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
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 »A God Who Cleaves: Coming Out, Parents, and Queerness
October 11, 2021
"After college, I began to discover new tools for interpreting the Bible that allowed me, for the first time, to imagine myself as a whole person within my faith."Read more »Developing Patience for the Slow Work of Justice
October 7, 2021
"Making sense of a spirituality and church culture that causes harm is complicated and layered, opening past wounds and inflicting new ones if not done with great care."Read more »The Grief of Miscarriage Is Enough
September 30, 2021
I am stupefied now as I remember that I apologized for having a miscarriage. There is nothing I could have done to prevent them from happening. I had done nothing wrong. So, why did I apologize?Read more »The Problem with Angels: Confronting Racism in Hospice Care
September 20, 2021
Zeena Regis tells the story of how racism complicates her experience as a hospice chaplain, and contemplates how to challenge that racism like one of the fearsome, truth-telling angels of Scripture.Read more »
Essays by 2020-21 Emerging Writers
What Dance in Church Could Do for Women
December 17, 2020
"My skill as a dancer began to fuse with my faith ... until the administration told us it was distracting and we needed to go behind the stage curtain."Read more »How to Pray When You Can’t Hear Yourself Think
December 14, 2020
Perseverance. Courage. Openness. Grace. ... Arianne Lehn prays from and into the noisy spaces where it can be hard to hear the still small whispers that need most to be heard.Read more »Faith Formed at the Margins
December 3, 2020
From the very beginning, Black Christianity developed as a revolutionary movement to liberate the mind, body, and soul.Read more »The Practice of Memento Mori (Remember You Must Die)
November 23, 2020
Sister Theresa Aletheia Noble, a contemporary Sister of the Congregation of St. Paul, offers a 5-step practice for memento mori that can be deeply meaningful to modern seekers.Read more »Running the Race
October 8, 2020
As we "run the race" to win, as Paul encouraged the Corinthians, what "deliberate practice" will help shape us as Christian disciples?Read more »
