Author: Shalem John

On a Sunday morning in Kakamega County in western Kenya, two elderly women dust plastic chairs, open windows, and lay white linen on the tables at the front of the sanctuary inside Grace Calvary Christian Baptist Church. Pastor Jackson Sikolia prepares his sermon in his small office as members start arriving one by one. When the 56-year-old Sikolia enters the sanctuary, half the seats are empty and only a handful of the attendees are young people. No youth sing in the choir. Only one teen girl helps with the children in Sunday school. Yet outside, young men and women crowd…

Minneapolis lay under a blanket of snow and single-digit temperatures as parishioners poured into church on a Sunday morning in early December last year. They piled jackets into a coatroom and grabbed cups of strong coffee from the dispenser in the lobby. In the sanctuary of Restoration Anglican Church, vertical stained-glass windows sent shafts of light across the pews. A regular sight in the small balcony next to the organ now is three families, all close friends: the Revells, Holines, and Sharpes. Their children attend Annunciation Catholic School and were there the morning of August 27, 2025, when the student…

It was the coldest night in years for Minneapolis, but a young refugee’s friends there texted that they wanted him to come hang out. He texted them back that he couldn’t come because his dad didn’t want him going out. Even as legal refugees, this Afghan family, whose identity is withheld for their safety, was concerned about ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement). The young man’s mom poured more saffron tea for everyone at their home as they sat on cushions and talked with friends who had come for dinner, a spread of rice, chicken, eggplant, and big rounds of naan.…