Bible scholar and prolific book-writer Rubel Shelly returns to talk about his two new books on heaven and hell. In this episode, he explains why heaven and hell may not be what most Christians always imagined them to be.

Link to Heaven: Why It May Not Be What You Have Always Heart, by Rubel Shelly

Link to Hell: Why It May Not Be What You Have Always Heard, by Rubel Shelly

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

How many Church of Christ congregations in the United States baptized 8,000 people in their first 20 years?

Central Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee, did.

Forming in 1925, the Central Church of Christ did not choose to assemble in the desirable, fast-growing, upwardly-mobile parts of Nashville. Rather, the congregation chose to put down roots in the highest-crime, highest-poverty part of town. 

Backed by philanthropist A.M. Burton, Central Church of Christ activated a dazzling array of community services and ministries that would seem ahead of their time even today. Led by minister E.H. Ijams, the congregation operated from the belief that announcing the kingdom of God and practicing neighbor love are one and the same.

In this episode, Ijams's protege and student, Harold Shank, talks about the legacy of Central Church of Christ and what congregations around the world today can learn from it today.

Link to The Christian Chronicle's archive of coverage of the Central Church of Christ

Link to It's All About God, Harold Shank's book about E.H. Ijams and the Central Church of Christ

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

These days, the heat and wind of the political environment is kindling even in some Christians what seems to be an appetite for rage, revenge and violence.

When the church of Christ allows itself to be set ablaze by politics, how can it demonstrate the grace and peace of the kingdom of God? How can it bear witness to the reconciling and redemptive work of Jesus Christ? How can it be a refuge for those who are exhausted and wounded by the acrimony of our times?

Recorded in late 2025, this conversation with Tryce Prince addresses these questions head-on.

Prince is director of the Carl Spain Center on Race Studies and and Spiritual Action at Abilene Christian University, contributes to the Good Culture Show podcast and writes at the First Sunday Substack. He recently published an essay, "Fighting Fire with Plants" in Christianity Today. 

As the church searches its soul and tries to find solutions to the crises of these times, Prince points to a branch of the Christian family tree from recent history. The Black church in the United States responded to hateful and violent circumstances in the 19th and 20th centuries by cultivating a "beloved community" of proactive and purposeful love and peace-making.

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Lakeview Church of Christ and Northwest Church of Christ, both in Chicago, have long histories ministering to their neighbors and welcoming strangers into their pews. For decades, migration trends mean that many of their members and neighbors are from countries beyond the United States. 

For both Lakeview and Northwest, embracing and supporting these newcomers has always been a simple matter of obedience to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ and the laws of the kingdom of God as the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-46. 

Changes in attitudes among some U.S. voters, however, led to a new federal administration that promised to deport 10 million illegal immigrants in 2025. Federal law enforcement is now deploying personnel and tactics that are affecting Lakeview and Northwest members and neighbors. 

Which raises difficult questions for congregational leaders. What will they do when obedience to the Christ could bring them to not comply or not cooperate with the U.S. government? What will they do if law enforcement tries to enlist, search or surveil their congregations?

In this episode we hear from Chicago ministers Walter Pierce (Lakeview Church of Christ) and Carlos Estrada and Patrick Odum (Northwest Church of Christ).

Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle's coverage of Lakeview Church of Christ

Link to an archive of The Christian Chronicle's coverage of Northwest Church of Christ

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Kids and young adults growing up in congregations with "Church of Christ" signs on their buildings have honest questions: "Who are we? How did we become who we are? Why do we do what we do?"

These are important questions for young Christians trying to decide whether to remain with the church of their upbringing or strike out in search of something different.

And, if "restoration" truly is essential to Christians who identify with the Church of Christ, then it must be a fresh practice for each new generation.

These are the reasons why Church of Christ youth ministry veterans Luke Dockery and Jared Pack wrote Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement.  

The book, which uses comic book illustrations and fast-moving, punchy language, seeks to orient a new generation to Church of Christ history.

In this episode, the authors discuss why church history beyond the New Testament is still crucial for present-day Christians to learn and study. They also make their case that restoring the New Testament church is always a present and future pursuit and never a past-tense accomplishment. Thus, restoration demands both an awareness of history and an orientation toward emerging generations.

Link to Zack Martin's Christian Chronicle review of Origin Story

Link to Origin Story: Churches of Christ and the Restoration Movement

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Declining birthrates in the United States will drive down college enrollment over the next 15 years. Some experts predict that hundreds of small private colleges and universities will close.

Of the 14 colleges and universities in the Church of Christ family tree, as many as ten of them have characteristics that put them at higher risk in the new higher education market.

Many of these schools are innovating in ways that cut costs, increase operating margins and revenue and at least give them a chance to grow or maintain enrollment enough to survive.

