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How to Be an Informed Homemaker

Acts of Courageous Homemaking Series, Part 1









Episode Summary & Top Takeaways


In a world of partisan narratives and inflammatory media, how can Christian homemakers stay informed without becoming overwhelmed, apathetic, or isolationist?

As homemakers, we have a unique opportunity as we practice the art of keeping a home. We have the privilege and high calling to tend these "divinely ordained fountains of life" that shape society, community, and nation. While we're not called to carry the weight of every tragedy, we do have a responsibility to be informed so we can guide our children with discernment and practice our civic duty with faithful allegiance to Christ.


Three Essential Steps for The Informed Homemaker


1. Be a Berean: Test Everything Against Scripture

Acts 17:11 commends the Bereans for examining the Scriptures daily to verify what they were taught. As gatekeepers of our minds and homes, we must distinguish between sources that point us to Jesus and those that incite fear, anxiety, and division. Here are 3 key behaviors of a Berean.


  • Be equipped by the Holy Spirit who teaches and guides you into all wisdom

  • Study Scripture yourself before seeking out commentaries and teaching videos

  • Vet your sources by checking their affiliations, source texts, and endorsements


2. Cultivate the Characteristics of an Informed Homemaker

  • Be sober-minded: Avoid the extremes of consuming everything or avoiding news entirely. Use discernment to manage what and how much information you consume.

  • Be well-versed in God's Story: Ground yourself in Scripture daily so God's narrative shapes how you understand all other narratives.

  • Engage with great literature, art, and music to train your mind to recognize truth, goodness, and beauty.

  • Avoid common pitfalls: Don't use information to feel safe, win arguments, or support your preferred narrative. Remember that fellow image bearers—not political opponents—are your neighbors.

  • Let Christ rule your heart and mind so you're not tossed by every new teaching or piece of information.


3. Seek Out Trusted Sources

Choose your information sources wisely:

  • Favor "old dead guys" over contemporary voices: Historical Christian writers like CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, and Charles Spurgeon are no longer susceptible to modern bias or personal sin leading their teaching astray.

  • Choose solid teams over superstars: Ministries built around teaching teams provide accountability and varied perspectives, protecting against cults of personality.

  • Always be a Berean: Even trusted sources require discernment. Test everything against scripture. If at any time, these resources I recommend below start moving away from sound doctrine or are involved in sinful scandals, then feel free to strike them from this list.


Theology & Bible


Worldview & Philosophy


Arts & Culture

  • Plugged In from Focus on the Family provides in-depth reviews for all things pop culture. We've been using it for years to check suitability of movies. They now offer reviews on tv, YouTube, music, games and books.

  • Brett McCracken always offers insightful commentary on popular culture. You may not agree with his conclusions, but he has his finger on the pulse of culture and strives to represent Christ faithfully in his work to help Christians "feed their souls in a post-truth world."

  • The Rabbit Room: Founded by Andrew Peterson to "create and curate stories, music, and works of art to nourish the life of Christ-centered communities for the life of the world.”


News & Current Events


Here are a couple of Headline Podcasts to help you get a daily snapshot of current events and news

  • The Pour Over: Your politically neutral, Christian News Source. A unique approach to headline news. This one is new to me, so I haven't tested it for very long. On the surface seems fairly neutral and Biblical. I really like that they give a news headline followed by a truth from scripture.

  • World Radio News from World Magazine who promote, "sound journalism grounded in facts and Biblical truth.” I have found their news reporting to be fairly non-partisan and solidly biblical. They also present global and not just US news.


Here a couple of other news outlets I haven’t tested, but are proposed to be non-partisan, unbiased reporting;

Smart Her News podcast and website with Jenna Lee



Being informed is not about consuming endless news cycles or carrying the burden of every crisis. It's about being equipped to faithfully steward your home, train your children in wisdom, and live with integrity in the time and place God has ordained for you.



AI CONTENT DISCLOSURE

We value transparency and the responsible use of technology in content creation. The following information outlines how Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools were utilized in the development of this blog post. A human [Allison Weeks] wrote the script for the original episode. The human [Allison Weeks] asked AI to draft a summary blog post from the episode script. A human [Allison Weeks] edited and formatted the AI draft into the final post above.

 
 
 
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