Thanksgiving week has arrived. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family, but also to enjoying great food. Top Plates Last year I tried something new when I wrote Top 10 Plates. In that post I reflected on the most popular plates of food I'd ever shared online through a Google review (ranked by number of views). The process of creating the list was an exercise in remembering not simply the food on the plates but the people I was with and the experience of each meal. Top 10 Read More …
Trends
Lacking Close Friends (#2085)
Earlier this week Pew Research Center published the results of a survey they conducted in July that found around 1 in 12 American adults (8%) have no close friends outside of their family. You read that right, 1 out of every 12 American adults self-reported that they didn't have any close friends outside of their family. Among those who responded the breakdown by number of close friends follows 0 - 8%1 - 7%2 - 14%3 - 18%4 - 13%5 - 13%6 - 6%7 - 2%8 - 2%9 - 1%10 or more - 13%Did not answer Read More …
Mainline Protestant Clergy: 3 Intriguing Stats (#2081)
Earlier this month, Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) published Clergy and Congregations in a Time of Transformation: Findings from the 2022-2023 Mainline Protestant Clergy Survey. This wide-ranging study "considers the perspectives of mainline Protestant clergy from the seven largest mainline Protestant denominations on the cultural and political divides facing the nation, and how such divides may be impacting their own congregations." And, it is filled with statistics that warrant Read More …
Saying Goodbye to Hodges University (#2078)
I never imagined saying a permanent goodbye to a University that deeply impacted me. Today, I take this action for the second time in as many years. Last year, I said Goodbye to Hardin-Simmons University after that University choose a new path marked by dishonesty and that exclude all people who do not wholeheartedly endorse a new and troublingly specific statement of faith. Today, I say Goodbye to Hodges University upon the recent news that it has stopped admitting new students and will Read More …
UCC: 1 Out of Every ____ Americans (#2075)
Most data related to Mainline Protestant decline focuses on one of two measures: Absolute decline (how many fewer members are in the denomination today as compared to a specific year in the past)Percentage decline (how much smaller the denomination has become as understood by expressing the membership decline as a percentage) In this post, I'll consider these before exploring what I find to be a more helpful measurement of decline. This new measure is also an easier way to understand the Read More …
Am I Living in the Most Protestant Place in America? (#2068)
Dallas - Arlington - Fort Worth, Texas (aka the D/FW metro area) has been my home for most of my life. Given D/FW's location, it isn't surprising that the area is more religious than the United States is on average. But, just how religious is it? And, just how Protestant? Most Religious Counties Last month sociologist Ryan Burge compiled a list of the Most Religiously Affiliated Highly Populated Counties in America as defined by the percentage of people in the county who are attached Read More …
Celebrating 14 Years of So What Faith with Popular Posts (#2064)
Thanks for being a supporter of So What Faith - a site where matters of faith that matter are explored and where good questions are always more valuable than easy answers. As a writer, I always wonder if anyone will read my words. For So What Faith, I'm able to answer that question thanks to Google Analytics. Note: Google Analytics as I've always know it is coming to an end. Effective July 1, 2023 a new Google Analytics launches. Given this big change, I decided to run some mid-year Read More …
Daily Blogging – Reflecting on the Discipline (#2061)
I just finished a week of daily blogging. Over the last seven days, I posted once a day: Where’s Greg Worshipping? 8+ Congregations in 3 StatesMy Experiences with 14 UCC CongregationsMidlife & MiD Life: A 9th UpdateMy Religious Traditions Are Missing 8 Million People!The ELCA is Missing 4 Million People!The PC(USA) is Missing 2.6 Million People!The UCC is Missing 1.3 Million People! This routine was quite different from my norm. For the last several years I've averaged writing just Read More …
My Religious Traditions Are Missing 8 Million People! (#2057)
Excepting the four years I spent serving two congregations affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), I've spent my entire life in three religious traditions within what is often called Mainline Protestantism: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), and United Church of Christ. Over the last three days, I've explored one of the underreported aspects in the decades old story of Mainline decline: the decline is worse than it first appears because Read More …
The ELCA is Missing 4 Million People! (#2056)
I deeply appreciate and have personally been involved in the life of the Mainline Protestant denomination known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Given my prior involvement in this tradition, I strive to tell the whole story of how the denomination has arrived at its present state so that those involved can use this information as they plan for a brighter future. Mainline Decline Much has been written about Mainline decline in general, and about the decline of the Read More …