Every year, data tells us what stories people read the most on our website. Perhaps you’ve seen our lists of the most popular books, top opinion articles, and most-read news stories. However, we published around 1,000 stories this year. These “best of” lists are a small fraction of the work we’ve done. So we’ve decided to release a list of staff favorites this year to give some other articles the spotlight.
We are proud of every piece of content we publish, but sometimes there is a great essay that doesn’t get the readership we think it deserves. Or we saw how hard the author worked on our editorial suggestions, and something beautiful came out of their effort. Or an article spoke to us and we’re still thinking about months later.
On the best days, I love my job because we help people make sense of the world around us, whether that is guiding a writer to make broader connections or offering our readers a new lens. These essays represent that work. We hope you enjoy them, too.
Editor/Publisher Teri McDowell Ott
Three churches, one focus: Uniting to confront Christian nationalism
Three PC(USA) churches in the Seattle-area grapple with Christian nationalism using the Book of Confessions as a guide. — Haley Ballast
I love the way these three small churches and solo pastors supported each other in tackling this important sermon series.
Pedaling to spiritual fitness: How Peloton and boutique studios fill the void of modern religion
Is fitness America’s new religion? Rose Schrott Taylor explores how boutique workouts like Peloton go beyond physical training, offering community, meaning, and transformation.
Great writing and a thought-provoking article.
Pub Choir: Simply the best!
Gathering and singing along with members of her community, Katherine Douglass understands more deeply that congregations are uniquely positioned to do the work of communal reconstruction.
Great writing and a great example of the way community can be built among strangers.
Managing Editor Dartinia Hull
Hosts and guests: We and the Other
Writer Alejandra Oliva meditates on preparing feasts for friends — and strangers.
‘Cowboy Carter’ is complex. So is Beyoncé. So am I.
Psychologist and theologian Chanequa Walker-Barnes encounters her tenth grade self in Beyoncé’s latest album, “Cowboy Carter.”
The trauma in my bones
We often fail to identify common stories as trauma or to recognize their impact, writes Chanequa Walker-Barnes.
Book Review Editor Amy Pagliarella
A year later, larger questions remain around exegesis exams
The Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on the Examination of Candidates wonders if the required exam reflects a candidate’s readiness for ministry. — Adrian White
There was a huge outcry and a call for reform in 2023 when a “text of terror” was used in the biblical exegesis exam. Did the PCC make things right and did this lead to broader conversations about how ordination exams can be updated to be a more useful part of the process? I appreciated that the Outlook went back and asked these questions a year later.
Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery pays $718,000 debt in act toward reparative justice
The “mountain of debt” was incurred by a Black church during presbytery-directed building transfer in the early 2000s. — Patrice Gaines
I think a lot of people are curious about reparations but they don’t know what to do … so they do nothing. Here’s a presbytery that learned it did something wrong and found a way to begin working toward making things right.
Social Media Producer Jesy Littlejohn
Razor wire in the water
There’s what we can’t see, writes Dartinia Hull, and there is what we don’t see.
Dartinia is able to pull back the veil on the “pleasantries” of system racism, to show that there is still significant work to be done to address how we see one another and the world.
On doppelgängers, bronze snakes and repentance
If American Christians considered our complicity in the genocides of Jewish and Palestinian people, what would we realize about ourselves? SueAnn Shiah reflects.
In times such as these, SueAnn calls us to confession wherein we recognize the sin of our complicity. Until we can see the fullness of our responsibility, we will not recognize the call for accountability and reconciliation, and the cycle of violence will continue.
We cannot ‘policy’ our way into relationships
Wordsmithed policy, if celebrated as an end in and of itself, is not a step on the journey toward a new way of being, says Larissa Kwong Abazia.
Larissa reminds us that systemic change will not come simply from making tiny tweaks in problematic policies. Change won’t come from checking boxes. When compliance takes priority over introspection, we are left checking boxes rather than breaking down silos.
Digital Content Editor Rose Schrott Taylor
Kendrick vs. Drake and the parallels with Christian integrity
The current beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake causes Chris Burton to reflect the spiritual practice of rebuking.
As an avid consumer of pop culture, I love when the Outlook engages the music, movies and moments in everyone’s social feeds through a theological lens. One of the pop culture highlights in 2024 was the conflict between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Chris Burton analyzes their beef through a theological lens, bringing up insightful questions that even those who don’t follow rap music can appreciate.
#GA226 commissioners painted into a corner over fossil fuel investments
To stay at the table or walk away; that was the question. — John Bolt
Outlook Reporter John Bolt explains one of the most dramatic and convoluted moments of GA226 with great skill.
Praying Easter would happen again
“I’ve never stepped into the mouth of an empty tomb, but I have walked into my grandmother’s one-bedroom apartment three days after she died,” writes Lisle Gwynn Garrity.
Perhaps it is because I, too, carry the loss of my beloved grandmothers around, but Lisle’s essay spoke to me from the first time I read it. Her lyrical language engages death and hope honestly and beautifully.
Office Manager Alfred Walker
What baseball can teach the church about faithful change
Can the church embrace change without losing its core identity? Matthew Rich looks at MLB for inspiration.
When I began working for the Outlook, I enthusiastically shared with the staff how I’d describe the magazine to my friends as the Sports Illustrated of the PC(USA). Digital Content Editor Rose quipped, “Maybe we should consider a swimsuit issue!” That hasn’t happened yet, but we’ve since published an issue on sports. And I enjoyed just now looking back at one of my favorite pieces in which Matthew Rich weaves lessons from baseball history with church polity.
Breaking the Miller Cycle: The Center for the Repair of Historical Harms
Gratitude to God inspires us to admit and apologize for our denomination’s role in historical harms, writes Jermaine Ross-Allam.
I was grateful for Jermaine Ross-Allam’s write-up on the Center for the Repair of Historical Harms’ work and approach. I knew of its existence, but not so much about how it was ministering. Ross-Allam’s piece is concise and compelling.
The kingdom of God calls us to something beyond the imagination
“If we see wrong, step up. I believe that God steps with us.” Chris Burton and Dartinia Hull tackle systemic sin, generational trauma, and the hope found in God’s promises.
I confess: I’m a fanboy of Chris Burton and Dartinia Hull. I’ve read through their interview more than once and still have it open on my night stand — because there is a lot to take in.
