Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8430 Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 as our laws continued to make abortion so easy. For those of us who are pro-life, the current state of affairs really puts a burden of responsibility on us to help bear the weight on people’s shoulders. We need to be helping provide support groups for women who’ve had abortions and for women who are consid- ering abortions. Because abortion has created a sort of national trauma. Being Bold for the Gospel Back in 2006, in your book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical, you challenged Christians to “build a move- ment” inspired by the Sermon on the Mount. A decade later, are there signs of this movement taking shape? I see that everywhere – a movement of Chris- tians who want Christianity to look like Jesus again, who want to be known not by what we’re against but by what we’re for. In the new 2016 edition of The Irresistible Revolution, I mention many amazing examples of where this stuff is happening, such as my friend Jeremy Courtney in Iraq with the Preemptive Love Coalition, or the folks with the Christian Community Development Association, which is now bigger than it has ever been. There’s evidence that folks are really longing for community. They’re dissatisfied with a faith that means getting a ticket into heaven while ignoring the world around them, a faith that tells people, “Sorry your life sucks so much now. But you can look forward to life after death!” People ask, “Isn’t there life before death?” They read the Sermon on the Mount and ask: What if Jesus really meant that? Here he tells us to love our enemies, so that probably means don’t kill them. He says not to stockpile for tomorrow while people don’t have enough for today – so what does that tell me about my 401(k) plan? These questions challenge where our hope lies. As the old hymn goes, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. . . . All other ground is sinking sand.” There’s a whole lot of sinking sand, and people are looking for something solid to stand on. What’s beautiful is, we have Jesus as a cornerstone. The wisdom he offered two thousand years ago is just as relevant now as then. When he talks about unjust judges and widows and orphans and vineyard workers that don’t get paid enough, he’s talking about our world too. Are there parallels here to the Social Gospel movement in the last century? That movement eventually withered because it sidelined the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus. Too often we in the church separate things that were never meant to be separated. Faith and works have to work together like the two sides of scissors: loving God and loving neighbor are one command. Yes, we do pray, but we also get up off our knees and we go and we work for the things that God cares about. We’ve got to learn to share about our faith in a way that’s authentic and natural. Do you know the old saying that faith is less of a theory and more of a love affair? I love talking about my wife – so all the more I should love talking about my God and my Savior. Recently, a friend of mine was talking with denominational leaders who were lamenting that the LGBT issue was going to dissolve their denomination. My friend pointed out that according to a recent study, the average We’ve got to love one person well –  we can’t just run programs.