The Gospel Coalition

In Genesis 15, God walks through the pieces to show that he would rather die than break his word. In Jesus Christ, God walks the lonely path to the cross where he will die in order to keep his word. - Trevor Laurence

“Children are such a gift, aren’t they!” “They’re just so precious.” “It will go by so fast.” If you’re a parent of young kids, you’ve no doubt heard these well-intended sentiments. I have. And while you’re grateful to be a parent, you’re also probably processing the amount of change that’s taken place in your life. Engagement with your local church is one of those changes. It’s a common story: Before you had a child, your church was a life-giving community. You were a valued volunteer. Mission trips and weekend events were always on the table. You could get to church early and be one of the last to leave. Now? You go to the service and leave right after (if you make it to church at all). You’ve certainly taken a break from serving, and you’re wanting to be served for a change. How do we continue to follow Jesus as part of God’s community in this beautiful yet disorienting season? As a father of four young children, I understand the dynamics at play. And as a pastor who regularly witnesses his heroic wife take all four kids to church, I have emotional skin in the game. It may be time to adjust your goalpost and devote all your energy to one singular practice: Just make it to church. Make it your goal to attend your church gathering. Plain and simple. Get there late? Great. Late every Sunday? I call that consistency! You may spend more time bouncing your baby in the hall than sitting in the gathering. It’s going to feel clunky and even pointless at times. You have permission to experience it all. But Sunday after Sunday, keep leaning into the simple discipline of attending your church gathering. Here are four reasons this investment will pay dividends.

We’re now 25 years into this century. Over this period, thousands of movies have come and gone—most of them forgotten. But some have lingered. Some are worth revisiting. I’ve been writing movie reviews from a Christian perspective for 24 of the last 25 years, and I’ve seen many great movies that have enriched my faith. Some films I’ve loved because they directly engaged theological ideas or spurred me on in my Christian faith. Others enriched me simply because of their common-grace beauty, goodness, and truth. This list is a way to reflect on the most enduring and edifying films of the century so far—hopefully steering you toward a handful of films you may have missed but will be blessed by. In curating this list, I set two rules for myself: - No R-rated movies. I want this to be a resource most Christian families can use without worrying too much about objectionable content. All 50 movies below are rated PG-13 or lower. Still, some won’t be appropriate for all viewers, so use discernment and consult online content guides as needed. - At least one movie from every year of the century. Bias toward the recent past can mean we forget gems from further back. So I included at least one movie from every year since 2000. You’ll find an array of film types: arthouse, blockbuster, comedy, drama, animated, international, documentary, and a lot more. What they share is an excellence that edifies, leaving us not scandalized or depressed (as so many heralded movies do) but enriched and inspired. I hope they’ll inspire you too.

The second half of Acts is a whirlwind journey. Paul travels some 10,000 miles as he witnesses in Turkey, Syria, Greece, and Israel. He preaches in various cities including Lystra, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Athens, and Ephesus. What’s sometimes overlooked is an obvious reality, most of this is done on land. Yet in Acts 27, Luke devotes 44 verses to a detailed description of Paul’s sea journey. The purpose of this long marine narrative sometimes eludes interpreters. Some think it simply recounts a change of location for Paul. But this does little to explain the narrative’s length and all the specifics Luke includes. To understand this narrative properly, we must employ biblical theology. Three biblical theological realities help us ascertain the purpose of Luke’s narrative and see it as Paul’s climactic journey.

By God’s grace, my wife Cayla and I created this original video, posted by The Gospel Coalition, aiming to answer the question, “What is the Gospel?” from a fresh, artistic perspective. God willing, we hope this evangelism tool might be posted, e-mailed, and texted far and wide, so that God’s Word within might capture the imagination of the spiritually curious, as well as Christian-skeptics, that they might be ultimately won to repentant faith in Jesus Christ. We pray Christians too might find their souls encouraged, and their minds informed and challenged, as they experience the familiar Gospel from a fresh angle. May God’s Word and his Gospel shine forth!

