Online Extras

The Christian Reformed Church offers a breadth of ministry today that is practically unheard of for a denomination of our size.

The effects of the Doctrine of Discovery are still being felt today. How do we move forward as a united people?

Both Scripture and Christian tradition challenge the idea that God takes the sides of nations, civilizations, and political parties.

When I think of the times of celebration or holidays, I think of family, friends, and a good meal together.

As we cry out to God to fix our broken world, communities, and systems, we can slip into the trap of starting to see people not as fellow image bearers, but as the opinions their group espouses. 

Like a scratched record album, her life is stuck on “repeat” and can only move forward when the needle is bumped, and we remind her of the events of the past.

In its simplest form, our classification puts human beings into two categories: friend and foe.

In the past, The Banner used to have an entire page of reader-submitted jokes.

I am left with a feeling of great discomfort when I think of the awkwardness of that moment, his inability to read my cues, my inability to tell him no.

As a member of the LGBT+ community, I am no stranger to division within the world and within the church.

Everything seems so clear now.

Cavernous divides between people groups are not unique to our modern plight.

Alcohol induced loneliness, despair, and depression, which had become unbearable, and I became aware of my dark thoughts of suicide.

We fought to swallow the lumps in our throat, and we blinked away the tears. Then we said goodbye.

The Christian community wonders why teenagers are not interested in Christianity—why I don’t want to be associated with the name.

Following Jesus during the time of COVID is discombobulating. 

Looking at it from afar, I honestly couldn’t relate: the intensity, the anger, the vile accusations on social media, especially among Christians.

Our current moment in history has laid bare my insecurities, deficiencies, and anxieties of being a pastor.

Telling the church what the church is doing is the job of The Banner news editors and correspondents.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that lately, I’ve been frustrated.

While other Christians and people of other faiths might see that they must change their practices in regard to race, white evangelicals still think of it in terms of what they believe.

A political assessment of modern Christianity reveals that followers of Jesus have varying conclusions about their relationship with the institution of government.

I’ve come to realize that what I was receiving was a collective response to years, decades, centuries of my co-workers’ and friends’ experiences of racist attitudes.