Read the Winners of Christianity Today’s Second International Essay Contest

Hagar’s unhappiness helps one Indonesian father become a better parent.

A Mexican mother reflects on the parallels between Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac and the false idols that tempt families to sacrifice their children today.

A Chinese writer ponders the ramifications of Joseph’s decision to bring his brothers close after a life-changing betrayal.

A Brazilian writer explores the significance of his country’s growing evangelical population even as the number of people going hungry increases.

A French nurse asks what we can learn from Job’s wife’s demand that her husband “curse God and die.”

These are the themes and questions the winners of Christianity Today’s second annual essay contest wrestled with. As we open 2023, we’re delighted to be sharing pieces originally written in Portuguese, Spanish, French, Chinese, and Indonesian with our English readers.

For this contest, we received more than 140 submissions from 26 different countries. These essays were meticulously reviewed by our language editorial teams and then assessed anonymously by a team of judges. Thank you to these judges for their time and thoughtfulness. And thank you to everyone who submitted an essay for deeply engaging your faith and the world.

The winners of our first international essay contest can be read here.

We’re currently entering our fourth year of building out CT Global’s language ministries. If you’re interested in assisting us in growing this work, here’s where you can learn more about our translation and social media roles.

If you’re interested in reading CT in another language, check out our 2,500 articles in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Indonesian, Korean, Russian, and more.

Any feedback you’d like to share with us? Please share it here. Thank you for reading!

—Morgan Lee
CT Global managing editor

Spanish

Editorial director: Livia Giselle Seidel, México/United States

Project coordinator: Sofía Castillo, Argentina

Judges:

• Luis Fajardo, Spain: general director of Sociedad Bíblica (Bible Society of Spain), elder at the Asamblea de Hermanos in Valladolid, and professor of biblical Hebrew
• Wendy Bello, Cuba/USA: international author and speaker. She serves with LifeWay Women and is currently pursuing an MA at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
• Harold Segura, Colombia/Costa Rica: pastor, theologian, and director of World Vision's Faith and Development Department for Latin America and the Caribbean

• Daniel Puerto, Honduras/México: editorial coordinator of Poiema Publications and executive director at Soldados de Jesucristo. He studied at the Rio Grande Bible Institute and is currently pursuing an MA at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
• Sergio Villanueva, México/USA: author, songwriter, and graphic artist. He serves as campus pastor at Iglesia del Pueblo in Chicago, Illinois.
• Noa Alarcón, Spain: writer and translator specializing in theology and biblical texts, with studies in Hispanic and Hebraic philology
• Óscar Fernández H., Costa Rica: theologian and doctoral candidate in socioreligious studies. He also serves as coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean of Global Proclamation Academies (Academias de Proclamación Global) and is a member of the Core Global Team at Ramesh Richard Evangelism and Church Health (RREACH) ministry.

Portuguese

Editorial director: Marisa Lopes, Brazil

Project coordinator: Mariana Albuquerque, Brazil

Judges:

• Gutierres Fernandes Siqueira: journalist, theologian, and author of five books
• Renato Marinoni: pastor of Igreja Batista Metrópole (Metropolitan Baptist Church) in São Paulo and founder of Instituto de Adoração, Cultura e Arte (Institute of Worship, Culture, and Art)
• Zé Bruno: influencer and host of the videocast Entre amigos (Among Friends), a weekly show with influential Christians around the world

Indonesian

Editorial director: Maria Fennita, Indonesia

Judges:

• Rev. Wahyu Pramudya: lead pastor of Indonesian Christian Church–Ngagel (Gereja Kristen Indonesia Ngagel), Surabaya, and founder of ributrukun.net
• Rev. Lucky Samuel: worship pastor of Church of Christ Jesus–Mangga Besar (Gereja Kristus Yesus Mangga Besar), Jakarta, and lecturer of liturgy at Amanat Agung Theological Seminary (Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Amanat Agung), Jakarta
• Fini Chen: supervisor of SDH-SLH professional development and curriculum enrichment team, Tangerang

French

Editorial director: Léo Lehmann, Belgium

Judges:

• Lesly Jules, United States/Haiti: apologist, author of Objections Rejetées: Une Approche Apologétique Classique (Rejected Objections: A Classical Apologetics Approach), and management specialist
• Marjorie Legendre, France: pastor in the Paris area and professor of ethics at the Faculté Libre de Théologie Évangélique (Seminary of Evangelical Theology of Vaux-sur-Seine, FLTE)

• Fara Daniel Tolno, Guinea: pastor and professor of apologetics and missiology at the Institut de Théologie Évangélique de Conakry (Institute of Evangelical Theology of Conakry, ITEC)

Chinese

Editorial director: Sean Cheng, CT Asia Editor, United States/China

Editorial coordinator: Yiting Tsai, United States/Taiwan

Social media ambassador: Ivan Cen, United Kingdom/China

Judges:

• Virginia Fong-hsiang Chen, Taiwan: editor, seminary lecturer, writer. She holds an MDiv from Taiwan Lutheran Theological Seminary, a ThM degree from Taiwan Theological Seminary and is studying towards a PhD degree in Old Testament Theology from Taiwan Theological Seminary. She is CEO and editor in chief of Faith-Hope-Love website.
• Jerry An, United States/China: new media pastor, producer, publisher. He also serves as executive director of ReFrame Ministries Chinese.
• Tsun-en Lu, United States/Taiwan: minister, trainer. He holds an MDiv from Westminster Theological Seminary and is currently finishing up PhD studies. In addition, Lu serves as director of training ministries of Ambassadors for Christ.