Can human sexuality be a nonessential issue for a denomination that seeks to “stand in the center”? The Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC) does not ask its pastors to subscribe to extensive statements of faith. The denomination wants church leaders to unify around six essential doctrines concerning salvation, the Bible, the significance and mission of the church, the role of the Holy Spirit, and freedom in Christ. And since 2015, it has also asked ECC ministers to refrain from participating in same-sex weddings. That last detail has become a sticking point for some ECC pastors who have changed their position on… [...]

The case of Mark Houck was one of more than two dozen the DOJ has pursued against pro-life protestors since “Dobbs.” Update (January 30, 2023): On Monday, a jury acquitted pro-life protestor Mark Houck of federal charges related to pushing an abortion clinic escort. Houck’s federal case, where he faced up to 11 years in prison, was one of more than two dozen filed against pro-life protestors in the months after the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson. The charges fell under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which makes it a… [...]

Two recent books discuss how our conception of gender relates to our perception of God. Two books published last year by Wm. B. Eerdmans are attempting to confront our assumptions about the gender of God from two different angles. God Is, by Mallory Wyckoff, is more personal and more expansive in its role casting of the divine, while Women and the Gender of God, by Amy Peeler, is more scholarly, systematic, and orthodox in its claims about God’s nature. To be candid, I nearly wrote the foreword for Wyckoff’s book because I was so excited by its approach to the… [...]

At some point in our lives, whether on the playground, the workplace, the dating scene, and, most painfully, in parenthood, someone demands of us: “Just who do you think you are?” The Son of Man was no stranger to this question. Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority” (Matthew 21:23)? Unruffled, He asked a counter-question... [...]

The fruit of the Spirit is introduced in Galatians 5:22-23: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This fruit is produced in our lives only through the Holy Spirit. We don’t possess these godly traits on our own. We see this fruit manifest in us only through the power and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is a direct reflection and result of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Now we know that even those who don’t know Jesus can... [...]

Matthew 19:26 (NASB) says “with God all things are possible.” Jesus spoke these words after a young man asked Him how to have eternal life. The man said he had kept the ten commandments, honored his parents, and loved his neighbor as himself. But he asked if he needed something else. In response, Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor and invited him to “come, follow Me” and have “treasure in heaven” (Matthew 19:21). Sadly, the young man loved his riches so... [...]