Space Force Hymn Lifts Prayer to the Heavens

Southern Baptist chaplain says God prompted him to write song for the newest branch of the US military.

Air Force Academy cadets who will be commissioning into the US Space Force cheer after taking an oath during their graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

The upright piano was old and out of tune, but James Linzey couldn’t resist the urge to stop and touch the keys.

Sitting in the former Dalton gang museum building in Coffeyville, Kansas, Linzey clanked until he found the melody he had been searching for. Then he wrote the words:

Creator of the universe,

Watch over those who fly,

Through the great space beyond the earth,

And worlds beyond the sky.

The 66-year-old Southern Baptist minister composed this hymn in Coffeyville, a small town of about 9,000, back in 2020, while cleaning up the historic museum he’d purchased with plans to revitalize. Now, nearly five years later, the hymn is known as “The Space Force Hymn.”

Linzey was a military chaplain for nearly 24 years, but the government didn’t ask him to write “Creator of the Universe” for the newest branch of the service. In fact, the military does not have official hymns, out of concern they would violate the First Amendment prohibition against respecting an establishment of religion. But there are unofficial hymns. The Air Force has “Lord, Guard and Guide the Men Who Fly,” and the Navy has “Eternal Father, Strong to Save.” And the Space Force has Linzey’s composition.

If you ask Linzey why he wrote it, he will tell you it’s because God told him to—although he’s quick to add that it wasn’t an audible voice. He felt an internal prodding.

“I felt very strongly in my spirit that the Lord led me—urged me—to write the Space Force hymn.”

The thought popped into his head when he first heard that then-president Donald Trump was going to create another branch of the military—the first new service since the creation of the Air Force in 1947. Some people mocked the idea when it was announced, but experts said it was necessary for the organization and prioritization of American interests in space, including the security of satellites.

“It’s not about protecting Earth from asteroids or aliens,” said Todd Harrison, who directs the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. “It will create a centralized, unified chain of command that is responsible for space.”

Linzey, who was taking an intensive course in advanced Greek at Westminster Seminary California at the time, started thinking about heaven.

“The Space Force’s mission to explore space and engage in space travel inspires me because, number one, the Bible says that that is where heaven is,” he told Christianity Today. “The OT Hebrew term for ‘heavens’ or ‘heaven’ is shamayim, which can also be translated as ‘sky.’ In the Hebrew Bible, shamayim is the home of God. The NT Greek term for ‘heaven’ or ‘sky’ is ouranos, and … that is where we will go for all eternity, by believing in and living for Christ.”

It’s hard to imagine someone more suited to compose the Space Force hymn than Linzey. He served in the United States Army and Air Force as a chaplain before retiring in 1998 with the rank of major.

His experience has given him a lot of insight into the hearts and spiritual needs of the people serving their country—and what inspires them.

He also has an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary and a deep knowledge of biblical languages. He is chief editor of the Modern English Version Bible and general editor of the new Tyndale Bible, which will be released in 2026 ahead of the 500th anniversary of the release of the original Tyndale Bible.

Linzey believes having a strong theological background is important for hymn writing.

“You have to know the Bible,” he said. “You have to know theology so you don’t mess up.”

It also helped to know military music history. The Space Force hymn includes allusions to both the Air Force hymn and the Navy hymn. The first verse of Linzey’s composition references “worlds beyond the sky,” which plays off the Air Force hymn’s line about “great spaces of the sky.” And the final verse of Linzey’s hymn begins with “Eternal Father, strong to save,” which is the title of the Navy hymn.

Linzey said he did this deliberately to show the continuity of the new service. The first members of the Space Force also came from the Air Force, so he wanted to communicate that connection and the development of a new branch in the song.

The official recording was done by Dan Kreider, a professional composer and music minister at a church in Florida, who also has a doctorate in choral music and a business publishing custom hymnals. Linzey laughed and said that it sounds a lot better than it did when he first played it on the upright in Dalton Museum building. Kreider’s version is slow and majestic and allows people to breathe and experience the feeling of praying to God.

“It’s like you’re in a cathedral at this altar with stained glass windows and the sun’s shining through,” Linzey said. “The reverence—they captured it.”

Don Biadog, a retired Navy chaplain who has known Linzey since 2016, had a similar reaction when he first heard the song.

“The hymn impacted me emotionally and on a high spiritual level,” said Biadog, who is also Southern Baptist. “The lyrics and the tune masterfully tug at the heart, soul, and mind.”

He believes the hymn will have a powerful effect on the men and women who serve in the Space Force in the years to come.

“‘Creator of the Universe’ is a prayer that has been set to music, and all military personnel certainly need a prayer such as this that draws the soul of humankind closer to God,” he said.

Biadog hopes the hymn will be sung in lots of churches—perhaps on Independence Day, Memorial Day, and Veterans Day.

“Military hymns became recognized in the civilian churches before becoming ‘military hymns,’” Biadog explained in an article for K-Love. “After that, it became natural for military chapels and military bands to adopt them as their hymns and perform them.”

Linzey is pleased with the response the song has received so far. He doesn’t know how many churches have sung the hymn, exactly, but tens of thousands of people have visited his website, where the sheet music is free to download.

Since its release, the song has been well received, with stories written about it in the local Coffeyville newspaper and numerous religious publications. Linzey has also done his best to let churches and chapels know about it.

“I really hope in my lifetime to see it in a hymnal,” he said.

Perhaps someday it will be sung in the chapel at the Pentagon, where the more than 9,000 members of the Space Force are currently assigned:

Eternal Father, strong to save,

In prayer before Thy light,

In solitude of sov’reign grace,

Grant courage for each flight. Amen.

Wherever people sing the words that Linzey wrote in Coffeyville, though, he knows a prayer will rise to the heavens.

- More from Adam MacInnis

Ideas

Power Without Integrity Destroys Us

Justin Giboney

Contributor

Evangelicals helped elect Trump. Can evangelicals also hold him accountable?

Jeff Swensen / Stringer / Getty

In 1874, Robert B. Elliott, one of South Carolina’s first Black attorneys and congressmen, left Washington, DC, and took a trip home to Columbia to address some serious concerns. The state had become the subject of national ridicule due to the alleged corruption of its elected officials. Among other things, Gov. Franklin Moses Jr., known as the “robber governor,” had been using taxpayer funds to cover his gambling addiction.

Franklin and Elliott were in the same political party, both Republicans, but Elliott wouldn’t turn a blind eye to corruption and incompetence. One of American history’s greatest orators, he told the people of his state, “The power we have will be our condemnation, unless we arouse ourselves to our responsibilities.” Elliott knew that political victories void of honor become pyrrhic victories, and power detached from integrity destroys us in the end.

Pro-Trump evangelicals are understandably in a celebratory mood after Tuesday’s victory. President-elect Donald Trump just pulled off what some are calling the greatest political comeback in American history. And many white evangelicals, though often anxious about their “persecuted” status, find themselves in proximity to power once again, sticking with Trump despite his long and public record of misdeeds, including refusing to comply with the peaceful transfer of power after the last election.

I believe this loyalty was grossly misplaced and this victory was achieved through unacceptable compromises. I can’t ignore Trump’s words and actions, and I’m baffled by the far-fetched rationalizations it takes for my fellow pro-life Christians to continue supporting Trump after he explicitly disavowed the pro-life position.

But now that Trump has won, that support comes with a duty of accountability—just as it would for Kamala Harris supporters if she’d won instead. (In fact, my plan for this article was exactly the same for either outcome; had Harris won, I’d be writing the same things to her Christian voters now.) Those who backed Trump’s political resurgence must arouse themselves to their responsibilities as citizens and—more importantly—as disciples of Jesus Christ.

John the Baptist lost his head for speaking truth to power, and Esther risked it all to protect a vulnerable people. Christians who have the ear of the new Trump administration, whether in formal roles in Washington or simply as part of the new president’s base, must do likewise. Cozying up to the powerful to further our self-interest isn’t part of the Christian’s job description. In truth, it’s in deep conflict with our commission.

What does holding Trump accountable entail? It means recognizing that the concerns of those who voted for other candidates were not all illegitimate. And it means admitting that Trump’s shaky pro-life stance doesn’t justify anything and everything he says and does.

Yes, the Democrats’ abortion agenda is egregious—and their extreme stances on transgenderism and parental rights should be rejected in no uncertain terms. But those wrongs don’t justify ignoring Trump’s serious issues. When Elliott went back home, he didn’t excuse his party’s and state’s failures by pointing to how Wall Street was rigging the markets and fixing railroad stocks at that time. He held his own to account and passionately implored them to do what is right.

