

Since 1900, the Christian Century has published reporting, commentary, poetry, and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.
© 2023 The Christian Century.
Why should the kids at my church care about pursuing God?
I don’t have all the answers, but I have a few ideas.
by Debie Thomas
How Dove’s Nest trains churches to keep children safe
“Churches are places of high trust—and high risk.”
Elizabeth Palmer interviews Anna Groff
How my daughter’s speech delay has changed my preaching
I want others to know the power of the gospel the same way she does.
A former parishioner shows me the gospel
His life had emerged from chaos, but he didn't have a bad word for anyone.
by Samuel Wells
Shared space, shared vision
In Asheville, one church was dying while another was being born.
Holy crumbs for a holy world
As the children make their way out the door, trails of leftover communion bread go with them.
Did Jesus mean that all the things we mean by accomplishment, and maturity, and reason, and progress, are actually small niggling things that we must finally shuck and lay aside, in order to again be like children, spiritually open and emotionally naked and constantly liable to giggling?
by Brian Doyle
For career day at my daughter's school, I brought pictures of some of the things pastors do. The students were mostly interested in the funerals.
My Presbyterian granddaughter hasn’t heard about 500 years of conflict over “the real presence.” At her cousins' Catholic church, she washed down the wafer with a large gulp from the cup—and then another.
Calling my wife and me “special” suggests that there is an alternative—that it would have been acceptable to refuse to receive our child.
We had not one but two baptisms the other day. What absorbed me most was the way the little kids edged toward the event like wasps to a picnic.
by Brian Doyle
Part church, part support network for families, Salvage Garden strives to create a space where all are welcome.