeria, Anglican leaders say a formal separation from the global church is more likely than ever. They cite Welby’s Lambeth comments and the appointment of the Very Rev. David Monteith – who has been in a same-sex civil partnership since 2008 – as the Canterbury cathedral’s new dean.

Bishop Williams Aladekugbe of Nigeria’s Ibadan North Anglican Diocese said “we cannot continue to fellowship” with provinces that recognize “ungodly and devilish” same-sex unions.

“If they don’t worship God the way we worship him, if they don’t believe in what we believe in… let us divide (and) we go our own way,” Aladekugbe told The Associated Press.

The conservative bishops’ umbrella group is the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GFSA). Its steering committee is headed by South Sudan Archbishop Justin Badi, and includes archbishops from Bangladesh, Chile, Congo, Egypt, the Indian Ocean region and Myanmar.

At Lambeth, the committee issued a stern communique – in effect demanding their LGBTQ views hold sway throughout the Anglican Communion and the “revisionist” provinces be disciplined or marginalized.

Black Women Ministers Get ‘Affirmation That God Sees Us‘ at DC Event

By

Adelle M Banks

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December 8, 2022

Black Women Ministers — The Rev. Gina Stewart speaks during a Black Women in Ministry event at the National Press Club, Dec. 2, 2022, in Washington. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks

WASHINGTON (RNS) — In a ballroom in the nation’s capital, with many dressed in gowns and heels, Black women were hailed for the work they do in ministry, known and unknown.

“There are women here who have labored 20, 30, 40 years and nobody ever said ‘Thank you’; tonight we’re saying thank you,” said the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, the co-leader of the R.E.A.L. Black Women in Ministry THRIVE initiative. “We’re saying thank God and we’re saying thank you.”

The Friday (Dec. 2) evening gala at the National Press Club marked a continuing effort to provide Black women ministers with affirmation and acclamation through a program that pairs five dozen women in mentee-mentor duos. The initiative’s R.E.A.L. acronym stands for relationship building, equipping and expanding, access and leadership and legacy development.

The Rev. Gina Stewart, who became in 2021 the first woman president of a U.S. Black Baptist organization, said in a keynote speech that the initiative and the dinner showed the work of Black women in ministry had not gone completely unnoticed.

“It’s not difficult to be in a body suit like this and be overlooked, despite your gifts, despite your commitment, despite your anointing, despite your years of service, despite the fact that you show up when others don’t,“ said Stewart, president of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Society, who was recognized as a trailblazer during the gala.

“Sexism, misogyny and patriarchy are deeply embedded not just in the church, but in the culture and in society. But tonight, Ambassador Cook and the R.E.A.L. Black Women in Ministry send to us a resounding affirmation that God sees us.”

The Lilly Endowment has given two grants, a $1 million initial grant in 2019 and a $500,000 sustaining grant in 2022, to support the initiative that is linked to Harlem’s Union Baptist Church, where Johnson Cook — who later became the U.S. international religious freedom ambassador — was ordained 40 years ago.

The Rev. Brian D. Scott, the church’s current pastor and the co-leader of the initiative, said at the event that he viewed the women in the room as the people who can lead the church into the future.

“I pray that God uses you to do what the elders say: ‘This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,’” Scott said. “Would you go back and take a spark from this and build a fire when you get back home?”

Throughout the event, the women were encouraged through speeches, song lyrics and poetry.

Nigeria Again Excluded From State Department’s CPC List

By

Tom Strode

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December 8, 2022

nigeria — Photo via Unsplash.com @oviidaniel

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. State Department added two countries to its annual designation of the world’s worst persecutors but failed to return Nigeria to the list despite requests from a Southern Baptist entity and other advocates for international religious freedom.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Friday (Dec. 2) his designation of the latest “countries of particular concern” (CPCs), a category reserved for the world’s most severe violators of freedom and belief. His list added Cuba and Nicaragua and maintained the 10 countries designated in 2021 as CPCs – Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) had joined a coalition of more than 30 other organizations, as well as 35 individuals, in a September letter that asked Blinken to classify Nigeria as a CPC. The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also had recommended CPC status for Nigeria.

Blinken’s failure last year to re-designate the west African country as a CPC stunned religious freedom defenders. Mike Pompeo, the previous secretary of State, had placed Nigeria on the list for the first time in 2020, and the ERLC was among organizations that urged Blinken last year to keep it as a CPC.

According to separate reports, more Christians were slain in Nigeria in 2021 – 4,650 – than in all other countries combined, and more than 2,500 Christians died at the hands of Islamic terrorists in the first six months of 2022. Muslims who reject the extremism of Islamic terrorists also have been targeted.

“The continued failure of the United States to exhaust every diplomatic tool at its disposal, including the ‘country of particular concern’ designation, to aid Christians and other religious minorities facing horrific persecution in Nigeria is to our shame,” said Hannah Daniel, the ERLC’s policy manager, in written comments for Baptist Press.

