Onward is a magazine for news, stories, and updates from the members of the NAB family. It is published multiple times a year. The resources below were included in the summer 2025 edition.
BOOKS
Beautiful, Disappointing, Hopeful: How Gratitude, Grief, and Grace Reflect the Christian Story
by Drew Hyun
Hyun explains how the Christian faith provides a lens through which we can understand the beautiful and disappointing world we live in, while offering the kind of promising hope we long for.
Hope in Times of Fear
by Timothy Keller
Keller digs into the meaning of Jesus’s resurrection, writing that “If [Jesus] was raised, we have not only every reason in the world to work for the good, but also the actual inward power to do so.”
Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unraveling
by Alan J. Roxburgh and Roy Searle
In the midst of a massive unraveling where the churches find themselves disoriented and paralyzed, Roxburgh and Searle invite leaders to embrace three practices formed out of God’s engagements with God’s people in Scripture and our traditions that direct us toward forming communities of hope.
Surprised by Hope
by N. T. Wright
Wright tackles the biblical question of what happens after we die and shows how most Christians get it wrong. We do not “go to” heaven; we are resurrected and heaven comes down to earth—a difference that makes all the difference to how we live on earth.
PODCASTS
The NAB Stories Podcast
Each episode contains stories of individuals across the NAB as they seek to follow God on mission in their communities. These interviews dive into the different ways members and pastors of NAB churches have found to be agents of the Gospel, spreading hope through their actions and even their very presence.
Wild Card with Rachel Martin
Author John Green talks about his own fear and anxiety, sharing that “hope is the right response to the human condition” and “there is cause for hope.” May this inspire us to take the hope of the Gospel and its transforming power to our cities, neighborhoods, and communities.
ARTICLE
“Krista Tippett on Wishful Thinking Versus Hope” in Christianity Today
Journalist Krista Tippett, who has covered religion and spirituality across traditions on her show On Being for more than twenty years, describes hope as a muscle that is not wishful thinking but is more like “a refusal to insist the world has to be this way.” May this inspire us to continue to press into the reality that the world is in desperate need of the church.