Last Week to Make Your Gift Go Twice as Far!
This week, through December 31st, every dollar you donate to Renewed Heart Ministries will be matched dollar for dollar!
That means your support will have double the impact in helping us continue to educate, inspire, and work toward a more just world grounded in love and compassion as we follow Jesus together.
Whether it’s $5 or $5,000, your generosity will be doubled thanks to a matching gift opportunity.
Give today and make twice the difference!
Go to renewedheartministries.com and click on “Donate.”
Or you can mail your support to:
Renewed Heart Ministries
PO Box 1211
Lewisburg, WV 24901
Thank you for being part of this work. Let’s finish the year strong—together.
Renewed Heart Ministries Shared Table Event is Back!
Become a monthly sustaining partners for 2026 and receive a special thank-you gift: a Renewed Heart Ministries Shared Table Pottery Bowl handmade by Crystal and Herb. You can become a monthly sustainin partner by clicking “Check this box to make it a monthly recurring donation” option when you donate online.
Becoming a monthly sustaining partner helps RHM plan and budget for our ministry projects throughout the year. To sign up, simply visit renewedheartministries.com/donate and choose an automated recurring monthly donation of any amount. If you prefer using PayPal, you can also select the “Make this a monthly donation” option.
As a token of our appreciation, we’ll be sending you one of these beautiful pottery bowls at the start of the new year. Our hope is that these bowls, whether displayed or used, will serve as a reminder of Jesus’ shared table fellowship and his message of love and care for our neighbors. They also make wonderful gifts or conversation starters!
If you’re already a sustaining partner for 2026, we deeply appreciate your ongoing support, too, and you also will receive one of our Shared Table Pottery Bowls as a thank-you gift.
Regardless of how you choose to support Renewed Heart Ministries at the end of this year, we are profoundly grateful for your partnership in furthering Jesus’ vision of a world rooted in compassion, love, and inclusion. In the coming new year, we will continue to follow Jesus’ gospel together in being a source of life, healing, and love as we work to shape our world into a safer, more compassionate, and just home for all.
The Cost of Discipleship
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Cost of Discipleship written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and anti-Nazi dissident.
“WHEN CHRIST CALLS A MAN HE BIDS HIM COME AND DIE”
―Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves . . . the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship . . .Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock . . .―Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, now with new translations, transliterations, and Afterword. An insightful look at grace and the path to eternal life, featuring:
“A rigorously patient exposition of the Sermon on the Mount which compels the reader to face himself, and God, in any situation. A very moving book, lived as well as written”—Times (London) Literary Supplement
“Among the Flossenberg martyrs was a remarkable young Lutheran pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who had joined the underground convinced that it was his duty as a Christian to work for Hitler’s defeat. Bonhoeffer was only 39 when he died, but he had already made a monumental contribution to Christian thought, which today has profound and growing significance for both theologian and layman. Bonhoeffer’s books are gaining an astonishing popularity in the secular world. . . He is admired by people who have read his best-known books, The Cost of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from Prison, as the example of what a modern Christian must be.”— Life
Millions of readers worldwide have benefited from the profound insights presented in The Cost of Discipleship. In this remarkable work, 20th-century Christian theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer asserts that “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die”. Drawing from the Sermon on the Mount, Bonhoeffer offers a critical examination of the distinction between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” He describes “cheap grace” as self-bestowed, characterized by the preaching of forgiveness without repentance, baptism without church discipline, and communion without confession. According to Bonhoeffer, “cheap grace is grace without discipleship.”
Conversely, he defines “costly grace” as the gift that must be earnestly sought, symbolized by the door at which one must knock. It is costly because it demands a person’s life, yet it is grace because it is given by God and provides a path to true life.
The Cost of Discipleship was first published in 1936. The Cost of Discipleship is an excellent addition to any Christian library.
Last Week’s Social Jesus Blog Posts
Christmas As Theological Critique of Empire
Part 1 of the series: When Christianity Becomes Complicit with Societal Injustice
The use of familiar forms of imperial birth legends and filling them with radically different content is a theological critique of empire.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2025/12/christmas-theological-critique-empire
Virgin Birth as Critique of Complicity with Empire
Part 2 of the series: When Christianity Becomes Complicit with Societal Injustice
The scientific impossibility of a virgin birth often distracts us from the political point that the author of Matthew’s gospel was making.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2025/12/virgin-birth-critique-complicity-empire
Christmas as Critique of Complicity with Injustice
Part 3 of the series When Christianity Becomes Complicit with Societal Injustice
Christmas stories, when understood in their polcitical and social context, are a critique of complicity with empire and injusitce.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2025/12/christmas-critique-complicity-injustice/
New Episode of The Social Jesus Podcast
A podcast where we talk about the intersection of faith and social justice and what a first century, prophet of the poor from Galilee might have to offer us today in our work of love, compassion and justice.
This week:
Season 2 Episode 51: Christmas as Critique of Complicity with Empire
Matthew 1:18-25
“Our culture’s naturalistic worldview means that what catches our attention is the scientific impossibility of a virgin birth, and this has distracted us from the political point that the author of Matthew’s gospel is making. That political point has parallels in our time. In the United States today, certain sectors of Christianity have become closely aligned with nationalism, blending religious identity with political power and national loyalty. This alignment often frames a nation as uniquely chosen or divinely favored, and so transforms faith into a marker of cultural belonging rather than a call to ethical discipleship that follows the values and teachings actually found in the Jesus story, values such as nonviolence, inclusion of the marginalized, welcoming the migrant, and taking care of the poor. Christian symbols and language are sometimes used to legitimize policies that prioritize dominance, exclusion, or fear of the ‘other,’ especially immigrants, religious minorities, and dissenters. In this framework, loyalty to the nation can eclipse core Christian commitments to peace, justice, and love of neighbor. National success is interpreted as divine blessing, while critique of the state is portrayed as unfaithful. This fusion risks turning Christianity into a tool for preserving power rather than a prophetic voice that challenges injustice. When faith is subordinated to nationalist goals, it loses its capacity to speak truth to power and to stand in solidarity with the vulnerable.”
Available on all major podcast carriers and at:
Upcoming Events
Januray 17, 2025
Good News Fellowship (via Zoom)
Toronto, Ontario Canada
For info: 304.520.0030
Weekly HeartGroup on Zoom Every Wednesday Night!
Each Wednesday evening, Renewed Heart Ministries hosts a Zoom-HeartGroup led by Herb Montgomery. Our discussion each week will focus on the content in RHM’s weekly eSight articles and the Social Jesus podcast. The time of each Zoom session will be on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. Pacific/10:00 p.m. Eastern.
To receive the link for the Zoom meeting, email us at info@renewedheartministries.com.
Finding Jesus: A Fundamentalist Preacher Discovers the Socio-Political & Economic Teachings of the Gospels
by Herb Montgomery
Available now on Amazon!
In Finding Jesus, author Herb Montgomery delves into the profound and often overlooked political dimensions of the gospels. Through meticulous analysis of biblical texts, historical context, and social discourse, this thought-provoking book unveils the gospels’ socio-political, economic teachings as rooted in a profound concern for justice, compassion, and the well-being of the marginalized. The book navigates the intersections between faith and societal justice, presenting a compelling argument for a more socially engaged and transformative Christianity.
Finding Jesus is not just a scholarly exploration; it is a call to action. It challenges readers to reevaluate their understanding of Christianity’s role in public life and to consider how the radical teachings of the gospels can inspire a renewed commitment to justice, equality, and compassion. This book is a must-read for those seeking a deeper understanding of the social implications of Christian faith and a blueprint for building a more just and inclusive society.
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