They came to faith before age 18

Caring for foster children can be difficult—even devastating. It is also a revelation of the love God gives and expects of his people.

Leaders of a Christian drug rehab in Hong Kong were arrested over an alleged $6.4 million ($50 million HKD) fraud conspiracy.

A new book looks at the deep connections between Scripture and Darwinian science, and the different (but not completely different) stories that they tell us.

Behind the story

From news editor Daniel Silliman: The CT news team sees a lot of numbers in a lot of stories every year, but here’s one I haven’t been able to stop thinking about: 27 percent of churches that lose money in embezzlement don’t report it.

That number comes from a survey of churches reporting on their own activity. More than a quarter said they’d had someone in their church steal from the collection plate or a bank account or a church credit card and they didn’t report it to authorities—and sometimes not even to other church leaders. That’s a lot of secrecy. That’s a lot of fraud that doesn’t see the light of day. So whenever we at CT report on money stolen from churches and charities, I wonder how much more of it we don’t see. The Center for the Global Study of Christianity thinks about 6 percent of all charitable giving is lost to fraud, which will amount to about $170 billion in 2050.

People will always be tempted, of course. But are there ways to reduce that temptation? Church Law and Tax, a ministry of CT, suggests several simple ones: Get multiple people involved in handling money, rotate responsibilities regularly, and cultivate a culture of accountability, where people don’t get offended by requests for transparency. And, finally, something close to the heart of this Christian journalist: Remember that transparency encourages honesty.

In other news

In a new survey, nearly three-fourths of American evangelicals say they came to faith before age 18.

More than 1,000 Black pastors are pushing President Joe Biden to pressure Israel to stop its offensive in Gaza, which has killed thousands of civilians.

Three conservative Lutheran groups in the US are in “overwhelming agreement on most of the articles of faith” and engaged in ongoing talks, but unlikely to unify anytime soon.

Evangelism? Or the pollution of a river in Northern Ireland?