God is doing new things! Assumptions and traditions that we took for granted in our faith lives — maybe considered essential and even sacred — don’t work anymore. New ways of thinking about and being Jesus followers are taking their place.

If we are to glean any hope from the Hopevale story, perhaps it is this: we who aspire to be disciples of Jesus are “wounded healers” in the words of Henri Nouwen.

Have you ever wondered what it means to be “the church”? While it’s common to say we “go to church” on Sundays, theologians remind us we “go to be with the church” since “church” is the fellowship of God’s people – the community of faith – and not a building. We recently explored different dimensions of “being church” with the Union of Indonesian Baptist Churches.

Here are some of the stories we heard during a recent ministry trip to three countries in Southeast Asia. God is working in and through partners who live in countries where Christians are only barely tolerated.

“Men and women are equal … but women are a little bit lower,” remarked the young man in a class I (Ann) recently taught.

“Where exactly are you now?” a friend asked. Good question!