Then the Christian Right blew up the Internet — It was Mother’s Day. A church in Texas — a place not known for its progressive Christianity — decided to take a risk and include feminine imagery for God in its service. In fact, when it comes to presenting the feminine side of God’s nature, Austin New Church went “all…

A letter from a concerned church member — Dear Pastor, I am writing to you as a concerned church member to express my alarm at the fact that we may be allowing certain men into the church that the Bible expressly forbids from being part of the assembly. What is worse is that these men — if one…

A poem — Once upon a time In The Land of all Things that are Shiny and Strong There was a young knight who just didn’t belong He was taught his whole life to believe it was wrong To be anything other than shiny and strong So, he polished his armor and puffed…

Why people pretend to be okay in church, and how to create an environment where they can be real instead — When I used to attend a regular Sunday morning church service, I was often asked by many well-meaning people, “How are you?” But I got the feeling that most of the time, they were not all that interested in the answer. So, regardless of how I was really feeling, I…

Mother says, “I gotta be positive about the situation” — Trigger warning: This article may be distressing for some. Reader discretion is advised. Picture this: A young mother, sleep-deprived and at her wit’s end. She has a three-year-old daughter who simply doesn’t sleep well. The child punctuates the night with screaming, crying, and night terrors. But the young mother is…

That horrible sinking feeling when all your hard work is gone — I logged onto Medium to continue writing a poem that I had been working on for weeks. It was a labor of love that I had poured many hours into. But it was gone. As I searched frantically through my drafts, I felt panic rising. “Wait, Did I accidentally publish…

The gospel, according to Instagram’s evangelical mouthpiece — The idea of preaching to nations used to be the dream of many young, idealistic, up-and-coming pastors. And for all their lofty ambition, it was also a largely unachievable goal. Not any more. Now, thanks to the wonders of social media, many young Christian pastors are achieving superstar status through…

Survey reveals what pastors hate about their congregations — When I was a pastor, I would avoid my email inbox for as long as possible on Monday morning. That’s because I knew that invariably there would be a message from some disgruntled congregant who was ticked off by something from the services the day before. Betty Bloggs thinks the…

Some Christians can’t see what they can’t see — I remember going to a Christian youth camp back when I was a teenager, where I first heard the “true love waits” message. This “don’t-have-sex-until-you’re-married-kids” sermon included a slide show of genitalia infected with sexually transmitted diseases and videos of young people lamenting how miserable their lives had become because…