Following Jesus in a Time of Fear
A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of co-hosting the event Courageous Faith in a Time of Fear with our friends at the Institute of Christian Studies. We gathered in the Knox College chapel and classrooms for two days of lectures, reflections and great conversation.
It felt like one of those rare spaces where people could speak honestly about ministry today: the exhaustion, the fear, the polarization, the pressure to stay quiet, the pressure to speak up, and what it means to follow Jesus faithfully through it all. It was heavy, but it also felt good to have speakers define the reality so blatantly.
For those who were able to attend in person or online, I know it was a gift to hear from such thoughtful and insightful leaders like Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez and Fr. Joash P. Thomas.
A few weeks before the conference, Joash joined us on the Ministry Forum Podcast. We talked about justice, decolonization, certainty, courage, public theology, and how empire can shape the church without us noticing. Real challenges ministry leaders are facing right now. If you missed the episode, it’s definitely worth a listen - find it here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Fr. Joash Thomas: Courageous Faith in a Time of Fear
In our conversation with Fr. Joash Thomas, we explore how empire, certainty, and control have quietly shaped Western Christianity, and what it might look like to recover a more liberating, embodied faith. Drawing from his own journey and his book The Justice of Jesus, Joash invites ministry leaders to wrestle with justice, decolonization, and the cost of courage. It’s a challenging conversation that calls us all to a fuller vision of the gospel.
Joash’s book, The Justice of Jesus, has that same energy. It’s pastoral, thoughtful, and challenging, but also grounded and practical for churches that want to love their neighbours well and take discipleship seriously.
The Justice of Jesus: Reimagining Your Church's Life Together to Pursue Liberation and Wholeness
What if the way we've been taught to follow Jesus is missing something essential? What if there's more to the gospel than we've experienced--something that could revolutionize how we love our neighbors and serve our communities?
In The Justice of Jesus, public theologian and international speaker Joash Thomas reveals how authentic biblical faith naturally leads to caring for the vulnerable and working for positive change in our neighborhoods. Drawing from his unique perspective serving in churches across different cultures and continents, Thomas shows how justice isn't just a "social issue"--it's at the very heart of what it means to follow Christ. Whether you're a pastor, small group leader, or simply want to make a real difference in your community, this book offers practical wisdom you can actually use:
simple steps to help your church better serve struggling families in your neighborhood
biblical foundations that show why caring for others isn't optional for Christians
real success stories from churches that are making a tangible impact in their communities
practical ideas for prayer, volunteering, and partnerships that don't require a huge budget
fresh insights on following Jesus that will deepen your faith and expand your heart
This isn't about politics. It's about discipleship.
Thomas doesn't just point out problems; he provides hope and concrete solutions. Drawing from Scripture and real-world examples, he shows how ordinary believers can do extraordinary things when they embrace Jesus's vision for justice and healing.
The Justice of Jesus will inspire you with achievable ways to live out your faith more fully and help your church become a beacon of hope in your community.
What if the way we've been taught to follow Jesus is missing something essential? What if there's more to the gospel than we've experienced--something that could revolutionize how we love our neighbors and serve our communities?
Plus, if you haven’t read Jesus and John Wayne by Dr. Kristin Kobes Du Mez, you need this one in your library. During her keynote, Kristen also shared themes from her upcoming book Live Laugh Love, which comes out September 15 and is available for preorder now. I have an advance copy on my desk, and I’m looking forward to reading it soon.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Jesus and John Wayne is a sweeping, revisionist history of the last seventy-five years of white evangelicalism, revealing how evangelicals have worked to replace the Jesus of the Gospels with an idol of rugged masculinity and Christian nationalism—or in the words of one modern chaplain, with “a spiritual badass.”
As acclaimed scholar Kristin Du Mez explains, the key to understanding this transformation is to recognize the centrality of popular culture in contemporary American evangelicalism. Many of today’s evangelicals might not be theologically astute, but they know their VeggieTales, they’ve read John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, and they learned about purity before they learned about sex?and they have a silver ring to prove it. Evangelical books, films, music, clothing, and merchandise shape the beliefs of millions. And evangelical culture is teeming with muscular heroes?mythical warriors and rugged soldiers, men like Oliver North, Ronald Reagan, Mel Gibson, and the Duck Dynasty clan, who assert white masculine power in defense of “Christian America.” Chief among these evangelical legends is John Wayne, an icon of a lost time when men were uncowed by political correctness, unafraid to tell it like it was, and did what needed to be done.
Challenging the commonly held assumption that the “moral majority” backed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 for purely pragmatic reasons, Du Mez reveals that Trump in fact represented the fulfillment, rather than the betrayal, of white evangelicals’ most deeply held values: patriarchy, authoritarian rule, aggressive foreign policy, fear of Islam, ambivalence toward #MeToo, and opposition to Black Lives Matter and the LGBTQ community. A much-needed reexamination of perhaps the most influential subculture in this country, Jesus and John Wayne shows that, far from adhering to biblical principles, modern white evangelicals have utterly remade their faith, with enduring consequences for all Americans.
Live Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made
Live Laugh Love explores a world intimately familiar to millions of American women: Christian bookstores and radio, Hallmark movies, multilevel marketing companies, and contemporary lifestyle brands. This consumer culture may seem trivial, but Du Mez demonstrates that it has an unlikely and revealing history that stretches all the way back to the late nineteenth century and the emergence of New Thought, a movement that championed the power of the mind to shape reality. Du Mez shows how this idea drew together disparate traditions, including Mormonism, holiness evangelicalism, and holiness theology’s charismatic offshoots. Usually seen as distinct, these creeds in fact overlapped, and in the process gave rise to prosperity theologies and to the gospel of positive thinking.
But positivity had a dark side. Du Mez introduces us to religious innovators who taught that positive thinking was the secret to spiritual and material success, and reveals how these notions gave rise to a new feminine ideal. As women read prairie fiction; bought and sold Tupperware containers and Mary Kay makeup; shopped at Hobby Lobby, Target, and Altar’d State; and decorated homes with shiplap, they moved freely between the religious and the secular. Marketed as empowering, these products were part of a consumer culture that elevated domesticity and vulnerability while exposing women to systems susceptible to manipulation.
Combining sweeping cultural history with intimate storytelling, Du Mez explains how theological exclusion led women to build their own brand of Christianity, rich in cultural influence if thin in formal doctrine. Ultimately, Live Laugh Love explains how a powerful yet elusive vision of womanhood has shaped lives, families, and politics for more than a century now—and how it has brought us to our reactionary moment.