WORLD’s Top 25 articles for 2019

Major magazine cover stories and features, thought-provoking Voices columns and reporter Journals, daily news reports from The Sift, and weekly Roundups covering important issues drew readers to WORLD’s website in 2019. The hot-button topics that grabbed your attention and made you click the share button included abortion, sexuality, immigration, and apostasy and scandal in the church.

Click the headline links in our Top 25 countdown and take a trip back through the past 12 months of WORLD’s Christian worldview reporting and commentary.

25. It is well ...

A great hymn came from the pen of a troubled—and troublesome—man

by Janie B. Cheaney April 11 (April 27 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Voices

24. Abortion expansion in New York

Abortion proponents celebrate new law, but a Catholic church tolls its bells in mourning

by Emily Belz Jan. 23 | WORLD Magazine | Features

23. Harvest removes MacDonald as senior pastor

The elders of Harvest Bible Chapel fired James MacDonald as senior pastor of the Chicago megachurch after a radio show airs audio of vulgar and inflammatory comments MacDonald made against Christianity Today leadership and journalist Julie Roys

by Lynde Langdon Feb. 23 | WORLD Digital | The Sift

22. Pressure to conform

LGBT activists are dialing up the heat on parents and researchers who question transgender dogma, while peer influence may be leading some teens into life-changing hormone treatments

by Jamie Dean Jan. 30 (Feb. 16 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Features

21. Chicken sandwich charity

Despite Chick-fil-A’s confusing announcement and severed ties with the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, most of its charitable giving still goes to Christian ministries

by Emily Belz Dec. 11 | WORLD Magazine | Features

20. Unplanned overcomes

Pro-life movie succeeds despite lack of media support

by Mary Jackson April 5 | WORLD Digital | Muse

19. History repeats itself

Social justice advocacy in the evangelical church recalls the un-Biblical ideology of the social gospel movement

by Scott Allen Jan. 12 | WORLD Digital | Saturday Series

18. Drowning in red

Historic Christian colleges like Nyack College are facing financial crises that are forcing big changes. Some haven’t survived

by Emily Belz Aug. 15 (Aug. 31 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Features

17. Command and control

Harvest Bible Chapel fires pastor at recently acquired church

by Julie Roys Jan. 31 (Feb. 16 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Notebook

16. Rapid-onset gender dysphoria research vindicated

The study was republished with few changes despite vitriolic condemnation

by Kiley Crossland March 22 | WORLD Digital | Relations

15. USCIS to consider welfare status of green card applicants

Receiving welfare benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid could disqualify some immigrants from getting their green cards

by Lynde Langdon Aug. 14 | WORLD Digital | The Sift

14. Heart to heart with Laci Green

My coffee meeting with the millennial YouTube star, sex ed celebrity, and social justice warrior

by Sophia Lee May 21 (June 8 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Features

13. California Assembly seeks LGBT affirmation from pastors, churches

The California State Assembly passes a resolution calling on religious leaders and others with ‘moral influence’ to affirm homosexuality and transgenderism

by Rachel Lynn Aldrich June 25 | WORLD Digital | The Sift

12. A silhouette of a man

The sanitizing and straight-washing of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury

by Warren Cole Smith Feb. 12 (March 2 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Culture

11. Author Rachel Held Evans dies at age 37

Author and blogger popular with theologically liberal Christians dies after a brief illness

by Mickey McLean May 4 | WORLD Digital | The Sift

10. Who’s funding the migrant caravans?

In my reporting on Central American migrants, finding the answer has proven complicated

by Sophia Lee April 15 | WORLD Magazine | Journals

9. K-Love mum on new pro-life movie

Radio network has not promoted Unplanned despite requests from listeners

by Mary Jackson March 29 | WORLD Digital | Muse

8. Joining a mob

Christians participate in rush to judgment after viral video; only some apologize after context revealed

by Megan Basham Jan. 21 | WORLD Magazine | Voices

7. Harris and homeschooling

One man’s apostasy doesn’t undermine a way of teaching children

by Jamie Dean Aug. 15 (Aug. 31 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Voices

6. False convictions, ruined lives

False rape accusations may be statistically ‘rare,’ but they happen every day in the United States

by Lynn Vincent March 14 (March 30 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Features

5. A desperate move?

The Boy Scouts mortgage their ‘crown jewel’

by Warren Cole Smith Nov. 18 | WORLD Magazine | Features

4. A double divorce

Joshua Harris tragedy reminds us to place our trust in Christ, not sinful man

by Janie B. Cheaney & R. Albert Mohler Jr. Aug. 3 | WORLD Digital | Saturday Series

3. When Asian girl meets white boy

Reactions to my non-Asian boyfriend surprised and disturbed me

by Sophia Lee April 22 | WORLD Magazine | Journals

2. Eareckson Tada hospitalized, asks for prayers

Joni Eareckson Tada, a Christian author and advocate for people with disabilities, has been hospitalized for complications from radiation treatments for breast cancer

by Lynde Langdon March 27 | WORLD Digital | The Sift

1. Built-in advantage

NCAA hurdler shows how the Equality Act would undermine the very thing it claims to champion

by Ray Hacke May 30 (June 29 issue) | WORLD Magazine | Notebook