Blog

I just wanted the ACEs Connection community to be aware of a new bible study on ACEs. This will officially be released on 11/15 but is available now at a pre-order price. The video link below explains more about the study. https://cope24.com/faith-based-church-initiative/ If you have any questions please let me know.

Bringing Back the Humanity Anger plays no small role in current conflicts such as those in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the North-South problem, and so forth. These conflicts arise from a failure to understand one another’s humanness. The answer is not the development and use of greater military force, nor an arms race. Nor is it purely political or purely technological. Basically it is spiritual, in the sense that what is required is a sensitive understanding of our common human...

Have you ever had a child who has experienced a crisis or trauma get attached to you? I’ve had children who I knew were connected to me emotionally. However, I had no idea of the depth of these connections. For the child of divorce and other life-changing traumas, it is a different kind of connection. They become attached not only to you but also to their memory of you. You might call it a heart-felt connection . And they hold on to this memory for years. In their minds they know where they...

On National Suicide Prevention Day, Kayla Stoecklein, the widow of pastor Andrew Stoecklein, took to her blog God’s Got This to dispel a few myths surrounding the stigma of suicide. Today is world suicide prevention day. I strongly believe that suicide prevention is possible and to be honest it’s one of the reasons why I write. I am by no means an expert on mental illness or suicide. I am speaking purely from a raw place of brokenness and pain. The reason I am addressing these myths today is...

One of the most common questions I get from the trauma-affected children I serve is, "Why did God allow [insert really awful, tragic experience] to happen to me?" I imagine it's a question that most pastors, ministers, chaplains, and those Christians who share their faith with others face. It's fundamentally a relational question, not a theological one... and that's important to remember. The question is seeking the reason why a God who is Love could allow something that is experienced as...

During the first Mass of the school year, two students at St. Bernard Elementary School in suburban Pittsburgh stand in front of the congregation and lead their classmates in prayer. They pray for the leaders of the world, for the sick and suffering, and for the victims of abuse in the Catholic Church. It is the only time clergy abuse is mentioned during the service. It might be the only time it's mentioned in the school. Principal Anthony Merante says he wants to leave that conversation up...

To quote a friend who just gave her testimony at our church about her own struggles with mental health misdiagnosis and recovery, she was told after her first hospitalization, “This won’t be the first time you deal with this.” Our trauma is always with us.

Over the past decade, there has been a push for ecological conservation within the Christian faith , motivated by concerns over how climate change might impact human welfare. That movement has coincided with an uptick in the number of faith-based farms , many of which equate divinity with sweat equity and its bountiful results. Where those two movements intersect sits Plainsong Farm & Ministry , a community-supported agriculture farm and ministry, located outside of Rockford, Michigan.

KRISTA TIPPETT, HOST: I was introduced to Lucas Johnson by the great civil rights elder, Vincent Harding. He told me that this young man embodies the genius of nonviolence for our century — nonviolence not as a withholding of violence, but as a way of being present. And it was a great pleasure to bring him together with Rami Nashashibi, a kindred force in the Muslim world. Lucas is based in Amsterdam. Rami’s center of gravity is the South Side of Chicago. They both are evolving the...

The Metro guard told me he’d never seen anything like it in all his years working for DC’s Metro system, people chalking love, togetherness, inclusion messages just off the top of the escalator at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop, the place where the white nationalists will step when they get off the metro, and where they’ll begin their march to Lafayette Square across from the White House Sunday at 5:00. We – people from various faith communities – gathered the night before at Western Ave.

We are thrilled to announce the premiere of Wrestling Ghosts , a documentary about breaking the cycle of trauma, at the LA Film festival on Sept. 27th. “Incredible. Haunting and strange and beautiful and incredibly moving.” -Dan Cogan, Founder Impact Partners Wrestling Ghosts follows the epic inner journey of Kim, a young mother who, over two heartbreaking and inspiring years, battles the traumas from her past in order to create a new present and future for her and her family. In this...

The Philippines' LGBTQ community and its allies gathered near the capitol city of Manila June 30 to celebrate Pride. Like most public Pride events, the march drew plenty of people who were decidedly not there to celebrate love and acceptance. Surprisingly, though, some religious groups were there for a completely different reason - they came to say sorry. "I'm sorry," read a large banner carried by one Christian group that marched in solidarity with the LGBTQ community. "We're here to...