Public Religion Research Institute is a nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to conducting independent research in the fields of religion, culture and public policy. They focus on important issues that shape American culture, religious dynamics, political viewpoints and sociological…
Most Christians don’t feel adequate for sharing their faith or making disciples
Feelings of inadequacy or a case of the jitters seem to be keeping many Christians from sharing their faith with others, according to a new report by Barna Research. “Not feeling qualified or equipped (37%) is the main barrier” to…
Live from Fort Worth, it’s a more global church than ever before
When was the last time your church had 200 people show up for a Wednesday night book study? Before COVID, that never would have happened at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, said Senior Pastor Ryon Price. But recently,…
Bonhoeffer Moment No. 5: Finding a ‘will for the future’
Reflecting on the long-term impact of the Bubonic Plague (1346-1353) sweeping across Europe and ravaging his native Florence, the poet Petrarch wrote: “O happy posterity, who will not experience such abysmal woe and will look upon our testimony as a…
Hybrid church is probably here to stay, but some things don’t translate well to digital
If you’re wondering whether the pandemic and online church will have a lasting effect on how churches operate, new research from Barna indicates the answer is a definitive yes. While most churchgoing Americans long to be back in their physical…
Vote “Jesus 2020”?
When I was in college, I read an author who introduced me to a radical new concept. I’d been attending church for 18 years, and this was something I’d never heard before. I was skeptical. The word this author introduced…
Enneagram is a method to name our motives and choose new habits
Facing a freezing winter morning, a red-hot question began burning inside me. Some 30 community leaders were gathered to spend a day under the wisdom of Suzanne Stabile. She was teaching a boutique Enneagram workshop in Greenwich, Conn., hosted by…
Making the gospel only about private righteousness is too easy
My spiritual birthplace was in a tiny Southern Baptist church in rural northwest Missouri. In the evangelical ethos of that time and place, spiritual maturity was defined in private terms. Confess Christ, get baptized, join a (cooperating Southern Baptist) church,…
Cyborg discipleship: boundary-crossing through COVID-19 and beyond
While we wait to gather again physically, we can ask: How are we experiencing the Spirit’s movement in our cyberspaces of worship, inviting us to cross boundaries between human, machine, more-than-human, the physical and the non-physical?