Moderates are such an endangered species that even when you see one in the wild, they’re easy to miss. Pick your favorite hot button topic of the day and you can likely summarize what the left and what the right…
Before you make church property decisions, consider your mission and calling
Congregations must put faith and calling before revenue when contemplating renting, leasing or selling church property in response to declines in giving and attendance, said Dominic Dutra, author of Closing Costs: Reimagining Church Real Estate for Missional Purposes. Church leaders…
Report from Ukraine: ‘In the midst of the suffering, God is at work’
As the war in Ukraine has passed its seventh month, a shift has occurred. Ukrainian forces have reclaimed parts of occupied territories causing Russian state rhetoric to become even more extreme and desperate. Fighting has intensified in the east and…
Why can’t churches get handling abuse right?
Yet another evangelical megachurch is repenting for mishandling clergy sex abuse. Every few days, it seems, we’re hearing about a different instance of a pastor or church leader who has abused women and/or children and a church (or denomination) that…
Avoiding the conversation about white supremacy in churches is dangerous, Jones warns
White Christians have a moral obligation to address the white supremacy that has historically infused and still permeates American Christianity, Robert P. Jones said during a recent lecture to the Chautauqua Institution. “Refusing to address this sinister disorder in our…
Burge: Churches should brace for the downsizing still to come
If they haven’t done so already, American churches should brace themselves for the acceleration of social, political and religious trends already ravaging faith institutions, researcher and author Ryan Burge warned. “I think we’re in for a serious downsizing of American…
What the color chart teaches us about surviving in a ‘purple’ church
What follows is a real-life, real-time text report coming to me last Sunday morning from a young adult I know who was in attendance at one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in America. Please keep in mind, this was…
Faith communities are undergoing upheaval, awakening and maybe transformation
Something is happening in the religious and spiritual universe. Many people, if they care about religion at all, have noticed the changing face of religion and spirituality in the United States and throughout the world. Most Americans consider themselves spiritual,…
‘Everything is changing at the same time,’ veteran religion reporter explains
Demographic shifts, rising political polarization and heated debates over sexuality and race pose existential threats to the American church because they cannot be tackled individually, according to veteran religion writer Bob Smietana. “It’s not that one thing after another is…