She was 15, and she believed. She hadn’t been raised in church exactly. But somewhere along the way, she found her way in — drawn by something tender and true, something that stirred in the songs and the stories, the…
A word for the church in a time of collapse
In 2021, I published “The Fight for the Soul of America,” an op-ed warning that our country was not simply in political turmoil — it was in spiritual crisis. Four years later, that warning has proved tragically prescient. Today, I…
Are you offering a ‘kids’ table’ for single adults at your church?
My best friend here in Dallas got dressed up and went to a church dinner this weekend in someone’s home. He paid $300 for his seat at the 10-course meal as part of a church fundraiser. You need to know…
The church is what we do next
Toward the end of the movie Conclave, members of the College of Cardinals regroup following a series of bomb explosions that have rocked the Vatican. After a seasoned cardinal demands militant action against Muslims, a younger Cardinal speaks: No, my…
Are you liberal or conservative?
These two words may be the most politically charged words in the English language. One of the problems is we have let politics, instead of the dictionary, define these words. The primary way to communicate is by the use of…
Americans Think Church Should Look Churchy
Outreach-minded evangelicals have often argued that church buildings need to be less “churchy” to draw in would-be seekers. But that might not actually be true, according to recent research from Barna Group and Aspen Group asking a representative sample of 2,000 Americans…
CINO: Christian In Name Only
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) We’ve all heard the term RINO. It means…
Burning down the church
Just prior to the 2008 presidential election, 52% of American adults attended worship. As the 2024 election approached, only 31% of the white American population was regularly in church, a decline of 21 percentage points. In 2008, 68% of 18-…
I’m a gay student at a nonaffirming seminary: Why?
Editor’s note: In rare circumstances, BNG will publish an opinion piece without a byline to protect the identity of the author. In this case, all identifying information has been removed to protect the seminary as well. The point of the…
Get angry, church
There’s a powerful quote buried halfway through Madeleine L’Engle’s children’s novel, A Wrinkle in Time: “’Stay angry, little Meg,’ Mrs. Whatsit whispered. ‘You will need all your anger now.’” Just as Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry and Calvin O’Keefe are…
‘Why don’t you wear a suit?’
Late last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to the United States to meet with American officials about the ongoing war with Russia. Most significant was a meeting between the heads of state that took place in the Oval Office….
Letter to the Editor: Don’t forget monastic business models
Dear Editor: Editor Mark Wingfield’s opinion piece of February 23, “Should Everything Be ‘Run Like a Business,” echoes the growing frustrations of many churchgoing Americans — that the corporate drive for eternal profit and the political knife of efficiency to…