We invite you to take part in a conversation initiated by a post by Dr. Stephen Baldwin, Executive & Personal Coach at Trailhead Coaching, and Spiritual Director of The Genesis Project, Inc., in which he discusses and advocates mentoring relationships for emerging pastors.
Needed: Pastor-Mentors for Emerging Ministers Read More »
Since the birth of the Christian-conservative political movement in the late 1970s, no evangelical group has delivered more punch in America’s culture wars than the Southern Baptist Convention and its nearly 16 million members. Today, after more than three decades of activism, many in the religious right are stepping back from the front lines. Mr. Moore, a 42-year-old political independent and theologian who heads the convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, says it is time to tone down the rhetoric and pull back from the political fray
Evangelical Leader Preaches Pullback From Politics, Culture Wars Read More »
Local pastors face new challenges in growing their churches during the 21st century, as a new generation increasingly moves away from conventional religious structures. A Pew Research Center report from October 2012 found that nearly 20 percent of the Americans are religiously unaffiliated, up from just over 15 percent five years before. The growth of the religiously unaffiliated appears largely generational, as 32 percent of adults under 30 are religiously unaffiliated compared to only 9 percent of those 65 and older, according to the report. For today’s pastors, the challenge is how to get those young people to church.
Churches facing challenge as congregations age Read More »
Collection plates are growing even lighter as Protestant church member giving reached new lows in 2011, and tithing probably will not recover from the recession, according to a new report by a Christian research group. Giving has declined for four consecutive years, according to the report, comparable only to the prolonged decline in giving during the Great Depression.
Report: Church giving reaches Depression-era record lows Read More »
(From the Times Free Press) — Ben Haden, longtime pastor of First Presbyterian Church, died today at the age of 88. The law school graduate, Central Intelligence Agency security operative and newspaper executive served the church from 1967 to 1999. Haden also was the founder and speaker on the Chattanooga-based “Changed Lives” ministry, which broadcast
Ben Haden, longtime pastor of First Presbyterian Church, dies at 88 Read More »
Twitter, Facebook, eBooks, news feeds, mobile apps are all information sources that didn’t exist just a few years ago, and they are changing the way the modern consumer processes information. These digital mediums have introduced to reading and to information a whole new level of scrolling, skimming and synopsizing. Barna Group’s new study uncovers three of the trends that are redefining the information age.
3 Trends Redefining the Information Age Read More »
Every year, men complete their seminary training and embark upon what they expect to be a lifetime of ministry in the church.
Rethinking Conflict and Change in the Church Read More »
This month, The Francis Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis will present “Heaven in a Nightclub,” an exploration of the Gospel that traces the spiritual roots of jazz music.
Men and women approaching retirement look forward to making the most of the years ahead. A new venture intends to meet all those goals and more: Brow Wood, a master-planned community atop Lookout Mountain. “Brow Wood isn’t a retirement community,” says Dr. Frank Brock, who led the team that launched this senior-living concept. “We are looking
Brow Wood: A New Community for Active Seniors Read More »
They’re rarely at worship services and indifferent to doctrine. And they’re surprisingly fuzzy on Jesus. These are the Jewish Americans sketched in a new Pew Research Center survey, 62 percent of whom said Jewishness is largely about culture or ancestry and just 15 percent who said it’s about religious belief. But it’s not just Jews. It’s a phenomenon among U.S. Christians, too. Meet the “Nominals” — people who claim a religious identity but may live it in name only.
Meet the ‘Nominals’ who are drifting from Judaism and Christianity Read More »