Sara Billups: Orphaned Believers

Orphaned Believers
Baker Books, 2023
By Sara Billups

WHO: Sara Billups, a Seattle-based writer and cultural commentator.

SHE SAYS: “No affliction can overcome the Spirit of God in us.”

THE BIG IDEA: This book explores how the experiences of Christians growing up in the 1980s and 1990s led to many of them leaving the faith, and what can draw them back. 

THE PROGRESSION: In three parts the author guides those who have left the church to see a new expression of faith that is motivated to make the world a better place.

“I stayed a Christian because I came to believe, and experience, that Jesus’s promise to not leave us as orphans holds true.”

Mind, Body and Soul of a Pastor

“Ministry is sacred, but it is also human, done by people with limits, wounds and a nervous system that can only take so much.” —Mark Mayfield

City Church: ‘It’s Worth Being a Little Uncomfortable’

Because we have been a church plant with steady growth, we have always had to be very openhanded and very open to change.

Pantano Christian Church: A Change of Life

Making people feel welcome is everyone’s job. Pantano sees a wide diversity in the congregation across nearly every demographic: ethnicity, race, socioeconomic, etc.