Difficult Conversations

When it’s about winning people for Jesus. The Greek word for “apologetics” means “to give a defense” and comes from 1 Peter 3:15–16, which starts “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…” Apologetics in this passage begins with reverence for Christ, and its focus isn’t on defeating others but providing hope. There is no more consequential conversation than the one about who Jesus is an

Over the past century, American Christians — along with others — have largely embraced the culture war model, bringing a particular edge to the way we engage with the world. The list of topics in which we argue over — both within and outside the faith — seems endless. What can we do about the argumentative spirit present in our churches? In this episode of Difficult Conversations, host Walter Kim interviews Dr. Darrell Bock, one of today’s leading biblical scholars. Together they explore lesson

It’s no accident that we produced the Difficult Conversations series during an election season, with its heightened tensions and palpable polarization. In this special message, NAE President Walter Kim takes a few minutes to speak to this moment following the election. However you may be feeling about the election results, God remains our refuge. His kingdom is greater, higher than any earthly kingdom. Now having concluded one set of difficult conversations leading up to the election, we embark

Neither political idolatry nor political disengagement make for peace. What does? If we’re all reading the same Bible, why do Christians disagree when it comes to politics? If we worship the same God, how can we come to such different conclusions? And why have so many Christians in America given up on voting altogether? This episode of Difficult Conversations opens with stories from pastors on what this election season has been like for them. It also features an in-depth conversation between Br

In this bonus episode, Daniel Yang shares his family’s refugee journey from Laos to Thailand and finally to East Moline, Illinois, where a church welcomed and helped them navigate life in the United States. Daniel’s father soon became a Christian, and in just seven years, the family was an integral part of a Hmong church plant. Daniel is now the national director of Churches of Welcome at World Relief, and previously served as the director of the Church Multiplication Institute at the Wheaton C

Turning the script on the most segregated hour.When Martin Luther King Jr. famously called the 11 o’clock hour on Sunday the most segregated hour in America, it illuminated the great division in our country. Decades after the Civil Rights Movement, churches remain more segregated than neighborhoods and public schools. How does this play into the polarized climate of our nation today? What would happen if Christians bridged the gap? This episode of Difficult Conversations features candid discuss