Author: Shalem John

In early April, Jennifer Lyell, a former Christian publishing executive, sat for a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed by her once mentor and professor David Sills. There she detailed alleged sexual and spiritual abuse by Sills in graphic detail—and insisted he had coerced her into sexual acts without her consent, and then asked her to join him at family meals afterward. “But he always knew that I never, ever wanted any instance,” she said in an excerpt from her April 10 deposition. “And I always, always tried to stop it.” Lyell died Saturday after suffering a series of strokes.…

Twelve-year-old Rita Lesina treks more than 1.5 miles every morning over a dusty, rugged road in Laikipia County, Kenya. The crunch of dry murram road underfoot and the occasional bird chirp break the silence of her 30-minute walk as she weaves between acacia thorns and dried riverbeds. There are no tarmac roads and no power lines. When Rita arrives at Enai Kishomi Primary School in Timau, she adjusts the strap of her worn backpack and brushes brown dust off her uniform before taking her seat. Her hands hover slightly over the desk, not fidgeting, just ready to receive a tablet.…

Vikrant Maheshwar, a Christian Dalit in his late 30s, worked for the Andhra Pradesh government in Southern India for 11 years. His salary from the state’s agriculture department not only allowed him to comfortably provide for his wife and children but also quietly supported his evangelism work. Maheshwar became a Christian in primary school after his family heard the gospel from neighbors in Andhra Pradesh. The message of Jesus’ love for everyone resonated with him and his family, as they had long faced discrimination for belonging to the lowest caste in Hinduism. Christianity Today is not using Maheshwar’s real name,…