Latest from ESAThe Heartbeat of a CommunitySeptember 22, 2017By Chuck Bomar Life in every community revolves around a different center. College towns revolve around the university calendar. Local restaurants are busy from September through April, and then the rhythm changes during the summer months. Life in the urban core of large cities like New York City, where many…... Read more...Turning Our Hearts Toward One AnotherSeptember 21, 2017By John Seel, Ph.D. Life can put one’s emotions into a pressure cooker. Nothing does this more than family challenges. My tight-knit family is dealing with the combination of a funeral and wedding within a month of each other. All of the wounds, past tensions, and unresolved relationships, as well…... Read more...It Isn’t Morning YetSeptember 20, 2017By Elrena Evans The world is a broken place, and when I look around I see that brokenness writ large. White supremacists are marching in the streets. Floodwaters are seeping into the homes of people I love. Statements are being hurled back and forth defining who is, and who is…... Read more...A Prayer for Churches in JerusalemSeptember 19, 2017“Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed…” Isaiah 1:17 Earlier this month, several patriarchs and heads of churches in Jerusalem issued a statement condemning various acts in Jerusalem that restricted the rights of churches on their own property. As they wrote, We see in these actions a systematic…... Read more...Affirmations & Denials: A Few Ideas for Responding to the Nashville StatementSeptember 18, 2017By Veronica Timbers Here are some practical applications for pushing back against the harm of the Nashville Statement and taking collective action toward justice. Just for fun, I will use “The Statement’s” format to present my ideas for a collective—and active—rebuttal. ARTICLE 1 WE COMMIT to pray for the justice…... Read more...One Month After Charlottesville: A Letter to My White Suburban Christian Brothers and SistersSeptember 15, 2017By Benjamin Capps Dear white, suburban, Christian brothers and sisters, Like many of you, on the evening of Saturday August 12th, my eyes were glued to the unfolding events scrolling across the screen of my phone—my mouth open, stomach turning, head swirling and palms sweating as my body reacted to…... Read more...Animals Are Not Ours: An Interview With Sarah Withrow KingSeptember 14, 2017Watch an in-depth interview with ESA Deputy Director Sarah Withrow King about why caring for animals is a faithful witness of the peaceful kingdom that God desires, and Jesus modeled. Sarah Withrow King is the Deputy Director of Evangelicals for Social Action, the co-director of CreatureKind, and the author of two…... Read more...Expanding the Parameters: The Nashville StatementSeptember 13, 2017By Jon Carlson The last week of August, while the floodwaters were rising in Houston, the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a statement “declaring once again the true story of the world and of our place in it—particularly as male and female.” Over fourteen articles, the authors offer…... Read more...Defend DACA: Seven Things You Can Do TodaySeptember 12, 2017By Kathy Khang #DEFENDDACA Instead of sitting and seething over yet another debacle initiated in the name of law and order, here are seven things you can DO: 1. This HuffPo piece has links so you can send an email to the White House, contact your representatives and senators, and…... Read more...
