Advancing the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God.
Ashley Hales
Staff Editor
A note from CT’s editorial director in our November/December issue.
While many of us like to think of ourselves as self-made individuals, we are not so neatly defined or isolated. Our DNA bears genetic material from generations past. We pass along family stories at the dinner table. From food preferences to sports rivalries, we take on the stories, songs, and palates of our people.
Places shape our affections too—from homes, neighborhoods, and nations to flora, fauna, and topography. While we may recall how our childhood homes influenced us (Did you slide down the banister on Christmas morning?), often what we no longer notice exerts defining power over what we consider “normal.”
The import of place can easily go unnoticed. Some of a place’s constraints are given by governments or institutions—consider how sidewalks, zoning laws, and church buildings shape our daily and weekly rhythms—while other constraints offer us more creativity and agency, such as starting a garden plot, picking a paint color, or hosting a holiday party. (Don’t miss hospitality recommendations on page 26.)
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What might a place, with its particular quirks, teach us?
In this issue, you’ll read about a monastery on the island of Patmos from architect Kyle Dugdale. He explains how quiet, thick places are primed for revelation (p. 44). Andrew Faulk’s photo essay on an Ethiopian pilgrimage site will open your eyes to the sacredness of place (p. 52). Three book reviews also consider how very different places—Ukraine, Colorado Springs, and urban inner cities—shape our learning and ministries (p. 64).
But places aren’t always invitations. Ann Voskamp chronicles displacement in the faces of refugees while noting that God’s will is the surest place in which to find ourselves (p. 58). You’ll read about redlining from city planner Mark Bjelland (p. 71) and, from Deborah Haarsma, how the immensity of outer space challenges any simplistic understanding of who God is (p. 34).
Finally, read Andy Olsen’s excellent reporting in his sweeping story “An American Deportation” (p. 74). You’ve likely noticed an uptick in CT’s coverage of immigration and deportation since earlier this year. This reported feature is a multigenerational saga of one immigrant family, the Gonzalezes.
And CT is uniquely poised to tell it. Although “An American Deportation” dovetails with much mainstream coverage on immigration issues, it digs into more complexities than are often told. It traces the cracks in the system and in each human heart and reminds us that policies always have a human face.
It is also a redemption tale—of personal salvation and of a church who rallied, prayed, and supported a family in need. It reminds us that, no matter where we call home, no matter if we are literally or figuratively out of place, we have a place to belong with Christ and his people.
As you gather around a table this holiday season, pay attention to the people around your table—but also pay attention to what sort of place you’re a part of. Who isn’t at your table? Who could be? What sort of story does your place tell? We hope the words you read here are a call to a generous posture of hospitality and welcome, wherever you find yourself.
Ashley Hales is editorial director, features at Christianity Today.
This article appeared in the November/December 2025 issue of Christianity Today as “Editor's Note”.
Andy Olsen
Kyle Dugdale
Mark D. Bjelland
As we enter the holiday season, we consider how the places to which we belong shape us—and how we can be the face of welcome in a broken world. In this issue, you’ll read about how a monastery on Patmos offers quiet in a world of noise and, from Ann Voskamp, how God’s will is a place to find home. Read about modern missions terminology in our roundtable feature and about an astrophysicist’s thoughts on the Incarnation. Be sure to linger over Andy Olsen’s reported feature “An American Deportation” as we consider Christian responses to immigration policies. May we practice hospitality wherever we find ourselves.
View issue
Kyle Dugdale
Review
Matt Reynolds
Matthew Hirt
News
Daniel Silliman
Lanier Ivester
Review
John G. Turner
Review
Rick Ostrander
Review
Brian Key
Text by Ann Voskamp and Photos by Esther Havens
Russell Moore
Testimony
Franco Iacomini
Mark D. Bjelland
Qualms & Proverbs
Karen Swallow Prior, Kevin Antlitz, and Kiara John-Charles
Photo essay by Andrew Faulk
View issue
View All
Isabel Ong
Three experts discuss whether the popular concept has a future in missions discourse.
Andy Olsen
A Colombian couple prayed with neighbors and raised their children in one of America’s most influential churches. What did we gain from their deportation?
Deborah Haarsma
The heavens declare the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ
Nicole Massie Martin
A letter from Mission Advancement in our November/December issue.
Chris Howles
UK mission mobilizer wants to rethink “unreached people groups” amid changing migration patterns and a digitally-connected world.
Kirsten Sanders
Our therapy culture has made us too comfortable with God.
Kyle Dugdale
A monastery on Patmos builds silence in a world of noise
Ashley Hales
A note from CT’s editorial director in our November/December issue.
You can help Christianity Today uplift what is good, overcome what is evil, and heal what is broken by elevating the stories and ideas of the kingdom of God.
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