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.

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

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

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.

The question isn’t just simply about what is “safe” or “not safe.”

With us was a man, the brothers’ uncle, who for many years—and in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds—had held on to hope that one day his nephews would join him in Canada.

Perhaps this discussion is unfamiliar, but this pattern is well-worn and dangerous. If we are not tethered to the history of controversy, we start to long for a world that never existed.

How do we engage people with whom we have deep disagreements about important matters of religious convictions, political commitments, or moral lifestyles?

In the days and weeks after these losses, he waited. He waited for his church to reach out. He waited to hear from the elders. He waited for his pastors to visit.

Although some support programs are in place in the churches, we are called to reach out to the communities and develop initiatives that are available to everyone.