Died: Labib Madanat, Who Showed Palestinians and Israelis the Bible in Word and Deed
Son of Jordanian missionaries organized the Holy Land’s Bible societies and demonstrated the gospel’s love and forgiveness amid war and terror.
During his decades of ministry, Labib Madanat repeatedly passed through Israel’s main international ai…
Christians in Haiti Worry About Release of Kidnapped Missionaries
How the 17 Christian Aid Ministries captives are eventually freed could elevate the risks faced by local believers and American workers.
As months of routine violence and kidnapping take their toll in Haiti, some residents have resorted to humor.
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There’s No Good Plan to Stop 100,000 Opioid Deaths a Year
The Christian call to hard friendship in a national emergency.
100,000 Americans died from April 2020 to April 2021 due to opioids, according to numbers released this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of the deaths …
Fewer Politicians Are Seeking Compromise. Should Christians?
The norms of working across the aisle are changing. So is the church’s attitude about it.
Last Friday, both chambers of Congress passed an infrastructure bill that will commit more than one trillion dollars to America’s deteriorating roads and bridges, making life easier for pedestrians and bikers, improving broadband access, and renovating suffering public transit systems.
This bill has been closely tied to Biden’s Build Better Back, legislation that would invest heavily in climate change and social policies. While the bill had passed the Senate in July, Progressive Democrats in the House had wanted to hold out on passing the bill until Build Better Back first passed.
But mustering support for that initiative has been challenging for Democrats, including from within their own party. Last week, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin suggested his refusal to support the bill was because it didn’t share enough of the other side’s interests.
“While I’ve worked hard to find a path to compromise, it’s obvious: Compromise is not good enough for a lot of my colleagues in Congress. It’s all or nothing, and their position doesn’t seem to change unless we agree to everything,” Manchin said in a press conference.
Though Manchin and fellow Democrat Arizona senator Krysten Sinema have insisted that their holding out is part of a commitment to look out for the interests of everyone, some suggest that their posture is actually selfish.
“It is simply not fair, not right that one or two people say: My way or the highway,” said Vermont senator Bernie Sanders.
Amy E. Black is professor of political science at Wheaton College and author of several books, including Honoring God in Red or Blue: Approaching Politics with Humility, Grace, and Reason.
Black joined global media manager Morgan …
Does God Really Want Missionaries to Risk Their Lives?
Parsing when doing ministry in the midst of danger is selfish v. selfless.
On Saturday, a gang kidnapped 17 North American missionaries in Haiti as the party returned from an orphanage in a suburb of Port-au-Prince. Since then, the group, known as 400 Mawozo, has demanded a ransom of $17 million for the victims, who include five men, seven women, and five children. While many locals have been kidnapped in recent years as security on the country’s roads has been increasingly threatened, this incident has drawn significant international attention.
This kidnapping comes roughly two months after US troops withdrew from Afghanistan. America’s departure and the chaos that ensued led many expats, including aid workers and missionaries, to leave the country.
This week on Quick to Listen, we wanted to talk about how Christians in ministry should evaluate risk. What is worth putting our lives on the line for? How do we know when we’re acting selfishly or selflessly?
Anna Hampton is the author of Facing Danger: A Guide Through Risk, which is based on her doctoral dissertation at Trinity Seminary in Newburg. She’s been in full-time ministry for 28 years, more than 17 of those years in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey and other parts of Central Asia and the Middle East. She and her family are now based in the US, but still doing work in Central Asia, so Anna Hampton is a pseudonym.
Hampton joined global media manager Morgan Lee and executive editor Ted Olsen to discuss how the Bible discusses risk, what has shaped Western Christians’ perspectives on this issue, and how saviorism affects how we make these decisions.
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