Following Jesus in rejecting empire
I believe the word “mission” has outlived its usefulness. You see variations of the word all over Christendom – missional, missions, missio Dei, missionary, missiology. It’s used mainly to describe the work of bringing news about Jesus and the kingdom of God to others. But the word grew out of the exploitative quest to acquire…
The world is in a desperate search for somebody to hate. Acts of terror and violence abound all over the planet and it will not do to simply hate the perpetrators of those acts. We must locate our hatred in an entire community of people. There must be a “them” of which we are not…
I recently gave a talk summarizing the book Overturning Tables. If you don’t want to buy the book but have time to listen to me summarize it to a bunch of mission leaders, you’re in luck
The cyberworld is abuzz with the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. But while some weep and others rejoice, the decision which warrants a shout of elation from all Christ followers remains uncommented upon – the SCOTUS decision dealing a blow to our prison industrial complex. The Christian obsession with sex has once again…
ABOVE PHOTO: WWII Propaganda against Germans It is rather remarkable that neither my wife, nor myself, nor our family experience daily discrimination. It is also remarkable that I’ve never worried about being the victim of a hate crime. Why is this surprising? Because my last name, Bessenecker, is German. My wife has three German grandparents,…