But will a necessary focus on margins lead to less focus on mission?

Dr. Joshua Travis Brown, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education and research fellow with the Center for Skills, Knowledge and Organizational Performance at the University of Oxford, shares what he found when he researched how small private colleges are managing tradeoffs between margins and mission. That research appears in his book, Capitalizing on College: How Higher Education Went From Mission Driven to Margin Obsessed (Oxford Press).

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Parents of special needs kids face a special kind of grief and a special kind of struggle. Yet, so often their needs go overlooked and unmet in their own churches.

Gigi Khonyongwa-Fernandez, author of From Rollercoasters to Carousels: An Emotional Support Guide to Healing for NICU, Bereaved and Special Needs Parents, shares her story and the emotions she and other NICU, bereaved and special needs parents experience. 

In this episode, she opens up about how parents like her deal with ongoing grief and trauma. Among the points that come up in this discussion are:

• How we are all close to someone who experiences trauma, most of all in our churches
• NICU, bereaved and special needs parents struggle to allow themselves to feel their emotions
• Sometimes, churches do not make space for those who are grieving to grieve as fully and as long as they need

How might the church come alongside NICU, bereaved and special needs parents?

Links for this episode:

BT and Gigi reference both 2 Corinthians 1:4 and Proverbs 27:14

The Christian Chronicle's feature on Khonyogwa-Fernandez: https://christianchronicle.org/connector-in-chief-trauma-informed-coach-brings-the-world-together/

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Once upon a time, a Church of Christ minister could be effective with some education in Bible and training in preaching.

But is that enough in the "digital world" of the 21st century?

Dr. Todd Brenneman and Tommie Lee Washington, professors at Faulkner University, make the case that it's past time for Church of Christ ministers to add excellence in media and technology to their ministry repertoire.

In this episode, we talk about how the "digital citizens" of the 21st century expect to encounter and interact with ideas...including the gospel. Among the things that come up in this discussion:

• Designing church materials using tools like Canva
• Reaching more people through new media and streaming platforms
• Using cutting edge animation software to produce teaching content
• Producing lessons and sermons using AI 

The New Testament is full of examples of ancient Christian teachers using the innovations of their time to communicate the gospel. So is it so far-fetched to imagine that Christian teachers today will do the same?

But is there any point at which using technological innovation to preach and teach the gospel is going too far? What are the dangers?

Link to the Faulkner University Bachelor of Biblical Studies with a digital ministry track

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.

Christian Chronicle Podcast partner Freed-Hardeman University sponsored this special episode to be an open invitation to you to visit the Bible lands.

If you're a longtime listener to The Christian Chronicle Podcast, you've heard the advertisements that promote the opportunity for all students in the Freed-Hardeman University Graduate School of Theology to work an archaeological dig in the Bible lands...for just $500 out of pocket.

In this episode, you'll find out how this opportunity open to everyone (even those who are not students at Freed-Hardeman University).

Why is this important? Our guests, Dr. Rick Brumback and Dr. Jonathan Moore make the case for how visiting the places where the Bible stories took place builds personal faith and empowers and enriches Christian preachers and teachers for their ministry work.

This is your chance to deepen your faith and widen your imagination as a Christian by visiting the Bible lands with Freed-Hardeman University. 

Take your first step to the Bible lands at travel.fhu.edu and learn more at seeinghisworld.com and contact this episode's guests at [email protected] and [email protected].

When Dallas Jenkins, creator, principal writer and show runner for The Chosen spoke at Oklahoma Christian University, The Christian Chronicle's Bobby Ross, Jr., got a chance to sit down with him for a conversation. Carla Hinton, faith editor for The Oklahomanand The Christian Chronicle's CEO Erik Tryggestad joined them. 

In this interview, you'll hear Jenkins talk about:

• The experience of filming the sixth season of The Chosen, which is all about the crucifixion of Jesus. 
• How he handles the expectations of politicians that he (and his show) will be a platform and voice for their particular views.
• Why he chose to make The Chosen a TV show instead of a movie.
• The impact that The Chosen is making on Christians and non-Christians alike all over the world.
• How he chose Jonathan Roumie to play Jesus of Nazareth.
• The extreme personal and professional challenges of creating and sustaining The Chosen.
• How the broader entertainment industry has responded to, and been changed by, The Chosen phenomenon.
• The challenge and opportunity of interpreting Scripture through an artistic medium like television.

Link to Bobby Ross Jr.'s Christian Chronicle story about his interview with Dallas Jenkins.

Link to The Chosen

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Healing Hands International will give you or your congregation a community and a direction to put the life and work of Jesus into practice. Learn more at hhi.org.