When the Russian army first came over Ukraine’s eastern border in 2022, about 3.5 million people fled west to Poland. Many came through Kraków, where Aleksander Saško Nezamutdinov is a Ukrainian missionary and church planter. His 40-member congregation, Christ the Savior Presbyterian Church, worked hard to provide transportation, housing, food, and clothing to the refugees. Then, after the initial rush died down, they saw another thing the Ukrainians needed: books. “People started looking for resources,” Nezamutdinov said. “But materials in the Ukrainian language were scarce.” The biggest reason for that was the Soviet Union. During most of the 20th century, the Russian-language government severely restricted the printing of anything in Ukrainian. Books or magazines written by Protestant Christians almost never made the cut. “[That’s] because Protestants often have connections with other friends and family in the West,” Nezamutdinov. “But also because Protestants are taught to think, which makes them harder to control.” He sees Russia doing the same now. “In the sections of Ukraine that have been annexed, one of the first groups [targeted was] Protestant churches,” he said. “They would take over the church buildings, changing the locks and putting a guard at the front. You can see history repeating itself.” Nezamutdinov and his congregation saw a growing desire among Ukrainians to push back by using their native language. They also saw a need for gospel-centered books on everything from counseling to trauma to Advent devotionals. So two years ago, Nezamutdinov’s small church started a Ukrainian publishing house. The Gospel Coalition asked him how they pulled it off, if anyone is interested in the books they’re publishing, and how he has seen God at work.

We’re living through a teen mental illness epidemic, as adolescents self-report record levels of sadness, loneliness, and anxiety. And teens growing up in Christian homes aren’t immune to this epidemic. In this breakout session from TGCW24, Betsy Childs Howard interviews Sandi Taylor, a mental health counselor who specializes in working with adolescents and their parents. They discuss the causes of anxiety, the role social media plays in teen mental health, and the difference the gospel can make in the lives of teens—and their parents. 📝 ON THIS VIDEO: 0:00 Understanding mental health and its importance 5:36 Adolescent development and emotional challenges 10:22 Identifying normal versus problematic anxiety and depression 16:40 Recognizing suicide risk and seeking help 19:25 Helping teens manage anxiety and emotions 26:35 The role of screens and social media in teen mental health 36:28 The importance of sleep for teens 37:35 Parenting teens with mental health issues: a christian perspective 42:58 Common mistakes christian parents make 43:27 Conclusion and prayer

The church faces her biggest challenge not when new errors start to win but when old truths no longer wow. - Trevin Wax

Religious data is one of the most fascinating things in the world. It brings the left side of the brain (show me the numbers) together with the right side (tell me a story). It gathers disparate disciplines to paint a picture—including statistics, mathematics, sociology, social science, political science, theology, and missiology. On the one hand, we must be cautious about what we can glean from data. On the other hand, religious data is a useful tool when rightly deployed. In The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future, Ryan Burge, associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University, provides an excellent, high-altitude view of the American religious landscape through the lens of the currently available data sets. My appreciation for religious data comes primarily in the theological, missiological, and behavioral contours it exposes, which can identify and inform our response to trends like those Jim Davis and I discuss in The Great Dechurching. Anecdotally, there seems to be a trend toward increasing appreciation for high-quality religious data and the insights it can provide. However, it’s dangerous to cherry-pick religious data headlines because there are always competing storylines that foster both hope and discouragement. We have to digest the data, alert for reasons for optimism and reasons for pessimism. As I read The American Religious Landscape, I found five key ideas that enrich our understanding of our cultural moment and inform a realistic outlook for evangelicals.

Although the dust has settled since I attended the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London in the middle of February, I’m still discombobulated, struggling to know what to make of the experience. How do you judge something where you heard things that made you gasp “Wow!” (in a good way) and “Wow!” (in a less good way)? As a conservative evangelical theologian and someone interested in cultural apologetics and evangelism, I wonder how many (if any) cheers we should give ARC and the cultural trend it represents.