A new poll out today shows a significant decline in Christianity in the U.S. over the last two decades. One excellent summary of the results appears in the Washington Post under the title, 15 Percent of Americans Have No Religion.
Category Archives: Culture
Just In Case….
Just in case you are among the few readers who visit this blog but don’t check the website, let me call your attention to two recently published articles. It’s Not Working! asks how the church must reinvent its ministry model and methods to stem the recent decline and refresh the spirit of evangelism and mission. …
Two Recent Barna Surveys
Just in case you missed them, I have summarized the results of two recent surveys conducted by the Barna group. The links to my summaries are below. You can find details of the reports at barna.org. Christianity No Longer the Default Religion in the United States [released January 12, 2009] Spiritual Gifts Survey [released February …
Roe v. Wade–36 Years and Counting
One event of last week that passed almost unnoticed in the U.S. as a whole was the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade. Incredibly, most of the population cannot personally remember that day (generally those under about 40 years of age). That historic day is history. It is …
Upset
The newscasters say that a certain element of our society is upset. They are upset because the President-elect has chosen a certain Christian religious leader to pray at his inauguration. They are upset because this religious leader has taken moral positions contrary to their understandings and lifestyle. I am tempted to become upset because they …
Church Culture-I
What is the culture of the church where you attend? Church culture is constructed of the same basic building blocks as any other shared culture, whether national, organizational, business, school, or other community of assembled people. What is the world view? What are the shared understandings? What are the prevailing attitudes? What are the shared …
The church and humanism
Patch Adams was in McAlester recently. Lots of folks went to hear him. He is interesting and funny. He supports a lot of worthwhile causes at the Gesundheit Institute and seeks to improve health care in our nation. All well and good–but…. Patch Adams is a humanist. A seminar offered at the Institute next month …
Church “Wellness”
In psychiatry, researchers study not just the manifestations and causes of mental dysfunction or illness, but also ‘wellness,’ that which helps the patient become ‘more well.’ In education and business, for students and for companies respectively, increasingly the emphasis is to explore and develop strengths rather than focusing on weaknesses. In analyzing developing countries, debt …
Accurate News Headlines
Here’s my nomination for headline accuracy–I presume unintentional. From today’s San Diego Union Tribune, online of June 17, 2008 (SignOnSanDiego.com): “County Gay Marriages Come Off Without a Hitch”. “Without a hitch.” Did they get hitched or not? Marriage ceremonies, hoop-la, news coverage, media headlines. Only one question: did they get hitched?
Evangelism: Getting People to Do What They Are Not Doing?
I am evaluating and designing an evangelistic outreach program for a local congregation. Who will be the target audience? What will motivate those the church seeks to reach? What should the church do to maximize results? What activities will be most effective? Another set of questions arises when one considers that almost all U.S. churches …
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