Accountability also means Trump’s disparagement of and threats toward suffering immigrants and his embarrassing lack of a health-care plan cannot be dismissed as minor discrepancies. Again, Democrats have their problems, but they do not negate the responsibilities of Trump’s evangelical voters. Christians must take immigration and health-care policies seriously because they are directly related to our care for the orphan, the widow, the stranger, and our neighbors more generally. Christians cannot be faithful in the public square while rationalizing the rhetoric and policies that neglect or violate these groups.

And if Trump’s economic policies are more influenced by Elon Musk than Vice President–elect JD Vance—if they’re friendlier to big business than to the working class—then his Christian supporters must call that out. That would mean Trump lied to his working-class voters and will increase the economic pain he promised to alleviate. Christians who served as Trump’s sword and shield should start weighing in on these matters now.

If Christian Trump voters neglect their responsibility here, overlooking his errors, it will have a devastating impact on the American church in general and evangelicalism in particular. Without a doubt, Trump’s first term served to discredit the church’s moral authority and caused many Christians to question their faith altogether. If Trump’s Christian supporters want to avoid that kind of damage to the church’s credibility in his second and final term, they must acknowledge his wrongdoing and relentlessly use their influence to hold him to account.

Historically, the victors of political contests tend to overestimate what they’ve won. This is because electoral wins are temporary and can produce their own backlash. Furthermore, what’s seen as gain in this world is spiritual loss under God’s calculus if it’s not stewarded properly. Pro-Trump Christians’ regained power will become their condemnation if they refuse to protect others and check the president’s excesses—as any self-respecting and faithful Christian who comes into authority is required to do.

Justin Giboney is an ordained minister, an attorney, and the president of the AND Campaign, a Christian civic organization. He’s the coauthor of Compassion (&) Conviction: The AND Campaign’s Guide to Faithful Civic Engagement.

- More from Justin Giboney

Ideas

Beijing, Let My Daughter Come Home

Aimee Welch

China should honor its promises to the last 300 children matched with families through international adoption.

Illustration by Elizabeth Kaye / Source Images: Getty

This week marks World Adoption Day. Poignantly, it’s also my daughter’s 11th birthday, which she will spend waiting in an institution in China—her sixth such birthday since she was told that our family would soon come for her and finalize her adoption.

Penelope, as we call her, has no idea that millions of people have heard her story in news reports and that around the world, people are advocating for her and the other 300 Chinese children whose adoptions have been left in limbo to be allowed to join their intended families.

We adopted our first daughter, Grace, from China in 2017 the day after she turned a year old. She left the kind but temporary caregivers of her orphanage and learned the meaning and permanency of family even as she learned to talk and toddle.

Delighted to add a precious daughter to our family of four beloved sons, we made plans to return to China to adopt another child––a waiting older girl who shared Grace’s birth culture and heritage. As a waiting child’s likelihood of finding a permanent home decreases precipitously with each year of age, we specifically wanted to welcome a child whose hope of a home might be running out.

We were officially matched as Penelope’s promised family in September 2019, when she was five years old. In the photos we received, her bright smile—despite her medical needs and long wait for a family—captured our hearts. We chose her English name, Penelope, because of the ancient Greek myth that told of a beautiful woman who faithfully persisted in hope of being united with her beloved. It seemed providential when we learned that the Chinese name given to her by her orphanage meant “morning light”—especially light that comes after a long night of waiting.

We completed the remainder of Penelope’s adoption process as quickly as we could, and it was approved bythe governments ofboth China and the US. When she turned six, we believed it was the last birthday she would celebrate without us. By January 2020, we had entered the final stages of the adoption process. She was told we would soon become her family and bring her home to the United States.

But then the pandemic struck. China paused adoption processing, making assurances that matches would be honored when health concerns resolved. Instead of welcoming Penelope into our arms the weekend we should have finalized her adoption, we met her virtually on a video call. Her caregiver who served as our translator said, “She has never had a mother or father before.” Although shy, she didn’t hesitate to call us “Mommy and Daddy.” Our bond grew through packages, letters, photos, and videos exchanged.

Yet more than four years later, we find ourselves still waiting to be united, uncertain whether the promise of family made to Penelope will be honored.

In September 2024, the US Department of State shared China’s decision to end its successful inter-country adoption program, leaving Penelope and roughly 300 other children who had already been matched with US families in limbo for years, perhaps never to experience the loving homes they were promised.

The news is dire because 98 percent of the more than 160,000 children in China living outside of a family’s care—a roughly equal mix of boys and girls—have complex medical needs, making them unlikely candidates for domestic adoption.

International adoption was determined to be in Grace’s best interests because she was born without her left hand and forearm. While disability is stigmatized in some cultures, she thrives in our family and is celebrated for her difference and adaptability in the US.

Penelope has a serious but manageable lifelong condition; if she receives good medical treatment and the emotional care a family can provide, we’re confident she’ll flourish as Grace has. The other children whose adoptions are pending live with spina bifida, Down syndrome, genetic disorders, spinal muscular atrophy, cardiac abnormalities, blindness, or other conditions, many of which have only become more pressing as their promised adoptions have been delayed.

More than the sum of symptoms listed in their files though, these children are precious individuals created in the image of God, of infinite worth, perfectly designed (Ps. 139:14–18). Whatever their physical needs, their great and universal need is for the love of families. Their prospective families recognize the privilege it would be to welcome them as sons and daughters.

As Ryan Hanlon, president and CEO of the National Council For Adoption, said, no one questions Beijing’s right to discontinue international adoptions going forward, but the children whose adoptions were already in process should be accommodated: “The adoptions that were happening to the U.S. were older children and children with medical special needs.”

If these children were being placed in caring, permanent families in China, that would be something we could celebrate. But both the US and China determined that, for these children, international adoption was and is their best chance for permanent families.

Beijing should reassure children like our Penelope, who had already been matched with families, that their adoptions will be finalized—rather than leaving them to languish in institutions and, at best, launch into adulthood without adequate support.

In a recent statement, President Xi Jinping pointed out that the China-US relationship is “one of the most important bilateral relations in the world” and expressed a commitment to pursue “win-win cooperation,” working “with the United States as partners and friends, which will not only benefit the two countries but also the world at large.”

Completing the nearly 300 pending adoptions between China and the US is a prime opportunity to achieve these goals. As one of the largest and most successful adoption programs in the world, the China-US adoption partnership thrived for decades as a bridge of friendship and humanitarian cooperation, placing 82,000 children in grateful American families and creating a person-to-person bond of goodwill between our nations.

This is why, earlier this month, 103 members of Congress sent a letter to President Biden in a rare act of bipartisan and bicameral unity, asking him to personally “act in the best interest of these children and families by urging the PRC to fulfill and uphold the commitment the country has made.”

While governments struggle to adequately support vulnerable children, adoption helps them flourish. Adoption can make a world of difference for one vulnerable child at a time. As part of Penelope’s adoption process, we promised to provide lifelong love, care, and support, and we have never given up hope that we might be allowed to keep that promise. The pain of another family lost isn’t what the children in adoption limbo deserve. Nor is it a fitting end to three decades of humanitarian cooperation between the US and China to secure homes for tens of thousands of children.

As parents, we follow the example of the shepherd who left the 99 to seek the one who was lost, believing that adoption can be a partial, if imperfect, answer to the brokenness that leaves children in need of families. We believe these particular children, whom we have loved and prayed for from a world away, were woven into our stories for a purpose.

Waiting children officially matched with carefully vetted and approved adoptive families shouldn’t spend birthday after birthday in institutions. This World Adoption Day, on our sweet Penelope’s birthday, China should honor the promises made to these children and make a way for them to come home.

Aimee Welch is a former journalist and an adoptive parent. The founder of Hope Leads Home, she has been a leading parent advocate for completing China adoptions since 2020.

- More from Aimee Welch

News

What Another Trump Presidency Means To Evangelicals Around the World

Compiled by CT Editors

Christian leaders from Nepal to Turkey greet the US election results with joy, grief, and indifference.

Illustration by Elizabeth Kaye / Source Images: Getty

As Americans headed to the polls Tuesday, the rest of the world watched to see who would become the 47th president of the United States. The election of Donald Trump affects many evangelical communities around the world in terms of foreign policy, foreign aid, religious freedom, and cultural trends. Nevertheless, Christian leaders in some countries noted that it didn’t make a difference to them who becomes the next president of the US.

