Category: social justice

Group of children sitting on the ground near a chain-link fence in a refugee camp

What Will Become of 50,000 Children?

July 26, 2026

Passing along the newsletter I received this week from Matthew Soerens, the National Coordinator for the Evangelical Immigration Table. I’m grateful for Evangelical organizations such as the Evangelical Immigration Table and the National Association of Evangelicals, just to name a couple, who continue to speak up and call for true Jesus-honoring, Biblically grounded action on the behalf of the least of these. … More What Will Become of 50,000 Children?

Dilexi Te: On Love For the Poor

February 27, 2026

Scot McKnight is walking through the encyclical by Pope Leo XIV, “Dilexi Te: Apostolic Exhortation on Love for the Poor.” The universal church can learn much from the thinking of the Roman Catholic Church on what the Bible demands pertaining to the poor. Unfortunately, these Biblical ideas have been branded “marxist” or “socialist” or “woke” or “anti-American” or worse in our day. … More Dilexi Te: On Love For the Poor

I Stand with the NAE

February 6, 2026

I intentionally seek out and share sources that cannot be simply be dismissed as woke, mainstream media propaganda, and here is another example. I stand in support of the National Association of Evangelicals’ statement, “Standing With Our Immigrant Neighbors in a Time of Crisis” and invite you to do the same. … More I Stand with the NAE

Being a Neighbor, Showing Mercy in Minneapolis

February 4, 2026

Jesus is meddling in politics again. Why doesn’t he just preach the gospel? To “go and do likewise” in this moment for many Jesus-followers in Minnesota means moving toward those who are being harmed and mistreated, showing mercy and standing in solidarity with them, being the healing presence of Jesus and bearing witness to those being left devastated (and sometimes dead) by the side of the road. … More Being a Neighbor, Showing Mercy in Minneapolis

Help Heal Our Hurting Body

February 3, 2026

We have set up an Immigrant Neighbor Crisis Fund to collect donations to go directly to the immigrant families in our partner church. Why? Because we are part of them, and they are part of us. To continue applying the metaphor, “The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you,” just as the white part of the Body cannot say to the black or brown part, “I don’t need you.” “All of you TOGETHER are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it” (12:27). … More Help Heal Our Hurting Body

Our Need for MLK

January 19, 2026

On this MLK Day, we are reminded how badly we leaders of moral character and wisdom. This generation of well-meaning protesters filling the streets of my city lack the training in non-violent resistance that MLK taught and embodied. If we don’t hear words like following these days coming from our political leaders, maybe we should be turning our ears again to preachers like MLK. … More Our Need for MLK

The Least of These Are Crying Out

January 15, 2026

Over the weekend dozens of refugee families in Minnesota who have fled war, violence and religious persecution were cruelly and unjustly detained. U.S. federal immigration agents, some in plain clothes, deceitfully lured them — including children — from their homes. They were placed in detention, many transported to holding facilities out of state. Every one of these families used legal pathways under the Refugee Act of 1980, completing one of the world’s most rigorous vetting processes. … More The Least of These Are Crying Out

No More Mr. ICE Guy

January 7, 2026

Nothing can provoke anger quicker than mercy, when it’s directed to the wrong kind of people.

Marking the church’s Year of Jubilee, Pope Leo XIV invoked biblical language calling for kindness to migrants as human beings made in the image of God. There’s nothing the least bit controversial about this. It’s what the Bible says, what Christians have always believed, what official Catholic teaching makes explicit. Some people didn’t like this. … More No More Mr. ICE Guy

Beware of ICEy Conditions

December 18, 2025

I’m a pastor in a multiethnic denomination of immigrants, where my brothers and sisters are being terrorized by ICE raids and growing hostility and fear caused by this administration’s rhetoric and tactics. Our immigrant churches are half empty on Sundays, as families are afraid to leave their homes. No presents are under the tree, and cupboards are growing bare as they are afraid to go shopping. … More Beware of ICEy Conditions

President Swanson-Draheim on Welcoming the Stranger

October 29, 2025

I’m grateful to be part of the Evangelical Covenant Church in these challenging times. President Tammy Swanson-Draheim invites us to reflect on what it means to love as Jesus loves—especially in times of suffering and division. In this message, she shares stories of Covenant churches responding with compassion and courage, urging us to welcome the stranger and stand with one another. … More President Swanson-Draheim on Welcoming the Stranger

1.6 Million Deaths

June 5, 2025

On The Joe Rogan Experience last week, songwriter Bono laid out for Rogan the very human results of the Trump administration’s drastic spending cuts that will put an end to one government program that has actually worked: that of saving people in Africa from dying with AIDS. Rogan seemed convinced—even concerned. … More 1.6 Million Deaths

Babylon in America

May 19, 2025

This sober undressing of some of the hidden realities behind our nation may offend, and if it rattles our bones to see this earthly nation critiqued by the Bible, that might indicate we have made it an idol. Revelation is an ‘apocalypse,’ and that word means to pull back the curtain on the uglier realities that prefer to stay hidden behind the shiny surface. Revelation is an invitation to political resistance, not End Times speculation. … More Babylon in America

VIDEO: A Christian View of Foreign Aid

March 3, 2025

Musk and Trump have taken a chainsaw to foreign aid—literally. But before you cheer or condemn, let’s talk about what foreign aid really is. Is it American generosity? Christian charity? Evangelical thought leader, Skye Jethani, provides some historical perspective, suggesting foreign aid has always been about power, wealth, and self-interest. Cutting it might sound good in a MAGA speech, but it could backfire hard—on America. … More VIDEO: A Christian View of Foreign Aid

What’s Really Blowin’ in the Wind?

February 26, 2025

Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” poses profound questions about humanity’s struggles such as war and oppression. Its refrain suggests that answers are elusive—perhaps nearby or forever outside our grasp. I have begun to sing this song in a more redemptive key lately. At my Bob Dylan show this week, after the last note on the harmonica faded into applause, asked if perhaps Jesus told us the answer that is blowing in the wind. … More What’s Really Blowin’ in the Wind?

A Word On Immigration

February 7, 2025

I belong to a multiethnic body of believers called the Church of Jesus Christ. I was baptized into this new family, and I don’t get to choose and select who my siblings in Christ are. The waters of baptism are more binding than the blood running through my veins and any artificial national borders. “When one part of the body hurts, we (should) all hurt” (1 Cor. 12:26-27). … More A Word On Immigration

Open Letter: Evangelical Views on Immigration

November 12, 2024

An Open Letter from evangelical leaders emphasizes that most American evangelicals possess nuanced views on immigration, supporting neither open borders nor mass deportation. They advocate for the dignity of all individuals, the need for secure borders, and the preservation of family unity, urging political candidates to reflect these values in their policies. … More Open Letter: Evangelical Views on Immigration

Immigration, Dreamers & Moving Mountains

June 3, 2024

When I graduated from high school someone gave me a copy of Dr. Seuss’ Oh the Places You’ll Go! The optimism of that coming-of-age moment was wrapped up in the promise near the end of that book: “And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and 3/4 percent guaranteed.) KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!” This graduation season, I’ve been thinking and praying about a group of graduates for whom success seems a lot less certain than Dr. Seuss’ appraisal. … More Immigration, Dreamers & Moving Mountains