"Lift Every Voice and Sing"

Samuel Rodriguez has advised the Trump administration on faith and immigration policy. But he’s seeing immigration enforcement wreak havoc on Latino churches.

"Lift Every Voice and Sing" has been a staple of Black churches for years. But it’s a hymn for all Americans, Chris Butler writes.

Author Gretchen Ronnevik shares three books on how to courageously raise children in a broken world.

This week on The Bulletin: tariffs, a potential war with Iran, and the State of the Union.

A dive into CT’s archives shows how CT covered the Watergate scandal, asking whether President Richard Nixon should resign.

Behind the Story

Chris Butler writes today about how more Americans should cherish "Lift Every Voice and Sing," and so we asked our editorial staff for their favorite underappreciated hymns:

Senior staff writer Emily Belz: Bishop Clarence E. McClendon’s rendition of "There Is a Fountain" is one of my all-time favorite worship songs and a beautiful update to a classic hymn. It’s very singable for a congregation. A total hit from the year 2000!

Black church editor Haleluya Hadero: One of my favorite gospel songs is "Oh Happy Day" by the Edwin Hawkins Singers. The arrangement was based on a hymn by an 18th-century pastor named Philip Doddridge. In the ’60s, singer Edwin Hawkins took the hymn and turned it into a gospel song. It was appreciated in its time, but we don’t play it much anymore. I think we should.

International editor Angela Lu Fulton: "Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross" has a special place in my heart, as I remember singing that hymn in Mandarin with hundreds of Christians from China soon after the government tore down more than a thousand crosses from churches in Zhejiang province. Over and over they passionately sang the chorus, at times with tears in their eyes: "In the cross, in the cross / Be my glory forever / Till my ransomed soul shall find / Rest beyond the river."  Alumni of Camp Mystic, including the parents of the girls who died in last year’s flood, are divided on whether the camp should reopen.  The European Union called on the Turkish government to stop expelling Christian pastors, missionaries, and their family members. CT profiled a former American missionary in Turkey who had his residency permit canceled in 2016 and went on to start a coffee-shop ministry in Cyprus. Thirty-three historically Black churches received $8.5 million in preservation grants. Today in Christian History February 27, 1773: Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, is completed after six years of construction at a cost of about $4,070. George Washington purchased a pew for himself and his family for $100.