CT asked 22 evangelical leaders around the world about their reaction to another Trump presidency and its practical impact on the situation of evangelicals in their countries. The responses are broken up by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, and Oceania. CT will add more responses as they come in.

AFRICA

Nigeria

James Akinyele, secretary general, Nigeria Evangelical Fellowship

In light of Nigeria’s ongoing economic and political difficulties, this US election was not debated locally nearly as much as the prior two. For evangelicals, neither candidate was an easy option. Harris was considered more level-headed, but her strong support of abortion and LGBTQ rights made many uncomfortable. Trump’s moral stances resonated with our core evangelical convictions, but his own lack of morality and perceived white supremacy created some concerns. We hope he will become more open to immigration.

Some Nigerian Christian leaders said Trump’s victory is an answer to our prayers for a US president who will defend the Christian faith in Nigeria and around the world. Others said it should be accepted as God’s will, without positive or negative judgment. But just about everyone hopes he will become less controversial in his rhetoric and personal conduct. And many are sympathetic to his desire to protect America’s global interests, without being subservient to the rest of the world.

South Africa

Moss Ntlha, general secretary, Evangelical Alliance of South Africa

Trump’s win is a sad day for evangelicalism around the world. Prominent evangelicals in the US came out in full support of Trump, making it appear that to be Bible believing is to be Trump supporting. Their endorsement gives the impression that theological conservatism requires and leads to a right-wing political view that is dictatorial, opposes climate justice, sanctions genocide in the Holy Land, and approves what took place on January 6.

Many in South Africa who know the horrors of apartheid recognize how easily a populist politics that holds to a narrow vision of public morality can harm those on the margins. Trump already declared in his first term that African countries are “s—hole countries.” Lately, he has made it clear that when restored to the presidency, he would make sure that Israel has all it needs to “finish the job,” which many understand as the erasure of Palestinian existence.

We worry that having Trump in the White House will make it difficult to proclaim the gospel that “God so loved the world” that he sent Jesus to die for all, especially our Muslim neighbors. We worry that he will use the immense power of the US government to punish those who pursue foreign policies contrary to his own, such as South Africa for appealing to the International Court of Justice to adjudicate whether what we are witnessing in the Israel–Palestine conflict is genocide.

ASIA

Bangladesh

Philip Adhikary, chairman, Bangladesh Evangelical Alliance

The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency evokes mixed reactions. While Trump’s administration generally had a strong stance in favor of religious freedom, his foreign policies toward countries like Bangladesh were often pragmatic rather than overtly focused on the concerns of specific religious minorities. His “America First” approach and his support for religious liberty could signal both positive and challenging implications for Bangladeshi evangelicals.

However, US foreign aid, which sometimes comes with human rights conditions, might not dramatically shift in response to Trump’s priorities, especially if his administration prioritizes national interests over international human rights.

Practically, the impact of Trump’s presidency could include increased opportunities for religious NGOs in the form of aid. However, the rise of nationalist and anti-immigrant rhetoric in some Western countries during his tenure could embolden local opposition to evangelical efforts, potentially increasing societal pressure or persecution.

China

A house church pastor in China

Donald Trump’s presidency could impact Chinese Christians in a few key ways. His “America First” policy may lead to tighter visa controls, reducing Chinese students’ access to US education. This could be particularly challenging for Christian families in China who are homeschooling or sending their children to unregistered Christian schools. As attending college abroad is often their only option for higher education, these families may face difficult choices.

On the other hand, Chinese students who come to faith while living in the US may be more likely to return to China due to limited career opportunities in America, potentially strengthening local Christian communities.

Trump’s support from American evangelical groups, coupled with his controversial statements on democracy and freedom, may deepen divisions within Chinese Christian communities. His rhetoric and emphasis on national interests could provide ammunition for Chinese state media to further criticize Western democracy, potentially leading to more restrictions on religious freedoms in China.

If Trump imposes more tariffs or other economic pressure on China, that could lead to financial hardship for many families, thereby impacting Chinese Christians’ ability to support the church. However, such economic difficulties might also drive people to seek spiritual refuge, possibly increasing interest in the Christian faith.

India

Vijayesh Lal, general secretary, Evangelical Fellowship of India

I don’t expect many changes in the overall foreign policy trajectory under a new Trump administration, as India is a key strategic partner in balancing China’s growing influence in the region.

On issues like minority rights and religious freedom, it’s safe to assume Trump will not place as much pressure on India as a Democratic president probably would have. In fact, when visiting India during his previous term, he infamously praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s record on religious freedom. While the Trump administration may focus on religious freedom globally, it probably will not comment on the treatment of Christians and Muslims in India.

Many Christians in India and South Asia who lean Republican may welcome his return to office, but for the church in India, I don’t see any significant gains. The church in India doesn’t place its hopes in political leadership, whether in the US or in India.

Nepal

Sher Bahadur A. C., general secretary, National Churches Fellowship of Nepal

The election of Donald Trump has brought a wave of optimism among Nepali Christians. For many, his victory is seen as good news, not only for the United States but also for Christian communities around the world.

Trump’s policies, which have shown a strong inclination to support religious freedom and global Christian causes, have made him popular among Nepali Christians. We hope that he will continue supporting Christians worldwide and stand with us in our efforts to practice our faith freely.

While we do not expect significant changes within Nepal, the global influence of the US government and the possibility of US diplomatic pressure if any actions are taken against Christians in our country could serve as a safeguard for religious minorities.

At the same time, the broader geopolitical dynamics must be considered. Trump’s administration has been known for its critical stance toward Communist governments, and Nepal is currently led by a Communist prime minister, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli. Trump also has a close relationship with India, while Nepal is more aligned with China. This could potentially create tensions between Nepal and the Trump administration if Nepal deepens its ties with Beijing.

Philippines

Noel Pantoja, national director, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches

With joyful hearts, we celebrate the victory of Donald Trump in the recent elections, recognizing that God has ordained him to lead the US. This moment fills us with hope, as it signifies a renewed commitment to religious freedom, allowing individuals to express their faith without fear or restriction.

The Philippine church is currently opposing Philippine Senate and Congress bills on sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression; same-sex marriage; and abortion. If passed, these bills will hurt the church, schools, and businesses. All of the lobbyists are supported by US and Western LGBTQ advocates, so Trump’s stance on these issues and victory in the election encourages churches in the US as well as the Philippines.

We are hopeful about the positive impact this administration will have on foreign policy, fostering peace and strengthening relationships with nations that share values of democracy. It is a victory not just for America but for God-fearing people around the world, especially in Asia, where God’s light can shine brighter through his own divine leadership.

Sri Lanka

Noel Abelasan, national director, Every Home Crusade

Trump’s win could positively impact evangelical Christians in Sri Lanka by promoting religious freedom and possibly directing US aid toward faith-based programs. This focus on Christian principles may embolden Sri Lankan Christians and support initiatives aligned with US priorities.

However, a strong stance against China could complicate Sri Lanka’s diplomatic position, given China’s influence in the region, which may indirectly affect local evangelical groups. Overall, it may deepen solidarity among evangelicals globally, inspiring Sri Lankan Christians to feel more connected to a shared movement.

Taiwan

Andrew Chiang, pastor, Bilingual Community Church

I don’t think Trump’s presidency will impact religious freedom in Taiwan at all in the short term. Trump’s support for conservative evangelical causes doesn’t affect people in Taiwan, so it’s unlikely to trigger any backlash from the more secular parts of society. In terms of aid and foreign policy, both Trump and Biden have pursued a China-containment policy, which is to Taiwan’s benefit as long as they don’t go too far and trigger war.

Trump’s presidency will probably have a greater impact on cultural and religious trends. Conspiracy theories, end-times alarmism, and false prophecies that have been rampant in the US since Trump’s first presidency have also spread to Taiwan. This will likely continue under his second presidency. How the evangelical church in Taiwan will react is hard to predict, but in some circles, his election has prompted more reflection on public and political theology. The evangelical church in Taiwan may gain its own voice, independent of the US evangelical church, as a result of the chaos it witnesses on the other side of the Pacific.

EUROPE

Armenia

Craig Simonian, Caucasus region coordinator, World Evangelical Alliance’s Peace and Reconciliation Network

I believe that Trump’s win and the return of the Republican party to congressional leadership is unquestionably good for Armenia.

