unbound: an interactive journal of christian social justice Archives

You’re welcome

Posted September 7th, 2022

One of the best-loved people at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, is Danny Miller, who’s now in his mid-30s and has been attending the church with his mother, Nancy Wilson, since he was 5 — three years after being diagnosed with autism.

Putting our personal power to work collectively

Posted August 31st, 2022

During last week’s edition of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” which can be heard here, the Rev. Deborah Lee did a quick primer on our different kinds of power before delivering the clincher: we owe it to the God who put us here for a reason to use our personal and collective power to help change things for people living on the margins, beyond our borders and inside our prisons.

Sit-ins and other forms of protest go way back

Posted August 22nd, 2022

Sit-ins originated long before the civil rights movement. Protests among Africans go back nearly six centuries.

Open Hand Ministries offers tools and accompaniment to strengthen home ownership in the Steel City

Posted August 15th, 2022

Open Hand Ministries, a collaborative effort of four PC(USA) churches in Pittsburgh working to empower Black families living in the Steel City’s East End to build multi-generational wealth, was the featured organization last week on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.” Open Hand Ministries’ executive director, Wayne Younger, explained to hosts Simon Doong and the Rev. Lee Catoe how churches can help to empower the communities in which they’re situated.

‘Two ideas trying to share space’

Posted August 1st, 2022

Conflict, the Rev. Dr. David Anderson Hooker likes to say, is just two ideas trying to share space.

Evangelicalism is ‘not the monolith that a lot of headlines would have you believe’

Posted July 14th, 2022

Sarah Hedgecock, a PhD candidate in Religion at Columbia University, identifies as a progressive Presbyterian “who was always curious about evangelical Christianity.”

Pride in her work

Posted June 13th, 2022

“Pride is in its essence this uncontrolled joy, a light and a reflection of how the Holy Spirit works,” Ophelia Hu Kinney told “A Matter of Faith” podcast hosts the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong last week as part of the podcast’s Pride edition. “I think of Pride as a way that light shines on things that didn’t have a light shone on them before and blows on things where the wind hasn’t gone before.”

Telling God’s Good News through a variety of media

Posted May 13th, 2022

Communicators with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) used written, visual and aural tools of their trade to garner 10 awards Thursday during the Best of the Church Press ceremony held online.

Humans are being trafficked all over the world, including our neighborhoods

Posted May 9th, 2022

In the days before the Rev. Cathy Chang, a mission co-worker serving in the Philippines, was red-tagged having been accused of supporting groups perceived as terrorists through stickers and a tarpaulin affixed at her home in Quezon City, she spoke on the scourge of human trafficking with the hosts of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast.”

Thou shalt not steal

Posted May 2nd, 2022

Thanks to the pandemic, tens of thousands of worship services are now posted online each week. For at least some stressed preachers who may be pressed for time, the temptation can be overwhelming to hear a well-crafted online sermon somewhere and pass all or part of it off as one’s own.