There is a quiet parents’ movement afoot in Grand Haven right now, and it is one that could do irreparable harm to our kids.
LOS ANGELES — Once a month, a very particular Sunday service unfolds on a patio outside a Starbucks in El Monte, California. When jets fly overhead, members of the congregation have to shout across the table at one another.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — United Methodist Church leaders from around the world and across ideological divides unveiled a plan Jan. 3 for a new conservative denomination that would split from the church in an attempt to resolve a decades-long dispute over gay marriage and gay clergy.
ATLANTA, Ga. — Five years ago, the Rev. Charles W. Savage II joined more than 80 other United Methodist Church pastors and theologians from around the nation in thoughtful conversations and prayer for an amicable separation between progressives and traditionalists.
LAUGHLIN, Nev. — Charlie Urnick stands in a backstage hallway at Don’s Celebrity Theater, tucked inside the thrumming Riverside Resort Hotel and Casino. Smiling, shaking hands with well-wishers, he awaits the evening’s events with the knowing calm of a veteran headliner.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis offered a Christmas message of hope Wednesday against darkness that cloaks conflicts and relationships in large parts of the world from the Middle East to the Americas to Africa.
Normal people are overestimating the value of Christianity Today’s editorial in which Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli called for President Donald Trump’s removal. In plain English: It’s not what it appears to be.
As we approach New Year’s Eve tonight, many people will commit themselves to new resolutions, commitments they have made to change something about their lives for the better.
Rabbi Velvel Belinsky says he’s always looking for fresh ways to promote the Jewish faith and its teachings.
Christmas is here once again! What a great time of year! Whether you celebrate it at church with friends or at home with family, it produces a warm and joyful experience. At least it should.
HARLAN, Ky. — The echoes of the most tumultuous bankruptcy to hit Eastern Kentucky’s coal industry in recent memory came to Harlan County recently in the form of Christmas carols.
LOS ANGELES — A Methodist church in Claremont, California, unveiled a Nativity scene last weekend depicting Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees in cages, likening one of the most well-known images of the Christmas season to photos that have become synonymous with criticism of the Trump admini…
featured
Around the Christmas season, it is common to see a display of the Nativity scene: a small manger with the baby Jesus and his family, shepherds, the three wise men believed to have visited Jesus after his birth and several barnyard animals.
featured
With cold temperatures settling in for the next few months, some local schoolchildren found a way to help the students of a nearby school.
GRAND RAPIDS — The holidays are a time to observe cultural and spiritual traditions, and to celebrate the gift of family and friends.
One of greatest ironies of history is that when billions of Christians prepare to be thankful for the coming into the world of a Jewish baby boy, anti-Semitism is rampant around the world, including America.
featured
NORTON SHORES — Local families are feeling the support of Western Michigan Christian students this holiday season.
Christmas is all about a little boy. You know the story. A helpless baby, in a manger. Shepherds and wise men visit because they see a star, and they know he’s special.
I was talking to a friend the other day and he was telling me about the horrendous ordeal he has been going through. Someone known to my friend, seeking revenge for a perceived slight, was making up stories about him. They made my friend out to be this terrible person who did terrible things.
featured
For nearly 30 years, Barb DeVries’ young students from Grand Haven Christian School have visited Grand Haven Garden House around the holidays.
This past Sunday evening, our church hosted an ecumenical offering of “Advent Lessons & Carols.” I was blessed by the area pastors who joined in reading Scripture, the sense of unity as Christians from a variety of denominations gathered together for song and reflection. And the music, o…
I know this will surprise regular readers (even reluctant ones, you know who you are), but I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I was wrong about something I’ve been rather militant about. And it’s funny to me that I didn’t realize it was wrong until it sort of hurt me.
Saying “thank you” seems like such a little thing. But it is often the “little things” that we overlook.
MINNEAPOLIS — They arrive with a crucifix, a book of prayers, holy water and a conviction that the Holy Spirit is at their side.
LOS ANGELES — Joanna Maxon, a 53-year-old Christian mother of two, was searching for ways to advance in her career as a supervisor and began looking into graduate schools.