While few people outside of political circles are aware, the Republic of Armenia has been a centerpiece of American foreign policy for more than 30 years due to its strategic position bordering Russia, Iran, and Turkey. But only since Azerbaijan’s 2020 war to reclaim the Armenian-populated enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which we call Artsakh, has the importance of Armenia become known to a wider audience—especially among evangelicals. Christians in the Caucasus Mountain region have been persecuted for millennia.

Much of this awakening is a result of Republicans using congressional committees and government commissions to champion Armenia. It became the world’s first Christian nation in AD 301, and it remains in need of protection against hostile neighbors. By contrast, while Democrats have faithfully promoted recognition of the Armenian genocide over the last 33 years, they have accomplished little more.

Now, with Trump back in the White House, we can expect Christian Armenia to emerge more fully as a new ally for the promotion of Western democracy in the region. God willing, it will become a new center for world missions as well.

Russia

Vitaly Vlasenko, general secretary, Russian Evangelical Alliance

Trump was the worthiest candidate, and I am glad that he won. But the idea that he has a close relationship with Vladimir Putin is overblown. While Russians welcomed his first presidency, many were disappointed and are now suspicious. Still, his election gives us new hope that things can be different.

I hope that Trump will support international dialogue, peace, and freedom of religion. He promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. He is not God, but if this happens soon, I will be very happy. Yet because Russia is not a satellite state of the United States, it is very difficult to predict how we will be affected until Trump has selected his complete presidential cabinet. For now, I am encouraged.

It is difficult to know how Trump will impact our Russian evangelical community. Mutual support between congregations in the US and Russia depends primarily on personal and interchurch relationships, not on who sits in the White House. Historically, American authorities have not objected to our dialogue but instead have positively contributed to it. As Trump has the support of most US evangelicals, I hope his team will continue this good tradition.

Turkey

Ali Kalkandelen, former chair, Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey

American policies related to this region have flooded our nation with refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. If Israel expands its war toward Iran, it may threaten to involve Turkey. The Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict continues to fester, as it has been neglected by the US. And the Kurdish people have been seeking regional autonomy, confident that America backs them.

Our nation has been negatively affected politically and economically by these crises. We must pray for God’s mercy and wisdom for all world leaders. But Trump promises to change course and pursue peace in the region, which would be better and fairer for all. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan calls Trump “my friend,” and their relationship will likely strengthen our countries’ joint ties within NATO.

Although church members have suffered under the weight of these crises, they have also opened a new door for ministry. Many refugees have come to faith in Christ in Turkey, and our congregations include believers from Kurdish, Persian, and Arab backgrounds.

This spiritual transformation will continue and will strengthen the church. No American president can have a negative impact on this.

UK

Gavin Calver, CEO, Evangelical Alliance

We will once again have to respond to accusations from those who assume that British evangelicals marry politics and faith in the same way as those who carry the label of evangelical in the US. Politics and faith will always be connected to a degree, but the symbiotic relationship between one’s faith and one’s political persuasion, with evangelical often being perceived as a synonym for MAGA, has been hugely problematic for us in the UK.

In contrast, British evangelicals are by no means wedded to any political affiliation. Christians need to pray for and support their leaders, but they also need to take a stand against that which is wrong. Our primary loyalty must be to Jesus and not to a national leader.

I hope that the next Trump presidency may be different, that evangelicals in my country will not be wrongly assumed to be politically and nationalistically aligned, and that we can continue to be “good news” people in the UK.

Ukraine

Taras M. Dyatlik, engagement director, Scholar Leaders

I am deeply concerned about the potential impact of the US election results on our country’s defense against Russia’s unprovoked aggression. Ukraine relies heavily on US aid and foreign policy decisions, and I am afraid that a change in leadership could affect this crucial support.

It is troubling for me to see some Western evangelical leaders embracing narratives that minimize or justify Russian aggression, often stemming from sophisticated Russian propaganda campaigns. The notion that “the war will stop when Ukraine stops defending itself or when the West stops supporting Ukraine” rather than “the war will and should be stopped by making Russia leave Ukrainian territories” reveals a disturbing misunderstanding of reality.

The weaponization of Christian rhetoric and values for political purposes in both Russia and the US is also deeply concerning for me. When Christian values become too closely aligned with political powers, they are often distorted and misused to justify actions that harm the vulnerable.

I pray that regardless of US leadership and policies, the international community will continue supporting Ukraine’s fight for existence, democratic values, and human dignity.

LATIN AMERICA

Brazil

Cassiano Luz, executive director, Brazilian Evangelical Alliance

Donald Trump’s reelection carries significant implications for Brazilian evangelicals.

Trump is considered an ally and friend of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former president, who had widespread evangelical support. Convicted of political abuse of power and media misuse, Bolsonaro is currently ineligible for reelection in 2026 and faces investigations for money laundering, vaccine record falsification, and incitement of the 2022 insurrection that targeted the National Congress of Brazil and other government buildings in Brasília. Bolsonaro and his supporters celebrate Trump’s reelection, believing American political pressure might reverse his ineligibility in Brazil.

I believe one priority for us as the Brazilian evangelical church is to understand the factors shaping our ideological choices and positions. While many Brazilian evangelicals celebrate Trump’s reelection as being aligned with gospel principles, I prefer to echo the words of Ronaldo Lidório: The gospel is neither Democrat nor Republican; it aligns neither with Harris nor with Trump. The gospel is Jesus. “Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:11).

Mexico

Rubén Enriquez Navarrete, secretary, Confraternidad Evangélica de Mexico

Donald Trump has won the presidential election in the United States once again. While he may not be beyond reproach, he is a person who recognizes the origins and principles of the US as rooted in the God of the Bible. I believe God has allowed this for two reasons: to give churches greater opportunity to spread the gospel and to encourage reflection among those who have drifted away from God.

The migrant issue is a top concern for Mexican churches, and the outcome of the election will undoubtedly influence it. Mexican churches are organizing efforts to support migrants, especially at the border. For us, this isn’t a problem but an opportunity. Although many arrive here as nonbelievers, they often convert and, upon returning to their home countries, either share the gospel or support established churches.

For Mexican Christians, there isn’t a significant impact—only a sense of pride in knowing that in the US, evangelical pastors’ opinions are valued.

NORTH AMERICA

Canada

David Guretzki, president and CEO, The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada

Because of Canada’s geographical proximity, major political events in the US have a greater bearing on our political and social climate. For instance, when the US Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, abortion became a hot topic again in Canada and led to promises by our government to ensure Canada wouldn’t go the same route.

There was much angst on both sides of the abortion debate, even though absolutely nothing had changed in our legal context. The overturning of Roe v. Wade stirred up in pro-life supporters a renewed desire to see new laws enacted, while pro-choice supporters sought to allow unfettered access to abortion.

Though there are always comparisons between US and Canadian politics, we seek to remind evangelical Christians that Canada’s historical, religious, social, and political context is unique.

The EFC is grateful that the US election was carried out freely and without violence or loss of life. Scripture enjoins us to pray for all those in authority, regardless of their political affiliation. In this regard, we ask all Jesus followers to observe this exhortation while demonstrating loving forbearance to those whose political views may differ from their own.

MIDDLE EAST

Egypt

Michael El Daba, Middle East and North Africa Regional Director for the Lausanne Movement

As the world awaited the results of the US election, many Egyptian Christians were in prayer for peace. War surrounds our borders in Gaza, Libya, and Sudan, and our government has added to the problem with policy decisions that have led to inflation and unprecedented debt. Tourists are afraid to visit, while refugees have found safe haven here.

Whether for local human rights or regional peace and stability, the Biden administration has done little to help. We do not expect Trump to be much different—at least as concerns the Egyptian people. He will pursue a highly transactional approach with regional allies, including Egypt, that emphasizes arms sales, business deals, and security cooperation, while largely ignoring values-based political and diplomatic engagement. Trump will probably neglect even gentle admonitions on human rights and political freedoms.

On a positive note, the robust American evangelical backing of Trump may help Egyptian evangelicals have a stronger local voice. If Trump pursues an agenda of international religious freedom, we can contribute to the campaign for minority rights. This might further open the public square for Christian political participation and overcome administrative hurdles in the construction of church buildings.

Iran

Mehrdad Fatehi, founder and executive director, Pars Theological Centre

Note: Fatehi is from Iran and currently based in the UK.

For most Iranians, a Trump presidency is great news. Trump put the Iranian regime under pressure through sanctions, weakening the regime economically. Under his leadership, US forces killed Qassem Soleimani, the second most powerful man in Iran, who spent billions of dollars supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iranian proxies. Many Iranians hope these tough policies will continue.