“As the ERLC has repeatedly urged, these brothers and sisters facing unspeakable tragedy because of their faith deserve not only our concern but also our action.”

USCIRF “is tremendously disappointed” in Blinken’s refusal to follow its guidance on Nigeria, as well as its recommendation of India as a CPC, said Nury Turkel, the commission’s chair.

“There is no justification for the State Department’s failure to recognize Nigeria or India as egregious violators of religious freedom, as they each clearly meet the legal standards for designation as CPCs,” Turkel said in a written release. “The State Department’s own reporting includes numerous examples of particularly severe religious freedom violations in Nigeria and India.”

In addition to Nigeria and India, the State Department also declined to include Afghanistan, Syria and Vietnam as CPCs despite their recommendations by USCIRF.

In addition to CPCs, the State Department also designates each year a Special Watch List (SWL), which is reserved for violating countries that fall short of CPC status, and “entities of particular concern” (EPCs), which are non-state actors.

The State Department did not include Nigeria and India even on the Special Watch List this year. Instead, Blinken named Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros and Vietnam to the SWL. USCIRF, however, had also called for Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey and Uzbekistan to be included. In addition, USCIRF had recommended Cuba and Nicaragua for SWL designation based on 2021 reports but acknowledged conditions in both countries had worsened this year.

The EPCs named by Blinken were al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, Islamic State in West Africa, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin, the Taliban and the Wagner Group.

In the September letter to Blinken from the ERLC and others, the coalition said violence in general and against Christians specifically has increased since his 2021 decision not to re-designate Nigeria as a CPC. The letter signers asked him to name a special envoy to investigate violence that has targeted Christians in particular in Africa’s most populous country.

While non-government actors, including Boko Haram and the Islamist State in West Africa, have carried out attacks against religious adherents, Nigeria’s government has not demonstrated the capacity and determination to provide adequate protection for Christians and Muslims, the letter signers said.

In addition to the ERLC, other organizations signing onto the letter included 21 Wilberforce, Alliance Defending Freedom International, American Humanist Association, Christian Freedom International, Family Research Council, International Christian Concern, Jubilee Campaign USA and Religious Freedom Institute.

In this year’s annual report, USCIRF said religious liberty conditions in India “significantly worsened” in 2021. India’s government “continued to systematize its ideological vision of a Hindu state” through its policies, affecting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and other religious minorities negatively, according to USCIRF. The effect included numerous attacks on minorities, especially Muslims and Christians, the commission reported.

USCIRF, which consists of nine members appointed by the president and congressional leaders, tracks the status of religious liberty worldwide and issues reports to Congress, the president and the State Department.

This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.

With Race in Mind, Christians Reconsider Language of Dark and Light at Advent

By

Emily McFarlan Miller

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December 8, 2022

(RNS) — The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow has always been bothered by Advent’s emphasis on the imagery of light and darkness.

For at least the last decade, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor has been urging other clergy to be thoughtful in how they use the language — often equating light with good and dark with bad — during the liturgical season of Advent in the roughly four weeks leading up to Christmas.

“My annual plea to preachers that during Advent we be aware of how much and how often we equate dark with bad and light with good,” he tweeted last year as the season began.

“The idea that darkness is inherently bad needs no reinforcement, so let’s let go of the confining imagery and embrace creative reimagination.”

The conversation about that Advent imagery of dark and light — and how readily it can be associated with skin color — is one many Christians are having years into a racial reckoning for both the church and the country, sparked by the murders of George Floyd and other Black people in 2020.

The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow. Courtesy photo

And, Reyes-Chow said, it seems like more Christians are listening — or at least, he told Religion News Service, fewer Christians are objecting as loudly as they once did in the comments on his social media posts.

Reconsidering the language and imagery Christians use at Advent isn’t about “banning words,” Reyes-Chow said, but about expanding Christians’ understanding of God and how God speaks to them.

“I just think that this is a liberating time, and so why let ourselves be, in some ways, still bound by this imagery that is not liberating for many people? In fact, it’s more confining,” he said.

There are several reasons why the imagery of light and darkness comes up so much during the season of Advent — including in the lyrics of the best-known Advent hymns, like “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”: “O come, thou Dayspring from on high / And cheer us by thy drawing nigh: / Disperse the gloomy cloud of night / And death’s dark shadow put to flight.”

Part of it is simply meteorological. The dark winter nights stretch longer during Advent in the Northern Hemisphere, said the Rev. Wil Gafney, an Episcopal priest and professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School.

And, as some point out in defense of the imagery, it appears in the Bible, including many of the Scripture passages read during Advent: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

The Rev. Wil Gafney. Courtesy photo

But the context in which the writers of Scripture composed those metaphors is very different from the context in which they are read today, according to Gafney, who has been translating Scripture for more than 20 years.

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4 Tips for Your Children’s Sermon

1. Use Object Lessons.

2. Focus your entire attention on the children.

3. Never forget your adult audience.

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