Christian Piatt includes church buildings on his list of five things that are holding Christianity back. He suggests that "they have become an albatross rather than an asset." Reality Check Most American congregations own buildings. The costs associated with maintaining these structures is significant. In congregations that are in the midst of extended periods of plateau or experiencing years of declining membership, the percentage of the annual budget needed for their upkeep Read More …
Trends
Online Learning in Congregations (#1185)
Over the last decade online learning has grown from a niche market to something that touches nearly everyone. Increasing numbers of students take online courses as part of their educational programs in K-12 and higher education, and employers continue to shift more and more of their training to online formats. Given these shifts, it is logical to assume that the future of education in the context of congregations will include online learning. The Rt. Rev. Kirk Smith, bishop of Read More …
Why People Share (#1179)
Ipsos, the world’s third largest market research company, recently published the results of their global survey on social media sharing. The reasons people share include: 37% - to let others know what I believe in and who I really am, 30% - to recommend a product, service, movie, book, etc., 29% - to add my support to a cause, an organization or a belief, and 26% - to share unique things. So What? Social media managers and others tasked with overseeing the social media presence of Read More …
Proposed Ban on Religious Symbols (#1178)
The newly proposed Charter of Quebec Values includes a ban on "overt and conspicuous religious symbols worn by government employees." The possibility of this ban has led many religious people to protest. Over 1,000 people marched through city streets on Saturday to protest the proposal. So What? Governmental agencies certainly have responsibility for determining what is and what is not appropriate for their employees to wear. Citizens, however, can and should speak up Read More …
Year-End Giving Appeals (#1174)
Many nonprofit organizations, including churches, receive a great deal of their annual budgets in the form of end of year giving. Matt Steen, creator of Church Simple, considered the wisdom circulating via multiple recent articles of note regarding how best to time end of year giving appeals. According to the latest Google study, 3/4 of potential end of year donors begin researching how they will spend their year end dollars in September. So What? For many congregations, the annual Read More …
Learn Together (#1173)
Seth Godin is the author of twelve books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work. He is also the master of saying a great deal using relatively few words on his blog. Recently he wrote about the power of togetherness in learning. Godin affirms that mere access to educational opportunities is not adequate. Completion rates from MOOCs are among the strongest recent data backing up this argument. Given this Read More …
Rise of the Nones (#1167)
Claude Fischer, professor of sociology at UC Berkeley, recently wrote a blog post that provides a solid overview of the growth of "nones" (those who self-identify as religiously non-affiliated) over the last 30 years. The three most significant polls (GSS, Gallup, and Pew) all illustrate the rise of the "nones" from just 7% of the adult population in the United States in the 1980s to 18-20% by 2012. Fischer remarks, "By all these methods, the rise in 'nones' is a major American Read More …
Jewish Holidays – Generational Shifts (#1165)
How Jewish Americans answer the question "What is the most important Jewish holiday to you personally?" varies considerably depending on the generation of the respondent. More specifically, according to a poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute older Jewish Americans (age 60+) and younger Jewish Americans (ages 18-29) answered the question quite differently. Older Yom Kippur - 53% Passover - 24% Rosh Hashanah - 9%, which tied with other - 9% Hanukah - Read More …
Social Media & Approaching Death (#1164)
Paul Bisceglio, a freelance journalist who edits the literary digital magazine Land that I Live, recently wrote an article in The Atlantic suggesting that social media is changing how people approach death. While the proliferation of social media and increasing use of such to speak about personal experiences with end of life is easily documented, how this shift will impact how people view death and dying is not yet known. So What? As people of faith, we have always viewed death Read More …
Too Many Books? (#1163)
Michael Hyatt is the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S. Additionally, he has worked in the book publishing industry nearly all of his adult life. His own writing has been well received with two of his eight books landing on the New York Times bestseller list. Given his knowledge of the industry, his recent blog post questioning the number of books now being published deserves Read More …