Democrats, by contrast, have appeased the Iranian regime, helping it stay in power. In shaking hands with Islamist leaders, they close their eyes to the undermining of human rights. But there is hope in the eyes of most Iranians that Trump will help Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attack Iran so that the Iranian nation can overthrow the government when it is at its weakest.

The Islamic regime is scared right now, wondering how Trump will deal with Iran. But there is also a general fear of war—which will bring harm to the country and may not result in the outcome people hope for. Most Iranian believers, who come from a Muslim background, likely share the above outlook. Their situation of persecution is harsh enough that any response by Trump would not make things worse.

For many, Trump gives Iranians the best chance for positive change.

Israel

Danny Kopp, chairman, Evangelical Alliance Israel

Many pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian evangelicals who are otherwise opposed to each other on US policy in the region are ironically united in their hope that a Trump presidency will be an improvement over the Biden administration. And yet if there’s one thing that can be said with confidence about Trump, it is that he will be unpredictable. He is just as capable of backing a dramatic escalation in the use of force against Israel’s enemies as he is of demanding a rapid cessation of hostilities that some would consider a capitulation.

In general, Messianic Jews don’t have any expectations that Trump will specifically address their internal issues as Messianic Jewish citizens of Israel. They are too small a demographic for him to form a specific policy toward. Like their fellow citizens, they are almost entirely consumed with how Trump’s administration will or will not support Israel in its current seven-front war.

A second Trump administration may indeed embark on a welcome effort to expand the Abraham Accords to include Saudi Arabia and perhaps even Palestine in establishing peace agreements with Israel. However, if the United States abandons its allies in Ukraine and Southeast Asia to Russian and Chinese aggression, respectively, it will only embolden that very axis that—chiefly through Iran and its proxies—has been the main instigator of violence in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.

Lebanon

Wissam al-Saliby, president, 21Wilberforce Global Freedom Center

Note: Saliby is from Lebanon and currently based in the US.

The people of my home country historically do not see much difference between the policies of Republicans and Democrats concerning Israel and Lebanon. However, many Lebanese in Lebanon and in the US supported the election of Donald Trump because they prefer the “unknown” of his presidency over the current administration’s policies, which have permitted the war in the Middle East to continue and to expand.

Regardless, this region is being emptied of its Christian population because of war—first Iraq, then Syria, and now Lebanon. Many of my friends and family have left. And the Palestinian Christians in the West Bank continue to lose their lands and livelihood to Israeli settlers.

We urgently need a peace process that addresses the genuine grievances and the injustice at the root of the conflict, and we’ve never had that to date.

Furthermore, the destruction of Gaza and now of large parts of Lebanon has badly eroded US credibility. If the US administration reached out to a Muslim-majority country to call out the persecution of Christians in that country, the answer they would hear is “First, stop the war in Gaza; then, come back and ask us about our own human rights record.”

Palestine

Jack Sara, president, Bethlehem Bible College

US policy has had a complex and often contentious influence here, with decisions from the White House affecting our daily lives and futures in profound ways.

Trump’s support for policies favoring Israeli expansion and his disregard for the rights of Palestinians raise concerns. This could mean further marginalization for Palestinians and an even more challenging environment for Christians striving to live out their faith in this volatile context.

Trump has received significant support from many evangelicals, despite policies that appear to contradict the core values of justice, mercy, and humility that Scripture calls us to uphold. I suspect that much of this support is rooted in a misguided theological and political ideology—Christian Zionism—that sees unquestioning allegiance to the state of Israel as a biblical mandate. Many evangelicals may view Trump as the protector of Israel, perhaps overlooking his former administration’s disregard for the rights of Palestinians and the broader consequences for peace in the Middle East.

However, I hold on to hope and remain prayerful. I hope the Trump administration might work to stop the genocidal war in Gaza as well as the ground invasion and widespread bombing campaign in Lebanon. I hope Trump will work toward a peace that genuinely respects the rights and dignity of all people in the Holy Land and the region.

OCEANIA

Australia

Simon Smart, executive director, Centre for Public Christianity

On one level, another Trump presidency doesn’t have much bearing on evangelicals in Australia, which has a very different religious landscape compared to the US. But to the extent that it plays into a Christian desire to garner as much political power as you can to achieve your ends, it may not be helpful in the long run. History shows that frequently—but not always—Christian faith and political power don’t mix well. That’s a lesson that seems hard to learn.

Australia is a more secular country than the United States. For those of us trying to promote the public understanding of the Christian faith here, the now decades-long association of the term evangelical with a brand of politics that the majority of Australians view negatively hasn’t helped the cause. We need to engage with some perceptions that are impediments to a constructive conversation about faith.

Reporting by Angela Lu Fulton, Bruce Barron, Franco Iacomini, Isabel Ong, Jayson Casper, and Surinder Kaur

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Videos

Our Faith’s Future Depends on Discipleship

CT Editors

The Lausanne Movement’s State of the Great Commission report details where and how Christianity is growing.

Is Christianity becoming irrelevant? Or is it flourishing?

Your answer probably depends on where you live.

In advance of its fourth conference, The Lausanne Movement published the State of the Great Commission report, drawing on research from international nonprofits, Christian organizations, and professional polling and presenting insights from 150 global missions experts.

You can learn more about the report’s findings here—including its emphasis on discipleship in the global church.

And check out the rest of CT’s writing on Lausanne over the decades.

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News

Trump’s Promised Mass Deportations Put Immigrant Churches on Edge

Emily Belz

Some of the president-elect’s proposals seem unlikely, but he has threatened to remove millions of both undocumented and legal immigrants.

A man furls a flag after a US naturalization ceremony in Los Angeles earlier this year for immigrants becoming citizens.

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Jackson Voltaire, a pastor who leads a fellowship of 255 Haitian Baptist churches in Florida, prayed a personal blessing for Donald Trump the day after the election.

But Voltaire also met to pray with leaders of his churches who were worried about what might happen to Haitians’ legal status in the country.

“We may tell people not to worry, but for most of them, there is cause to worry,” Voltaire said. “But when we fix our eyes on Jesus, the worry starts to dissipate. The strength and comfort we find in God’s promises are stronger than the fear.”

President-elect Trump made mass deportation a central part of his campaign, promising to remove millions of immigrants from the United States, including Haitians. The official Republican Party platform vows to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.”

In campaign speeches, Trump talked about undocumented immigrants committing violent crimes, but he also indicated he would end certain legal immigration programs like one for Haitians.

These proposals could affect more than 10 million people in the US and result in family separation for millions since most undocumented immigrants live in households with legal immigrants.

Haitians are largely in the country legally, under a program for those fleeing war or severe hardship called Temporary Protected Status (TPS), which covers Haiti and other nations like Venezuela and Nicaragua. Trump unsuccessfully tried to shut down the program in his first term and wants to end it again.

Haiti currently does not have a functioning government, which makes any deportation difficult, and locals live under warring gangs.

Voltaire said he prayed not just for Trump to bless the United States but for God to find people to change the course of the nation of Haiti so people would not have to flee the country for safety in America. Voltaire prays that Haiti can go “back to the glorious season when that nation was considered the Caribbean pearl.”

Trump made promises to deport millions in his 2016 campaign, but the deportation numbers over his first term look about the same as the Biden administration’s. The Obama administration still has the record for largest number of deportations in one year.

This time, Trump has proposed a more drastic means of deportation: deploying the National Guard to arrest undocumented immigrants. He has often cited the Eisenhower administration’s “Operation Wetback,” where federal and local law enforcement did sweeping raids to deport perhaps a million people, some of whom turned out to be US citizens.

Immigration experts doubt that Congress will provide the funding for mass deportations, and that infrastructure is not easy to scale up. One immigration group estimated the cost of deportation of every undocumented person in the US at $315 billion.

Even if there isn’t the money for mass deportations, “I don’t want to tell people it’s all going to be fine. I think we are going to see an uptick in deportations of very sympathetic people,” said Matthew Soerens, the head of advocacy at World Relief, an evangelical refugee resettlement organization. “Everyone agrees with deporting violent criminals.”

While evangelicals supported Trump in the election, they also historically have more compassionate views on immigration. They support legal status for “Dreamers” (undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children), oppose family separation, and feel the US has a moral obligation to accept refugees. One view that has shifted recently, though, is that they see immigrants as an economic drain.

Faith-based groups are hoping to make the case to Trump that immigrants have value.

