The Emerging Writers Mentorship Program gives participants the opportunity to work intensively with an experienced writing mentor, receiving support to reach individual writing goals while publishing regularly at Bearings Online. Learn more »
Essays by 2021-22 Emerging Writers
The Foolish Hope of a Good Power
July 11, 2022
"Good Power" is forged from vulnerability and safe spaces, vulnerability met with love and support, and good power raises up leaders who do the same.Read more »On the sacred space of bathrooms for queer and trans folks
June 23, 2022
All anyone really wants in a bathroom is some privacy. But Kai Ngu also found bathrooms a good place to think, and shares some thoughts here.Read more »A Bitter Pill
June 20, 2022
Natarsha Sanders recounts her battle to accept a difficult diagnosis, and to get the necessary treatment. Love and medicine get her there.Read more »Postcolonial Faith: Grappling with the Legacy of Missionaries in my Family
April 4, 2022
Kai (Sarah) Ngu considers the legacy of their family's relationship with an American missionary and how Christianity contributes to their parents' ongoing feelings of racial inferiority.Read more »When Overachieving No Longer Satisfies
March 24, 2022
To exchange the “ideal overachiever” title assigned to me for the “sacred human” title chosen by the God who created me, something needed to change.Read more »Women of Color in Ministry Are Not Scarce, Just Unsupported
February 3, 2022
Angie Hong reports on the experience of women of color in ministry and offers concrete steps toward helping them thrive in churches dedicated to increasing diversity.Read more »In Defense of Meddling
January 27, 2022
"Most people want their social circles to do a little bit of meddling, even if they would never articulate it that way."Read more »Essential Workers, Insufficient Funds
January 17, 2022
Those working in retail, the food industry, childcare, and eldercare are essential workers and deserve a living wage for the essential service and hard work they provide.Read more »Why “Brainwashed” Is a Lazy Accusation
January 13, 2022
Rather than dismissing someone as "brainwashed," what might we learn by approaching others with curiosity?Read more »A Church Made of Words
October 18, 2021
Sophia Stid, a poet, explores the difficult, ongoing task of finding the words for faith, in a world where words are multivalent and sometimes misused.Read more »
Essays by 2020-21 Emerging Writers
A Wound and a Gift: Forgiveness and Restoration in Prison
July 26, 2021
For two men, one wrongly convicted and the other guilty of first degree murder, conversion to Christianity provides a way forward to forgiveness and restoration.Read more »The Community’s Prayers Are My Prayers: A Life of Faith in Prison
July 22, 2021
For Christians incarcerated for first degree murder in Illinois, their faith can be a source of reconciliation and hope.Read more »When Monsters Are Real
July 1, 2021
For Black filmmakers, the horror genre illuminates the evil and terror often underlying mundane encounters in a racist society.Read more »Taking Off the Crown of Creation
June 28, 2021
What happens when we adjust our theology to see humans as part of creation rather than at the top of it?Read more »Husband, Father, and Living a “Religious Life”?
June 24, 2021
When I one day meet God face-to-face, will I be able to look him in the eye and say, “I heard your call. I heeded you”?Read more »