As the holiday season gets underway, there’s a concert this coming weekend aimed at providing peace.
featured
The re-creation of the town of Bethlehem in the time of Jesus’ birth is coming back to Grand Haven.
WYOMING — Grammy Award-winning recording artist Bill Gaither will present the Gaither Christmas Homecoming Spectacular at the Grand Rapids First Assembly on Thursday, Dec. 5.
More than 40 international cities, including Grand Haven, will be uniting around the sculpture “Homeless Jesus” in various events to honor the World Day of the Poor on Sunday, Nov. 17.
LOS ANGELES — The Rev. Suk-ki Kim rubs the bleary eyes under his glasses, straining to see the pavement ahead.
I sometimes think it is incredible that our minds go so quickly to things that are negative.
featured
MUSKEGON — Four Lutheran churches in Muskegon soon will become one when a multi-year effort by Muskegon Metro Ministries culminates in the creation of Harbor of Grace Lutheran Church at 540 Houston Ave.
DEARBORN HEIGHTS — “Brothers and sisters,” the seminary instructor tells his class, don’t believe in God because of your parents’ beliefs but because “you know why God exists.”
There are 2.2 million people in our country’s nations and jails – a 500 percent increase over the past 40 years. We incarcerate a greater proportion of our own citizens than any other nation in the world. Just behind us are El Salvador, Rwanda and Russia. The amount of people incarcerated in…
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has declared that the Vatican Secret Archive isn’t so secret after all.
TIJUANA, Mexico — Fridays are for prayer in Tijuana. Every week, Muslim migrants from Africa and the Middle East gather in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood to worship in the city’s only mosque.
featured
SPRING LAKE TWP. — A pair of former pastors will return to help St. Matthew Lutheran Church celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The portion of Americans with no religious affiliation is rising significantly, in tandem with a sharp drop in the percentage that identifies as Christians, according to new data from the Pew Research Center.
SPRING LAKE — The gymnasium at St. Mary’s was buzzing with activity earlier this week as participants in the Catholic church’s Youth Ministries packed personal hygiene kits complete with shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, shaving cream, socks, toothbrushes and Chapstick.
Name of book: “We Are the Voice of the Grass: Interfaith Peace Activism in Northern Uganda”
Pink connected us on the beach back then. A coincidental meeting on a sun-kissed stretch of vacant Texas sand, a place where the memory still gives my heart pause.
Sister Stephanie Baliga no longer runs for herself, but for her community and for God. So she was undeterred as the predawn thunderstorm rolled in.
The Atrium Art Gallery at Second Christian Reformed Church is featuring artistic expressions in many media in a new exhibit, “A Myriad of Talents: Art by the members of Second Church.”
I can’t say that I cry a lot. But certainly, like everyone else, I “have my moments,” so to speak.
Benjamin Bosch has worked in the family business, Bosch’s Best Bushes, for his entire life. But in recent years, he’s heard a higher calling.
I read an interesting devotional article the other day that made me sit up and take notice. It was on the subject of prayer. Specifically, it was on the subject of praying for our leaders.
The Tri-Cities Climate Strike is scheduled to take place in Grand Haven’s Central Park from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20. Held as one of hundreds of demonstrations globally, the local event is being organized by St. John’s Episcopal Church of Grand Haven.
LOS ANGELES — Three Muslim men are suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, alleging they were denied access to an observant diet and proper religious garments and texts, while the same accommodations were made for inmates of other faiths.
A film-based dialogue on racial reconciliation is coming to the Tri-Cities, led by an area congregation but open to anyone in the community.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti met with Pope Francis on Aug. 9 in a private meeting at the Vatican, where they discussed climate change, youth, poverty and immigration.
ROME — Matteo Salvini slipped the rosary out of his pocket right before Premier Giuseppe Conte began his speech to Parliament. He took it out and kissed it again midway through the address, just as Conte began admonishing him for exploiting his Catholic faith for political ends.
Commented