“We are going to be pleading with him, appealing to his commitment to stand with the persecuted church, to his statements that he believes in legal immigration,” said Soerens.

“We … believe in the possibility of progress and urge the incoming administration to consider the immense value that immigrants and refugees bring to our nation,” stated Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the head of Global Refuge, a faith-based refugee resettlement agency.

Family separation is the most unpopular immigration policy among white evangelical Christians.“It’s unclear what President-elect Trump will do,” Soerens said.

Deportations would hit the Latino community disproportionately. Latino evangelicals support extending legal status to Dreamers and other undocumented immigrants who have lived in the US a long time. But most of those evangelicals (60%) voted for Trump in the last election largely based on social issues like abortion and the origins they may have in countries with Communist or leftist regimes.

“While Latino evangelicals are neither a monolith nor one-issue voters, when it comes to immigration many Latino congregations have expressed deep concerns around the language of mass deportation and its impact on the ministry of and with the Latino church,” said Gabriel Salguero, the president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, in a statement to CT.

“We ask ourselves how churches can collect the tithes and offerings of immigrant members while being silent on policies advocating their mass deportation,” he said. “Our sincere prayer is that there finally would be a bipartisan immigration solution that respects the rule of law and honors the dignity of all people.”

Political pressure has long kept Congress from enacting immigration reform; a bipartisan border bill proposed in February to restrict migrants at the border and address the asylum process failed when Trump objected to it.

Other legal immigration programs are in question. Humanitarian parole has allowed Afghans, Ukrainians, Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans to find legal shelter in the US, but Trump pledged to deport people in that program.

“Get ready to leave,” Trump said.

Many Ukrainians fleeing the war in their country have come to the US under humanitarian parole. Paul Oliferchik is the son of refugees from the Soviet Union and was until recently a pastor of a Ukrainian Assemblies of God church in New York, the city that is home to the largest Ukrainian population in the US. He now serves at a Chinese church in the city.

His wife is the daughter of Ukrainian refugees, who received help from a Lutheran organization to resettle in the US, he recalled. “We moved as refugees and were tremendously blessed,” he said.

But many of the Ukrainian evangelical immigrants he knows are Trump supporters—they don’t make political decisions based on immigration but on socially conservative issues.

He thinks they likely do not know about the potential ending of the humanitarian parole program. Either way, he hopes they will stand with other refugees.

“God helped to bring many of us here to the States to live,” he said. “God was telling Israel when he was bringing them out of Egypt to remember. If we don’t remember that God himself brought us out and redeemed us, it might reflect on how we treat others who are also just trying to make it out and to live.”

In Trump’s first term, he tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for those known as Dreamers but ran into legal hurdles. Immigration experts have said that his legal advisors have learned from their first attempts at undoing some of these programs and might be more successful this time.

Led by longtime immigration advisor Stephen Miller, the Trump team is looking for other ways to narrow legal immigration, The Wall Street Journal reported, like a policy that would block immigrants who have disabilities or low income.

One program fully under the president’s purview is the refugee program, and in his last term Trump temporarily suspended the entire program then dramatically reduced the numbers of refugee admissions to a record low.

In 2020 when he completed his term, refugee admissions were down to 12,000 from the historic average of 81,000 a year. Trump in his 2024 campaign criticized Biden’s refugee admissions and said he would bring “brand new crackdowns.”

The previous Trump administration’s crackdowns in some cases arrested immigrants without criminal records who had been in the country for decades.

In 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arrested hundreds of Iraqi Christians in Detroit, some on their way to church. These Christians would have faced persecution and “even death” if they had been deported, evangelical leaders wrote to the Trump administration at the time.

During legal fights about the deportation, many Iraqi Christians were held in US detention for more than a year before their release, and some were deported. (Some of the individuals did have criminal cases that led to deportation; others had no criminal record.) Many of the Chaldean Christians did not believe they would be deported because they had supported Trump and believed his statements about protecting persecuted Christians.

Whatever the scale of deportation in the next administration, Trump’s promises have already led to anxiety in immigrant communities.

“The sense I get from most of my Haitian friends is that their concern is not so much about deportation, because they have a protected (albeit temporary) status that shields them from deportation,” said Jeremy Hudson, pastor of Fellowship Church, one of the largest churches in Springfield, Ohio, which has a large Haitian population.

“The concern I have heard them talk about more is how they will be treated and viewed by the local citizens.”

Trump has talked about undocumented immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country” and promised to rescue “every town that has been invaded and conquered.” He and his vice president, JD Vance, went after Haitians repeatedly, spreading the false story that they were eating people’s pets in Springfield.

Voltaire, the pastor in Florida, said his Haitian churches are still dealing with the fallout of those remarks.

“The impact of the Springfield thing is … here to stay,” he said. “But Haitians are a resilient people. They have been through a lot.”

In the meantime, Haitian pastors must continue to serve the immigrants who are in their churches.

“It is our prayer that people will find strength and comfort in the love we show them,” he said. “Ultimately, we pray that God’s name will be glorified in the lives of all immigrants, Haitians or wherever they are from.”

- More from Emily Belz

Ideas

God Is Faithful in Triumph and Despair

Nicole Massie Martin

I voted for Kamala Harris and mourn her loss. But I want to keep politics in its proper place, subordinate to Jesus.

Saul Loeb / Getty

I’ll never forget the beautiful Sunday afternoon when we waited in line at our local library for early voting. It was the first year we took our kids into the voting booth. They weren’t initially thrilled to be there, but as we got closer to the front, we could feel it all building: anticipation, excitement, hope.

At ages 9 and 11, my girls watched my husband and me vote for the one we believed would be the best-qualified president of the United States, Vice President Kamala Harris. And now they witness the grief that comes from knowing that the candidate we championed has lost the race. They watched as our faces fell when we heard the results. They experienced our sorrow, not only for this loss but also for the fear of what might happen in the coming days and years.

With former president Donald Trump as our next president, I am acutely aware of the darkness that lingers in the shadows of his victory. Our country is still deeply politically divided, and while many of his supporters celebrate his reelection, I fear the deepening of this divide, one that has potential to cause a great chasm between me and those who voted for him—many of them brothers and sisters in Christ.

But as troubled as I am over this outcome, I am also aware that more than the presidency is at stake. Our country has proven its allegiances, and though I am upset and worried because Trump was reelected, I’m also aware of the relief and excitement that many Trump supporters are experiencing.

These different reactions are unavoidable, but despising our political rivals is not. Even my younger daughter has noticed our fractured public life. She has classmates echoing their parents’ declarations that people who vote for Trump are “stupid”—or that those who vote for Harris are “not Christian.”

As a parent, I always expect to have conversations with my children about how to live in love. But this election season, we’ve had to expand those talks into lessons about how our children can reject this kind of demonization and protect themselves from those who may demonize them or my husband and me as their parents.

It should not be this way. I’m not fazed by political celebration over a win or disappointment during loss, which is a normal part of any election. But I am concerned that there are too few spaces for those who weep to be in durable community with those who rejoice. The act of celebrating alongside those who grieve—and vice versa—is a source of necessary balance, a needed check on our impulses to be thoughtless in our happiness or bitter in our grief. For believers, that balance helps keep politics in perspective, subordinate to Jesus.

This need to be together in our rejoicing and weeping is not just a political challenge. It also follows a biblical pattern that we see in the story of the Israelites building the foundation for the second temple in Ezra 3. Those who wept at the loss of what had been were there together with those who rejoiced at the possibility of what could be. It became impossible to “distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping,” Ezra records, “because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away” (v. 13).

This brief note about the mixture of triumph and despair is important because it reminds us that regardless of how they felt, the people remained together. Their covenant with God required that they learn to work together amid their differences, not simply for the sake of unity among themselves but for unity against outside adversaries. This passage should remind us that we too have a need for national unity amid our differences, that unity is necessary to preserve our freedom and democracy.

And while they differed in weeping and rejoicing, the crowd in Ezra 3 was united in praise and trust of God. “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever,” they sang together (v. 11). American Christians of all political affiliations must keep this higher truth in mind in the weeks ahead.

For those of us who are unhappy with this result, let me encourage you not to despair. I am praying for you, and I hope you will pray for me—and for our next president “and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim. 2:2). Regardless of who leads our nation, we can seek God’s wisdom for how we can continue to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” even when we feel we are in exile (Jer. 29:7).

