Let’s be clear: missionaries who put their kids in traumatizing or dangerous situations are not “heroes of the faith.” They are bad parents. –Holly Berkley Fletcher (The Missionary Kids, 2025)

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

10 Congregational Ministry Experiences That Shaped My 2025 - from serving as an interim senior pastor to worshipping in a food pantry and so much more - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/27/1...

The missionary story has always contained a healthy dose of myth, perhaps by design. –Holly Berkley Fletcher (The Missionary Kids, 2025)

Make it a standard practice to recognize and acknowledge your neighbor’s humanity. –Hanna Reichel (For Such a Time, 2025)

Hearing Mary’s Song - A Christmas Reflection - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/25/h...

Merry Christmas! Grateful to worship at Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ in Dallas this evening.

Merry Christmas Eve from downtown Fort Worth!

The Christian year isn’t a line. It isn’t a circle. It’s a spiral of spiritual wisdom from Jesus through the millennia to us. –Diana Butler Bass (A Beautiful Year, 2025)

Religious Affiliation in America: If the U.S. Were Just 100 People - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/22/r...

I found the church outside of institutional church services. –Michelle Van Loon (Downsizing, 2025)

Grateful beyond words for the ministry of Northridge Presbyterian Church and for Rev. Betsy Swetenburg’s faithful, servant leadership these past 5½ years. Blessings to Betsy and her family as they head to North Carolina.

But the biggest reason, I believe, American evangelicals are reluctant to loosen their grip on missions is because missions are too integral to their own identity. –Holly Berkley Fletcher (The Missionary Kids, 2025)

But for Jesus to bless the “poor in spirit” tells us that there are forms of poverty that aren’t all about our bank accounts. –Susan R. Pitchford (The Paradox of Poverty, 2025)

This morning at Hope was busy, powerful, and full of heart. Thanks to the dedication of 60+ volunteers, food was provided to more than 1,500 people in the East Dallas community. Together, we’re making a real difference.

God-with-Us is more than a story of a Savior and a Liberator. It is the continuing story of the Ever-Creating One wooing us into wonder, love, justice and the “very good” and “grace upon grace” that the universe holds. –Diana Butler Bass (A Beautiful Year, 2025)

Book banning is about more than specific books; it’s a part of the broader struggle over who has the right to define truth in education, who can speak into our cultural consciousness. –Kat Armas (Liturgies, 202

Jesus entered the poverty of human condition by choice, and entering it, sanctified it. –Susan R. Pitchford (The Paradox of Poverty, 2025)

Advent is the season of now and here. Keep awake to that. –Diana Butler Bass (A Beautiful Year, 2025)

We talk about Jesus’s body being broken for us while sometimes forgetting Mary’s body was broken for him. Divinity entered the world through a Brown, female, refugee body - a body that was vulnerable, stretched, marginalized. –Kat Armas (Liturgies, 2025)

So this prime time talk is to rehash worn out and easily fact checked talking points and announce a "Warrior Dividend"? $1,776 buys how many votes?

The 16th Annual So What Faith Top Books of the Year List has been published for 2025! This year's list includes volumes by Ryan Burge, Diana Butler Bass, Elaine Pagels, Christian Smith, & Isaac Samuel Villegas - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1... #bookrecommendations

Congrats @isaacvillegas.bsky.social! Migrant God: A Christian Vision for Immigrant Justice was named a Top 10 Book of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Congrats @katherinestewart.bsky.social! Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy was named a Top 10 Book of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Congrats @hannareichel.bsky.social! For Such a Time as This: An Emergency Devotional was named a Top 10 Book of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Congrats @sistermonicaclare.bsky.social! A Change of Habit: Leaving Behind My Husband, Career, and Everything I Owned to Become a Nun has been named one of the Top 10 Books of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Congrats @ryanburge.bsky.social! The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future was named one of the two top books of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Congrats @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social! A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance was named a Top 10 Book of 2025 by So What Faith! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/17/1...

Advent is the season of remembering, expecting, and waiting for the coming of Jesus into the world. But we cannot do so through the lens of historical or religious amnesia. –Yolanda Pierce (Christian Century, Dec. 2025)

We cannot undo what has been made, but we can choose to make it over. Every act of truth telling, every refusal of silence, every step toward justice makes history - and moves us closer to a more moral future. –Kelly Brown Douglas (Christian Century, Dec. 2025)

It is a wild thing to be called a friend of God. Scandalous even. –Kat Armas (Liturgies, 2025)

My Visit to Church of the Open Arms United Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, OK on the third Sunday of Advent aka Spontaneous Christmas Pageant Sunday - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/14/m...

During Advent, we must remember the Creator who radically breaks the bondage of racial and cultural hegemony, choosing a despised and peculiar people to receive the revelation of the great I Am. –Yolanda Pierce (Christian Century, Dec. 2025)

Celebrating our 27th anniversary in Oklahoma City! Happy Anniversary Susan!

The church growth movement is now in its downsizing era. –Michelle Van Loon (Downsizing, 2025)

Christianity Declines by 25% in America - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/12/c... #trends

But American Christians need to imagine that God has never needed America, and God doesn’t need them. –Holly Berkley Fletcher (The Missionary Kids, 2025)

Another great day at Hope! Thankful to the many servant leaders who share our story and invite others to join in. Together we are making a real difference in East Dallas.

There’s a divine alchemy that turns poverty into joy, but it doesn’t tend to happen all at once. –Susan R. Pitchford (The Paradox of Poverty, 2025)

The Bible is big, messy, and complex. –Zach Lambert (Better Ways to Read the Bible, 2025)

The paradox of being human is that we learn to find hope and meaning in a world scarred by pain and brokenness. –Kat Armas (Liturgies, 2025)

Searching for your next favorite book? 📘 Don’t miss So What Faith’s 5-Star Books of 2025! - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/09/5... #bookrecommendations

The problem with Osteen’s gospel are more sins of omission than commission. –Susan R. Pitchford (The Paradox of Poverty, 2025)

We must find better ways to read the Bible than as a caste-system starter kit. –Zach Lambert (Better Ways to Read the Bible, 2025)

Whoever or whatever God is, God has never needed any one person or country or government or organization or enterprise or church. –Holly Berkley Fletcher (The Missionary Kids, 2025)

With the help of nearly 60 volunteers, Hope provided groceries for nearly 400 families this morning. #eastdallas #volunteersmakeadifference

Healthy boards are not born - they’re cultivated. –Keith Clark-Hoyos (Embracing Our Call, 2025)

Faithful stewardship means more than keeping track of resources. It means aligning those resources to the mission. –Keith Clark-Hoyos (Embracing Our Call, 2025)

Congrats, @joashpthomas.bsky.social! The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church’s Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness has been named a Recommended Read on So What Faith - sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/03/g...

Congrats @dianabutlerbass.bsky.social! A Beautiful Year: 52 Meditations on Faith, Wisdom, and Perseverance tops this month's list of Recommended Reads on So What Faith -- sowhatfaith.com/2025/12/03/g...