We typically think of proverbs as sources of guidance about how to live. However, the kind of guidance you can get from a proverb is tricky, since different proverbs appear to give conflicting advice. There’s the admonition to “Look before…
The Beatles: Get Back — Returning to the root of something can be a productive, if elusive, exercise
I remember Dec. 9, 1980, like it was yesterday. I woke to the news that John Lennon had been murdered the night before as he returned home to the Dakota Apartments in New York. I was a 13-year-old Beatles fan…
Most comprehensive study yet of COVID’s impact on churches finds uneven results
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the decline facing most congregations in America, but the effects are not evenly distributed among all churches, according to the most comprehensive study to date of the pandemic and congregational life. The “Exploring the Pandemic…
Six ways to survive the fall of evangelicalism and the rise of emergence
Fall is my favorite time of year, and this year I find in it a metaphor for the current identity crisis within the evangelical church. Just as the leaves fall from the trees, so it seems that evangelicalism is falling…
Yes, churches survived the first year of the pandemic, but overall giving continues to decline and adaptation is needed
Congregations must reimagine ministries, repurpose facilities and reinvent donor appeals if churches are to survive the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing decline of religion in the 21st century. That was the advice offered by two panelists in…
Blind guy travels … and sings, and plays accordion, and makes Legos more accessible to the visually impaired
Ask Matthew Shifrin about the one thing he won’t do, and his answer is simple: Live alone. That’s because Shifrin is blind. “Things like living on my own — can it be done? Absolutely,” he said. “But does that mean…
How to shrink your church
There are few things in life one can guarantee. Nevertheless, here’s one for which I’m very close to issuing written guarantees. When your aspiration is to shrink your church, there’s one strategy that stands head and shoulders above all others….