Featured

Vivid sunset sky with swirling clouds and three silhouetted figures on horizon.
The Spirit of the Early Church
Why has the example of the first Christians never ceased to fuel renewal and reform?
Eberhard Arnold
Essay
Stained glass window showing an angel with a staff and a woman with a halo holding a jar.
Re-Forming the Church
A constantly re-forming Church is a Church always seeking the face of the Lord. Friendship with Jesus Christ is not only the beginning of the Church, but also the beginning of all authentic reform in the Church.
George Weigel
Essay
Abstract colorful fluid art with orange, red, green, and yellow hues and bubble-like patterns.
The Unplanned Church
The early church survived by keeping its eyes on the promise and living by hope – and we can do the same today.
Claudio Oliver
Essay
Colorful fabric art depicting a row of patchwork houses with abstract hills and sky above.
Time for a New Reformation
Five hundred years on, is the Protestant Reformation giving way to another tectonic shift in what it means to be church?
Jin S. Kim
Essay
Elderly woman lighting candles wearing a black headscarf with white patterns and gold earrings.
The Last of the First Christians
The ancient Christian communities within Iraq and Syria, decimated by the Islamic State, are on the brink of extinction. Andreas Knapp, author of The Last Christians, has been working among the uprooted survivors and recording their stories.
Andreas Knapp
Reading
Still life painting of seven apples with green and red hues casting shadows on a textured surface.

The Church That Grew Without Trying

Christianity grew despite the opposition of laws and social convention, and its growth was not organized – it simply happened.
Alan Kreider
Reading

From the Editor

Watercolor painting of clustered houses with visible text patterns on walls and roofs.
The Church We Need Now
If the Reformation was a battle for the soul of Christianity, then a small group of radicals spurned by both sides may prove to be the real winners…
Peter Mommsen
From the Editor

Insights

Artistic text design showing two ways: the way of death and the way of life with stylized calligraphy.
Life or Death
It’s an either/or choice in this teaching from the early church.
Reading
Black and white image of hands gently holding a woman's head with her eyes closed.
The Church Is Not Made of Cathedrals
Now exiled from Syria, Father Jacques has continued his ministry in Iraqi Kurdistan. A former detainee and a refugee among refugees, his testimony creates a closeness, his strength and peace preaches comfort.
Cecile Massie
Portfolio

Arts & Letters

Three men standing in front of a truck, holding books or pamphlets with messages in Spanish.
El Arado Nicaragua
Since 2015, the Nicaragua team has given out more than sixteen thousand books, each of which is hand-delivered to a selected school or church.
Family and Friends
Outdoor market booth selling hand-dipped ice cream, homemade donuts, and root beer floats with customers.
Donuts for Books
Using proceeds from donuts and ice cream they make and sell, members of Living Water Mennonite Church buy discounted Plough books to give away free.
Family and Friends
Man playing violin in a classroom with desks and open windows in the background.
Beethoven in Sing Sing
Discover Musicambia, an intensive education program that rehabilitates inmates and transforms lives through music, both performance and composition.
Family and Friends
Illustration of a person in a hat playing a trumpet against a blue background.
Blue Angel
In his paintings, Dean Mitchell tries to “elevate the underprivileged so I can convey a sense of their dignity and give them a voice in American society.”
Another View
Man in red robe holding a tiny person in black reading a book on his hand with a skeptical expression.
The Renegade Monk
Over five hundred years ago, Martin Luther battled for freedom of faith.
Andrea Grosso Ciponte
Dacia Palmerino
Comic
Profile of an elderly woman wearing glasses and a bonnet, intently reading a newspaper or book.
Readers Respond: Issue 14
Letters from the latest issue of Plough: on Joe Strummer, the Benedict Option, contemplation and curiosity, and the legacy of Johann Christoph Arnold.
Forum