Barna Group recently released findings from the largest survey it has ever done on a single generation's view of the Bible. Christian Millennials' (those born between 1984 and 2002) views of the Bible vary considerably from those of non-Christian Millennials. Among so-called practicing Christian Millennials 96% believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life, 85% believe the Bible is the literal word of God or is divinely inspired Read More …
Trends
Retiring Clergy – End of an Era (#1485)
The youngest Baby Boomers reached retirement age in 2011. 10,000 Boomers a day will hit that milestone every day through the year 2030. While not all will retire upon turning 65, it is reasonable to expect a good number will retire at some point not long thereafter. Clergy Retirement Boom Charles M. Austin's cover story in the latest edition of "The Lutheran," illustrates the significance of Boomer retirements in the life of the Lutheran church. More specifically, he cites Read More …
Growth of Social Networking (#1484)
In early 2005 less than 10% of American adult internet users participated in social networking. By late 2013 the number had risen to 72%. These statistics and the chart at right come from Pew Research survey data. So What? A few key matters stand out to me as I review this data: the younger the internet user the higher the likelihood of participating in social networking, roughly half of those aged 65+ now use social networks, and ten years ago the usage rates were so low Read More …
America’s Most Charitable Cities (#1483)
The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently published its annual "How America Gives" special report. It includes information about the most charitable large cities (only the 50 largest metropolitan areas were considered) in the United States based on how much people within the city give to charitable causes. Within this list: only 2 cities had giving rates of 5% or greater, 7 of the top 10 cities had higher giving rates in 2012 than in 2006, and the bottom half of the cities Read More …
PostChristian Opportunity (#1482)
Christian Piatt's new book postChristian: What’s Left? Can We Fix It? Do We Care? topped my list of September reading recommendations. In January, he will be making a stop in Southwest Florida at two UCC congregations: Tuesday, January 13 @ 7pm - Naples United Church of Christ, and Wednesday, January 14 @ 10am - United Church of Marco Island. Note: Registration is not required for these free events. All are welcome. About the Book Check out Christian's new book tour Read More …
Americans Pray For (#1480)
Results of a new LifeWay survey suggest that Americans tend to focus their prayers on themselves and close family and friends rather than the well being of the world or people or causes that are beyond their immediate influence. More specifically, when given the opportunity to select as many things from a list as they wished, participants indicated they prayed most for family or friends - 82%, own problems and difficulties - 74%, good things that have recently occurred - 54%, Read More …
Most Important Values to Teach Children (#1477)
The Pew Research’s new American Trends Panel survey asked respondents to pick the three most important values to pass on to children (from a list of twelve). Overall, respondents selected being responsible - 55% hard work - 42%, and religious faith - 30%. So What? When an additional filter is applied, the results look quite different. When you compare the most conservative respondents with the most liberal two rather different sets of responses emerge: Consistently Read More …
Stop Redecorating & Start Making Real Changes (#1476)
Tom Ehrich, a writer and Episcopal priest, recently slammed the work of an Episcopal task force. For him, the task force's focus on what can be done at the level of the denomination "seems a bit like redecorating and recalibrating the home office of a company in which the home office plays a minor role." The time for that type of change ended decades ago. The mainline denominations (a group that includes Episcopalians) are a shell of what they once were, and are now "down more than Read More …
How Worship is Evolving (#1473)
Data from the third wave of the National Congregations Study just became available last week. While the first academic paper using the data won't be published till December, a number of blog posts have appeared in recent days focusing on specific shifts that have occurred between wave one (1996) and wave three (2012). Highlights of the latest wave include: Decline in the number of average regular participants from 80 in 1996 to 70 in 2012, Increased acceptance of gays and Read More …
Large Church Salaries (#1472)
Perhaps you had to read the title of this post more than once. Typically, salaries paid to church workers (both lay and ordained staff) are not large. In this post, I consider the latest information on how large churches compensate those they employ based on the Leadership Network / Vanderbloemen 2014 Large Church Salary Report, which was written by Warren Bird. Large churches continue to be far more likely to be growing than smaller churches. This data finds that roughly 3 in Read More …