If in-person attendance at your church has declined in recent weeks, it’s probably a sign of Americans’ increasing concern about getting COVID-19. Gallup reports that its survey of American adults from Jan. 3 to Jan. 14 found increasing concern about…
Traditionalist United Methodists’ offer to pay for vaccination of African delegates is not the shot in the arm they thought it would be
United Methodist politics erupted in a public confrontation this week as three international bishops and a dozen other church leaders denounced a traditionalist group’s offer to provide coronavirus immunizations for General Conference delegates from countries with limited vaccine access. The…
Baptist groups returning to in-person meetings with hybrid options
The Baptist World Alliance has announced its 2022 annual gathering will be convened both online and in-person after two years of virtual-only meetings due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And BWA isn’t alone. The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Alliance of Baptists…
Leaving church, part 2: The Great Baptist Resignations and COVID
The recent surge of COVID cases led one of my (Carol) pastoral colleagues to lament, “It feels like we are living a terrible version of the film Ground Hog Day.” In Columbia, Mo., where I live, we have more COVID…
Pastoral friendships have been a sustaining grace the past two years
Pastors who have other pastors as trusted friends have found special nurture in these relationships during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to panelists on a recent session of the Barna Group’s “ChurchPulse Weekly” podcast. Friendships that helped pastors maintain emotional health…
7 signs it’s time to move on
As a full-time pastor for more than 25 years, I’ve never been without employment — until now. In December 2021, I stepped down as the senior pastor of my church without another ministry position or job of any kind. Leading…
Let’s form a phalanx to defeat COVID
Due to the recent spike in COVID infections in New York City, our church has returned, once again, to virtual-only services. It was the right thing to do. It was the smart thing to do. But it also was the…
Tucker Carlson undermined COVID vaccines 99% of the time his show discussed them
The old adage that “sticks and stones may break your bones but words can never hurt you” has been proved false yet again in an analysis by the media watchdog group Media Matters. Watching Fox News — and Tucker Carlson…
Five ways to help your pastor this year
At the dawn of a new year, many churches are adopting new budgets and making plans for whatever will come in this third year of COVID-influenced ministry. There are lots of decisions to be made, and not always enough information…
New Year’s resolutions when you can’t count on anything except COVID
I am an old-school calendar guy. While I do use an Outlook calendar, my default calendar is a monthly planner. I use a color-coding system to write events on the calendar and tasks on the “Notes” column on the side….
Why have so few U.S. congregations experienced even a single COVID death?
With more than 800,000 lives lost to COVID-19 in America alone, observers might wonder why some U.S. congregations have taken a seemingly cavalier approach to fighting the pandemic. One possible answer emerged this week from new survey data released by…
Survey says: More than half of U.S. congregations started new ministries during COVID
Here’s one more silver lining to the dark cloud of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic: “The level of new and intensified social outreach and community ministry undertaken by the nation’s churches is monumental.” So reports the Hartford Institute for Religion Research…