For those who are happy with the outcome, let Ezra’s story remind you to be firm in your demands of accountability and justice from the administration you elected. Remember that your earthly allegiances must never supersede your faithfulness to God. And remember to pray for our next president, his cabinet, our nation, ourselves, and your fellow Christians who are worried about what comes next.

This week, I will take time to mourn with my daughters in what feels to me like a true loss. But I will do so alongside my neighbors and many Christian brothers and sisters who are reassured or outright joyful that President-elect Trump won. And I will praise God alongside them, too, for he is still good, and his love still endures forever.

Nicole Massie Martin is the chief impact officer at Christianity Today.

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Ideas

Vance’s Chance

W. James Antle III

How VP-elect JD Vance could build a bridge between populism and Christian conservatism.

Jeff Swensen / Stringer / Edits by CT

Vice President–elect JD Vance has an opportunity to play an important role in the incoming administration and the Republican Party’s realignment following Tuesday’s election results: No one is better situated than Vance to serve as a bridge between the ascendant populist wing of the GOP and the Christian social conservatives who remain an important part of the party’s electoral coalition.

Vance is an evangelical convert to Catholicism, and it is social conservatism more than the economic variety that defines his politics. He is a family man, genteel where President-elect Donald Trump is brusque. His faith journey was an important part of his initial appeal as an author and commentator, even before he ran for the Senate and joined the 2024 Republican ticket.

In fact, it is Vance’s style of traditionalist Catholicism that differentiates him from free-market conservatives in a party that is increasingly pitching itself to workers, not management. For better and worse—like the now-infamous “childless cat ladies” remark—he has focused his attention on strengthening the family, sounding the alarm over falling fertility rates and the practical struggles of working parents.

“At a fundamental level, if we’re worried about moms and dads not being as involved at home, if we’re worried about rising rates of childhood trauma, if we’re worried about the fact that in this country today, for maybe the first extended period in our country’s history, we’re not even having enough children in this country to replace ourselves—if we’re worried about those problems,” he said at a gala in Washington, DC, in 2019, “then we have to be willing to pursue a politics that actually wants to accomplish something besides just making government smaller.”

Sometimes small government is a priority, Vance added, but it’s not the highest priority in his pro-family “vision of conservative politics.”

That theme has been consistent for Vance since well before this campaign cycle, and he routinely ties his ideas about family back to his faith. “How do you be a better husband, a better man, a better father?” Vance asked in a podcast the year before he became a Republican senatorial nominee.

“How do you build a sense of masculinity that is protective and defensive and aggressive but isn’t just showy?” he continued. “Elites don’t care at all about the difference between men and women and how we need to inculcate masculine virtues and feminine virtues. But Christianity really does.”

Trump doesn’t talk like this. But many conservative Christians who have voted for him do. The president–elect, a thrice-married, twice-divorced, one-time playboy and sexual libertine, has developed quite a following among people who care deeply about family cohesion and declining birth rates.

Trump’s selection of his first running mate, Mike Pence, was intended to address that dissonance. He needed to establish ties to evangelicals and other social conservatives, not least because he’d briefly run for the presidential nomination of Ross Perot’s Reform Party as a “very pro-choice,” socially liberal candidate in 1999. Even in 2016, the organized Christian Right largely preferred rival Republican candidates like Ted Cruz. That cycle, journalist Tim Carney found Trump had a strong appeal for Christians who professed certain evangelical beliefs but no longer attended church regularly.

But Pence was always an uneasy fit with Trump’s bid to remake the GOP in his populist image. Pence’s conservatism was that of the Ronald Reagan era. He served as Trump’s ambassador to the old-guard Republican leadership, lawmakers like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, never effectively bridging the gap between conservative Christians and Trump’s crude populism. It’s no accident that Pence ultimately broke with Trump’s wider political project after their falling out over January 6, 2021, and began inveighing againstthe “siren song of populism.”

Vance has taken a different route, not hearkening back to the small-government approach of the Reagan years but pushing the GOP toward a new kind of Christian conservatism. “Look, my basic view is that if the Republican Party, if the conservative movement stands for anything—and I’m running as a politician trying to advocate for what we should stand for—the number one thing that we should be is pro-babies and pro-families,” The New York Times quoted him as saying at a conservative Catholic event. “That’s what this whole thing is all about.”

Whether that will remain “what this whole thing is all about” for Vance—and Christians who want a pro-faith, pro-life, pro-family conservatism from the new Trump administration—remains to be seen.

Trump has borrowed some of Vance’s family rhetoric himself. But he has also compromised on abortion—despite facilitating the reversal of Roe v. Wade through his judicial appointments—and endorsed in vitro fertilization practices that entail a high amount of embryo destruction. Unlike Pence, Vance has gone along with this. And where Pence did the right thing in certifying the 2020 election results, Vance has raised questions about what he would have done in a similar set of circumstances.

Thus there’s no guarantee Vance will steer Trump’s party more successfully than Pence did, whatever we conservative Christians may hope. But there is an opening here to create a brand of faith- and family-friendly politics that moves beyond the limitations of the old Moral Majority. Vance, as understudy to a term-limited Trump, could be the right person to take that chance.

W. James Antle III is executive editor of the Washington Examiner magazine.

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Culture

‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’ Could Be A Classic

Joseph Holmes

The new movie from Dallas Jenkins is at times too on the nose—but also funny, heartfelt, and focused on Jesus.

Beatrice Schneider as Imogene Herdman and Judy Greer as Grace Bradley in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

Allen Fraser for Lionsgate

Last year, a New York Times article argued that Elf and Love Actually, released two decades ago,were the last classic Christmas movies to play in theaters. “On the one hand, thanks to the churn at places like Hallmark and Lifetime, which will collectively release upward of 50 new holiday movies [in 2023], it feels as if the genre is more robust than ever,” wrote the reviewer. “On the other, the idea of getting a new film that’s as revered and rewatched 20 years on [as these two] feels far-fetched.”

Could The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, out this week, beat the odds?

Based on the beloved 1972 book by Barbara Robinson, the film follows Grace Bradley (Judy Greer), who’s running her local church’s Christmas pageant for the first time. Unexpectedly, the Herdmans—known around town as “the worst kids in the world”—show up in the pews and attempt to steal the show. Grace and her family must decide whether they’ll reject the troublesome children and “save” the pageant or welcome them, allowing everyone to discover the true meaning of Christmas.

Spoiler alert: They choose the latter. Daughter Beth Bradley reflects, “Because of my mom and her understanding of the Christmas story, the Herdmans finally got what they needed most all along: a community.”

Pageant is directed by The Chosen showrunner Dallas Jenkins, who calls it “the movie that I was born to make.” He wrote, “For almost 20 years, [my wife] Amanda and I have hoped for, prayed for, and cried for the opportunity” to adapt the book that made them weep when they read it aloud to their children.

Congratulations to Jenkins: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is pretty much everything you’d want in a faith-based family Christmas movie. It’s heartfelt, self-aware, and genuinely funny, as when the Herdmans interrupt the nativity story with questions. Here’s one exchange:

“What’s frankincense and myrrh?”

“Oils and perfume.”

“What kind of cheap king hands out oil? You get better presents at the firemen’s shelter!”

It also offers an explicitly Christian message about welcoming sinners and outsiders. As one punchy line puts it, “Jesus was born for the Herdmans as much as he was for us.”

The Bradleys are also as good a movie depiction of a Christian family as I’ve seen. Grace and her husband, Bob (Pete Holmes), are loving but not sugary, affectionately ribbing each other for their foibles. When their daughter, Beth (Molly Belle Wright), expresses her frustrations with the Herdmans, her parents neither overindulge nor condemn her. The family supports each other while also pointing out opportunities for growth—such as when Bob takes the kids on an empathy-inducing trip to see the Herdmans’ rundown shack.

It’s hard to remember a movie that so effectively “puts Christ back in Christmas.” Whereas other Christmas classics sidestep the Nativity altogether, opting instead for vague appeals to joy and hope, Pageant normalizes the centrality of Jesus. The Herdmans’ story of transformation requires them to learn the story of how much God loves them.

That’s not to say the movie is perfect. It’s relentlessly plot-heavy and at times too on the nose, a problem exacerbated by an ever-present voiceover from grown-up Beth Bradley. Oftentimes, the voiceover is used to humorous effect. But it also overstays its welcome. There’s barely a scene that goes by where Beth isn’t telling us what to think or feel, ultimately creating too much distance between the audience and the story. Toward the film’s end, her narration slips into moralizing about the message, diluting the magic of those final scenes.

