Elizabeth Drescher is a religion writer and scholar of Christian spirituality. She writes commentary on religion, culture, and social media for the online magazine, Religion Dispatches and multiple other journals. Drescher's first book, Tweet If You Love Jesus: Practicing Church in the Digital Reformation, will be published later this year. Currently she teaches in the undergraduate program in Religious Studies and the graduate program in Pastoral Ministry Read More …
Trends
No More Interim Pastors? (#0285)
The Author Anthony Robinson is an ordained United Church of Christ pastor who currently serves as President of Congregational Leadership Northwest. He travels throughout North America as a speaker, teacher, preacher, consultant and coach serving congregations and their leaders. Robinson has taught at several schools including Toronto School of Theology, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle University, and Vancouver School of Theology. He is the author Read More …
Internet Replaces TV News (#0282)
Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center released the findings of their latest national survey about Americans' main source of national and international news. The survey was conducted in December 2010 and included 1,500 adults. The chart at right illustrates how the results of this survey have changed over time. Among the significant changes: From 2002 to 2010, television showed a 16% decline (from 82% to 66%) In 2010, for the first time, the internet has surpassed Read More …
Does More Education Mean Less Religion? (#0280)
Barry A. Kosmin is on the faculty of Trinity College serving as Director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture and as Professor in the Public Policy and Law program. He is the author of over 20 books and research monographs and more than 50 scholarly articles in the areas of sociology, demography, politics, philanthropy, and policy research. Additionally, Kosmin has been a Principal Investigator of the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) Read More …
An Overview of American Church Membership (#0279)
Earlier this week the National Council of Churches released its annual analysis of church membership: 2011 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. According to the Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner, editor, the data in this year's report suggests that recent membership trends have continued: "That is, churches which have been increasing in membership in recent years continue to grow and likewise, those churches which have been declining in recent years continue to decline." The yearbook reports Read More …
Is Virtual Community Real Community? (#0278)
While most followers of Jesus who have been on the journey of faith for many years grasp both the theological and pragmatic need for community, newcomers to the faith may be unfamiliar with the concept given the increasingly individualistic society in which we live. Many local congregations would benefit from a renewed focus on Christian community. One helpful example of restoring an intentional emphasis is Our Savior's Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Circle Pines, Read More …
Previously Unheard of Church Jobs (#0270)
Earlier this week, Jim Sheppard shared excerpts of a conversation he had with two members of the Vanderbloemen Search Group, which seeks to help "churches and large parachurch ministries find the right senior leaders." William Vanderbloemen (pictured at right), founder and CEO, has fifteen years experience as a Senior Pastor as well as human resources experience with a Fortune 200 company. Justin Lathrop, Executive Search Consultant, has ten years of local church ministry Read More …
The Presbyterian (PCUSA) Church is Deathly Ill (#0267)
"Where Have All The Presbyterians Gone?" could be the title of a denominational funeral hymn for the 2.3 millionmember PCUSA, but is actually the title of a recent Wall Street Journal article by Russell Moore. Moore (pictured at left) is a Southern Baptist minister who currently serves as the Dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-President for Academic Administration at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Read More …
Dramatic Increase in Church Foreclosures (#0266)
Local churches often finance the purchase of a new "house of worship" (or expansion of an existing one) with a mortgage much like their parishioners do when purchasing their own homes. Historically churches have had low default rates, but more recently high unemployment and easy access to funding have contributed to increases in distressed (see image at right) properties. Foreclosures have also risen dramatically. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article Read More …
Do Americans Share a Common Morality? (#0264)
Yesterday I wrote a review of America’s Four Gods: What We Say About God - & What That Says About Us by Paul Froese and Christopher Bader. One of the book's more interesting findings hints at a common American morality, which is shown in the chart below (p. 66). The authors write: But note the relative ranking of moral issues for all believers -- they are exactly the same. Specifically, no matter what kind of God a person believes in, he ranks the comparative Read More …