American religious historian Nathan Hatch famously argued that when you scratch beneath the surface of piety and polity that distinguishes them, Baptists and Methodists are actually more alike than they appear because the same cultural forces of democratic populism shaped…
Only 34% of evangelicals are loyal to a single denomination
The reported death of denominations has a key side effect, according to new national polling data: The death of denominational loyalty. Grey Matter Research and Infinity Concepts just released survey results titled “Denominational Loyalty: What Churches Can Learn from Consumer…
Prominent Texas church quietly quits the SBC
Note: This story was updated Oct. 29 with additional comments from church leaders. One of the most prominent Baptist churches in Texas quietly quit the Southern Baptist Convention Oct. 27 — part of an unnoticed trend that’s hard to…
Southern Baptists have voted heavily Republican in last four elections
Southern Baptists have voted consistently Republican in the last four presidential elections, researcher Ryan Burge says. In his analysis of 40 U.S. denominations, “the Southern Baptists and the independent Baptists are clearly the most Republican of the bunch,” he reported…
Where will churches leaving the SBC go?
In the past week, I’ve been asked two questions related to the back-to-back meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship: Will churches leaving the SBC because they support women in ministry join CBF? What is the…
‘Broken Churches, Broken Nation?’ A crisis of our times
“The very worst omen of the times is the fact that the religious (people) of the country stand apart to so great an extent in this hour of trial. Most of the Churches have split on the very rock upon…
My obituary for the Baptist General Convention of Texas
Losing something that once was valued and respected is painful. It doesn’t matter if it’s been circling the drain for years. When death finally comes, the grief is real. Such was the case for me recently with the Baptist General…
Get ready for a third Baptist alternative to emerge
A tsunami of change is coming to the Baptist family of congregations. With the hard-right pivot of the Southern Baptist Convention in June, a significant number of centrist SBC congregations are facing a difficult decision about their future. These churches…
The nondenominationalizing of American Christianity
Joel Osteen is an ecclesiastical phenomenon, an American, evangelical, charismatic, postmodern, megachurch, media savvy, health/wealth/motivational speaker, gospel-preacher phenomenon. A 59-year-old who doesn’t look it, Osteen seems made for the media — razor thin, self-effacing, pragmatic and guileless to a fault,…