What is that message? Because Jesus came to redeem the sinner and the outcast, our job is to do so as well rather than exclude them. Pageant rightly wants us to understand that believers should welcome marginalized, sinful people rather than excluding them. It’s a powerful, heartwarming Christmas—and Christian—message. (One clunky line has the church’s mean girl scoff that the Herdman’s version of Mary and Joseph “look like refugees.” Point taken.)

But this message is complicated by the fact that the Herdmans are legitimately bullies. And they don’t stop bullying when they join the church. In fact, they get their parts in the pageant by threatening physical harm to other kids! In this case, Christian hospitality occasionally comes at the expense of vulnerable community members.

Today, the church is locked in heated debates about how to balance Christlike inclusion with protecting the flock and how to extend forgiveness in the aftermath of wrongdoing. Sometimes, the people who need welcoming do try to harm those who welcome them. Can boundaries coexist with mercy? The only people in Pageant who work hard to uphold community norms are a few uptight, pharisaic church women.

Ultimately, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a beautiful picture of redemption. The Herdmans lie, steal, and bully. And yet, by means of the Bradleys welcoming them into their church, they are given the chance to be different. This is what Christ did for us: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Christmas marks the moment when Jesus came into the world to give us that opportunity, which is why we—the Herdmans of the world—celebrate it so joyously.

Joseph Holmes is a Christian culture critic and host of the podcast The Overthinkers.

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Church Life

How to Pray for Persecuted Christians

Compiled by Peirong Lin

Leaders from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa offer guidance on interceding for believers suffering for their faith.

Illustration by Elizabeth Kaye / Source Images: Getty

Each November, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) calls for an International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church and encourages churches around the world to participate. We think the global church should invest more prayer and resources in supporting brothers and sisters in challenging countries. But beyond that, hearing their stories and priorities helps us remember what should be important in our own lives.

Below, six Christian leaders dealing with threatening situations around the world discuss what they have faced or are currently experiencing and suggest how to pray for those under persecution.

David Sangbok Kim

Senior pastor, South Korea

Why I pray: In 1950, I fled North Korea for South Korea at age 11 with three of my older siblings. We were separated from our family for decades. After studying theology in the US, I eventually returned to Seoul as a pastor.

In 1984, I finally went back to North Korea. When I met my mother, then 80 years old, she surprised me by singing “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” and other hymns that she used to sing with me as a child!

My mother had brought me to faith in Christ before I left home, but my younger siblings, who had stayed in North Korea, were surprised to discover her faith in Christ, which she had sustained secretly for over 30 years.

My mother told me that she prayed alone, in tears, in the corner of her room when no one was around. She had to bury her Bible and hymnbook in the yard. If these items were ever found in the house, the whole family could be sent to a labor camp until they died. My younger siblings, had they known that their mother was doing such things, would have been required to report her to their teachers, who in turn would have had to tell the police.

How I pray: Pray for the secret Christians in North Korea. To survive, they have to hide their faith. Pray that they may continue to remember the gospel story in their hearts. Pray also for opportunities to share the gospel safely. Pray that the North Korean government may be changed to one that permits freedom. And pray for the Chinese government to send North Korean defectors to South Korea, not back to North Korea.

Jack Sara

President, Bethlehem Bible College, Palestine

Why I pray: For centuries, the church in the Middle East has lived in survival mode.

Conversion to Christianity is illegal in most countries. Even in nations with less extreme regimes, conversion can provoke public outrage. Family members often consider conversion a source of dishonor, leading to significant internal strife.

Anti-Christian sentiment has been growing in the Holy Land, particularly among Jewish groups in Jerusalem. The recent rise of radical Islamic movements has also intensified hardships for Christians in the region. ISIS has specifically targeted Christians for extermination or expulsion, leading to a mass exodus from areas like the Nineveh Plains, a historically Christian region in Iraq.

How I pray: Pray that God will raise up resilient leaders who will set an example of courage and faithfulness, guiding the church through ongoing pressures. Pray that Christians in other parts of the world will not only provide practical help, support, and encouragement to these communities but also learn from their endurance, recognizing the deep spiritual insights that emerge from their struggles.

Ed Retta

Latin America director, WEA Global Institute of Leadership

Why I pray: Three Latin American countries currently stand out as places where Christians are threatened. In Venezuela, there are two groups of Protestants: one that operates with government consent and one (affiliated with the WEA) that does not. Thousands of Christians have left the country, mainly due to its severe economic hardship.

In Cuba, the church has been under persecution ever since Fidel Castro’s rise to power in 1959. Churches are not allowed to construct buildings. All institutions are controlled by the government. Government informants are in every church. The government tends to favor religions such as Santería and witchcraft while opposing the church. Many pastors and Christian leaders have left Cuba due to dire economic need.

Nearly half of Christians in Nicaragua are evangelical, but its government is openly hostile to Christians. Officials have shut down Baptist, Adventist, and Catholic universities and have forced churches to close while denying them legal standing. Some Christian leaders have suffered beatings in front of their homes.

How I pray: Pray for the church in these countries to persevere boldly as an effective public witness, to be protected from government abuse and bullying, and to embrace and leverage the positive results of persecution—namely, enhanced devotion, endurance, and purity. And pray that the global church will become informed and care.

Mike Gabriel

Head of religious liberty, National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka

Why I pray: In many parts of Asia, persecution is a daily reality for many Christians. It often comes in the form of social exclusion, discrimination, and violence. Today, we are witnessing an evolving landscape of violations. On one hand, we are seeing increased state restrictions and involvement in matters of religious expression. One example is state regulation of places of worship. On the other hand, we are seeing rising religious intolerance, targeted online hate, harmful content against religious minorities, and an intensification of disputes concerning sacred sites. On top of this, we cannot overlook the gendered dimensions of religious freedom violations, particularly affecting minority women of faith.

How I pray: Pray for the work God is doing in us—building patience, strengthening witness, deepening love, and shaping us so that we can transform others. Ask God to use these hardships to strengthen his people and grow his kingdom. Pray also for forgiveness, that the hearts of our persecutors may be softened and that we can continue to shine brightly for Christ in our communities.

James Akinyele

Executive secretary and CEO, Nigeria Evangelical Fellowship

Why I pray: Nigeria currently leads the world in the number of deaths related to religious violence. More than 50,000 Christians have been killed in the last 15 years. Others have been wounded, sexually abused, forcibly displaced from their homes, and utterly traumatized. Christians have been left destitute by the destruction of their farmlands and villages, and some have been unable to return because the attackers have taken over their properties.

We are not seeing an end to these atrocities. The government is aware of these incidents, but action is limited.

How I pray: Pray for our government to have the political will to act against Islamic militias; for the international community not to turn a blind eye but to engage with Christian organizations and to support victims through seeking justice and redress; and for the Christian community to persevere and receive justice.

Helene Fisher

Chief advocacy officer, Gender and Religious Freedom, UK

Why I pray: Persecutors use every means at their disposal to diminish the strength of the Christian community. They favor persecution that brings shame and provokes rejection of believers. Therefore, what happens after an incident can leave as significant an impact as the event itself.

Community rejection of victims is integral to the experience of persecution, and persecutors rely on it for success. When an incident of persecution results in the body of Christ acting unlike Jesus, then the Adversary has won.

At the Fourth Lausanne Congress in September, I heard from a woman who escaped from the Boko Haram terrorist group. She said the biggest shock she received was that she wasn’t welcomed as a survivor when she reached home. Instead, she was treated as a tainted, shameful outcast.

How I pray: Pray for God’s persecuted children to have the courage to live in the fullness and power of his blood shed for us. Ask that the church may resist cultural pressures to reject or belittle those who have suffered sexual assault, lost their jobs, or been in prison. Pray that the church can become a community of trust, freedom, empowerment, and acceptance (John 13:34–35) and that it may glorify God even when words are forbidden.

Peirong Lin is the deputy secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance.

- More from Peirong Lin

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AFRICA

Nigeria

South Africa

ASIA

Bangladesh

China

India

Nepal

Philippines

Sri Lanka

Taiwan

EUROPE

Armenia

Russia

Turkey

UK

Ukraine

LATIN AMERICA

Brazil

Mexico

NORTH AMERICA

Canada

MIDDLE EAST

Egypt

Iran

Israel

Lebanon

Palestine

OCEANIA

Australia

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David Sangbok Kim

Jack Sara

Ed Retta

Mike Gabriel

James Akinyele

Helene Fisher

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