Center for Christian Civics

10/01/2025

How does understanding Jesus' emotions change the way we approach discipleship, parenting and pastoral care? Our Executive Director will be on stage three times at this weekend's Constant Connection conference to discuss these topics with our friends at the Anastasís Center!

The conference explores the relationship between Christ's atonement and contemporary attachment theory. If you're in the Philadelphia area, this is not an event to miss!

https://zurl.co/yGYuA

09/19/2025

For those of us who were still not numb to the violence in our country, and for those of us who still hope to see the Prince of Peace's hands at work in our civic life, the past week has been grueling.

Today on our blog, author Christina Ray Stanton, Author shares a powerful prayer from her church, The Well, reckoning with two major instances of gun violence and political violence, and pleading for our future hope to be made manifest now.

Read the full prayer at https://zurl.co/pfadn

08/04/2025

Tune in to WAVA radio in one hour for a lengthy interview with our Executive Director!

Rick Barry will join host Brian Bales on "Welcome to the Drive Home" to discuss the effect political division is having on our discipleship and on our churches' ability to evangelize our neighbors.

If you are in the DC area, you can listen beginning at 4:00 PM on 105.1 FM.

If you're anywhere else in the world, you can listen online!

WAVA/FM-‘WELCOME TO THE DRIVE HOME FROM THE NATION’S CAPITAL”, your premier afternoon radio show straight from Washington, DC! Join us each day, Monday thru Friday from 4pm to 6pm on 105.1 FM for insightful interviews with top-notch talent and personalities, where we de

10/16/2024

In two hours, the Better Citizens, Better World conference kicks off with a presentation from Christian Civics co-founder Rick Barry on why good discipleship leads us to active citizenship. Register now and get access to the entire conference, including sessions on violence in the middle east, the relationship between protest and the biblical practice of lamentation, and a practical training on how to advocate for your neighbors.

https://www.christiancivics.org/bcbw24

07/16/2024

Our country hasn't seen this level of civic violence in over 50 years. How can we reconcile our desire for civility with the reality of dangerous polarization?

We are excited to welcome Lisa Rodriguez Watson, National Director of Missio Alliance, to tomorrow's prayer call. Together, we will offer three ways you can lead prayer that begins to address the lies, anger and apathy that are poisoning our life together.

https://www.christiancivics.org/prayer-calls

07/16/2024

Violence is, unfortunately, one of the topics we've had to cover the most on our blog and on our podcast.

This week, to help us prepare for our upcoming live prayer call on gun violence and political violence, we are sharing some articles and podcasts from our archive, starting with this 2015 reflection from Max Everett. This article shows a long-time political conservative wrestling honestly with his convictions—and the convictions of his countrymen—in light of his Christian faith.

You can read the full article, "Hypocrisy, Humility and Facing the Fight Over Guns," on our website:

https://www.christiancivics.org/blog/2015-10-28-hypocrisy-humility-and-facing-the-fight-over-guns

12/07/2023

(This Advent reflection is from our newsletter. Visit christiancivics.org/newsletter for more.)

"Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak." (Luke 1:21–22)

For churches that follow the traditional liturgical calendar, December is a month filled with explanation and proclamation. During the Advent season, we explain what we hope for and why we hope for it. We explain our longing for rescue. Then, on Christmas, we proclaim that the very thing we long for has been given to us.

We don’t appreciate the restraint of the Advent season deeply enough.

Our political culture is built around constant proclamation. (So is our social media landscape!) To be understood, to be taken seriously, to win votes, candidates have to constantly declare their own commitments, their own virtues and their opponent’s flaws. To build and maintain audiences, pundits and political influencers proclaim, many times an hour, why their side is right and the other side is evil.

Yet when Dr. Luke had finished his thorough investigation into everything that was fulfilled in the sight of Jesus’ friends and eyewitnesses, he concluded that it all started with God making a proclamation to a human—who then held his tongue.

When the impulse to constantly proclaim is so much a part of the “water we swim in,” it’s easy to let it seep into the way we practice our faith. It’s easy to start thinking that sharing our faith with others means bombarding them with arguments, with warnings, with exhortations, until we hit on just the right combination of words that can leak into a crack in their hard heart.

The Advent season exists, in part, as a reminder that, while explanation and proclamation are sometimes important and regularly essential, they are only a small part of Christian ministry. They’re only part of what it means to live as Jesus’ body and witnesses in this world. They’re only part of the way our lives are supposed to testify to God’s grace.

11/21/2023

Can Christians care about politics without becoming extremists or engaging in culture war?

For eight years now, we've been working with churches around the country that were experiencing high levels of political tension. We've helped thousands of Christians turn down the heat and approach civic life in a way that actually makes Jesus look good to their friends and neighbors.

Beginning this weekend, our workshops will be available as a video series for any church or small group to use.

Sign up on our website for access to Christian Civics Foundations as soon as it launches.

https://www.christiancivics.org/foundations

03/21/2023

What does "political" mean to you?

Our latest video can help us all think more critically about politics, relate to other believers more calmly, and maybe even (in the long run) love our neighbors more effectively.

C.S. Lewis wrote "The Four Loves" to help readers develop a more nuanced understanding of an important term. The word "politics" deserves the same treatment....

08/08/2022

Our next Foundations cohort begins next week. Join us to work out how to engage (every version of) politics with hope, generosity and the kind of humility that makes you more credible.

https://www.christiancivics.org/upcoming-events/foundations-fall-22/