With a record number of congregations predicted to close their doors by 2025, multiuse developments may be the future for shrinking congregations and empty buildings. The future looked bleak for St. Peter’s United Church of Christ (UCC) in Louisville, Kentucky. The congregation had dwindled to a dozen elderly German Americans in a poor, predominantly Black neighborhood. Their building was falling apart.Despite its façade of stained glass and majestic steeples, all the building systems were failing, including plumbing, electrical, and heating. Plaster was falling off the walls and ceiling. The city eventually closed the building due to its dangerous lead paint.But thanks to the vision of pastor Jamesetta Ferguson and a partnership with the UCC’s Church Building and Loan Fund, the church’s property now houses a thriving multiuse development known as The Village at West Jefferson. It has injected life into the local economy—and the formerly dying church.With funding from multiple mainline denominations, private investors, the city of Louisville, and the federal government, St. Peter’s erected a complex that includes a coffee shop, a credit union, a daycare center, health care services, and more. Hundreds use it weekly. Plus, the congregation is up to 160, with a “multi-cultural, multi-generation” membership.“The community has really been renewed in many ways,” said Patrick Duggan, executive director of the Church Building and Loan Fund. St. Peter’s “is doing the work of serving the poor. In the meantime, it has created about 100 jobs. This is not just talking the talk. It’s actually walking the walk.”Similar multiuse developments are popping up across North America on the properties of formerly dying churches—most of them in mainline Protestant denominations.A Montreal Anglican church shares space ...Continue reading...

New research shows how Black churches suffered during the pandemic. But these congregations also found unity where others were torn apart.Pastor Lorenzo Neal had the first panic attack of his life on a hot summer night during the pandemic. He imagined it was what a heart attack would feel like. His neighbors called 911.As the pastor of New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi, he was carrying a lot of burdens through the pandemic.He has pastored New Bethel for 14 years, and said his 130-member church lost several key members to the virus, including a mother and son who died within two weeks of each other. Neal himself contracted the virus early on and was sick for more than a month. On top of that, he was initially shouldering the entirety of virtual worship himself.“I was doing too much,” he said. “I was already seeing a therapist for some other things, but once that came to light, we were able to explore some areas that needed to be addressed.” He asked his congregation for prayer without specifying what he was experiencing in his own mental health, which he said is common in Black faith communities. His anxiety has since calmed.COVID-19 hit Black congregations harder physically and brought a heavier mental health burden to Black or African American pastors, according to a new study on the impact of COVID-19 on the American church from ChurchSalary, a sister publication of Christianity Today. But the survey showed Black churches also had more unity about pandemic health measures and lower closure rates.In interviews with CT, a number of Black pastors affirmed the study’s findings. The pastors dealt with a disproportionate amount of sickness and death while carrying the additional burden of ministering in their communities after the murder of George Floyd. Other ministry demands ...Continue reading...

New research shows disagreement over COVID-19 policies drove changes in attendance, but “a lot of it is a mystery.”After a few hard pandemic years, Paul Seay is happy to see more people coming to the two Methodist churches he pastors in Abingdon, Virginia.Still, he can’t help but wonder, What happened to the people who never returned?“Some had been very involved—and they’re just gone,” said Seay, who leads Charles Wesley United Methodist Church, a historically Black congregation, and Abingdon United Methodist Church, a large red brick church down the road.At a low point, Charles Wesley had about six people in attendance. Things didn’t get quite that dire at Abingdon UMC, which had about 180 before the pandemic. But it also really struggled with the impact of COVID-19.They weren’t alone. According to a new study on the impact of COVID-19 on the American church from ChurchSalary, a sister publication of Christianity Today, more than one in three churches saw attendance decline between 2020 and 2022. And while many, like Seay’s congregations, have seen growth since the darkest days, they still seem to be missing people.“It was not uncommon in discussions with pastors,” the researchers found, “to hear stories of ‘a third’ or ‘half’ or ‘20%’ of a congregation not coming back once the doors reopened.”Charles Wesley now has about 20 people on a good Sunday, and Abingdon UMC has grown to around 200. But Seay still notices the people who aren’t in the pews anymore.“The pandemic,” he told CT, “really zapped the congregation.”There doesn’t seem to be a single clear explanation for this. The survey of 1,164 Protestant pastors, followed by 17 focus groups and nine in-person case studies, found varied and ...Continue reading...

Gospel Music Fan Favorite, Steve Ladd, Announces New Solo Ministry Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame inductee, Steve Ladd, today announces the relaunch of his solo career after a four-year hiatus. Over the past two decades, Steve has carved an indomitable legacy as one of Gospel Music’s most exceptional vocalists by lending his voice to Read More

By Kassia Micek The California Independent System Operator is preparing for a reduction of over 9 GW of renewable generation during the Oct. 14 annular...Western US Braces For Loss Of Solar-Powered Generation During Solar Eclipse

By Patrick Wood After this statement that “schooled” the entire city council in Aurora, ON, notice the spontaneous standing ovation with wild cheering that lasted...15-Minute City: This Statement Should Be Read At Every City Council Meeting In America

Bible teacher, bestselling author and disabilities advocate Joni Eareckson Tada has been released from the hospital after a 16-day stay due to double pneumonia.

A bomb threat forced the evacuation of a gathering of Christian activists, who remained cheerful as the unexpected development derailed their evening plans.�

New research shows how Black churches suffered during the pandemic. But these congregations also found unity where others were torn apart.Pastor Lorenzo Neal had the first panic attack of his life on a hot summer night during the pandemic. He imagined it was what a heart attack would feel like. His neighbors called 911.As the pastor of New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jackson, Mississippi, he was carrying a lot of burdens through the pandemic.He has pastored New Bethel for 14 years, and said his 130-member church lost several key members to the virus, including a mother and son who died within two weeks of each other. Neal himself contracted the virus early on and was sick for more than a month. On top of that, he was initially shouldering the entirety of virtual worship himself.“I was doing too much,” he said. “I was already seeing a therapist for some other things, but once that came to light, we were able to explore some areas that needed to be addressed.” He asked his congregation for prayer without specifying what he was experiencing in his own mental health, which he said is common in Black faith communities. His anxiety has since calmed.COVID-19 hit Black congregations harder physically and brought a heavier mental health burden to Black or African American pastors, according to a new study on the impact of COVID-19 on the American church from ChurchSalary, a sister publication of Christianity Today. But the survey showed Black churches also had more unity about pandemic health measures and lower closure rates.In interviews with CT, a number of Black pastors affirmed the study’s findings. The pastors dealt with a disproportionate amount of sickness and death while carrying the additional burden of ministering in their communities after the murder of George Floyd. Other ministry demands ...Continue reading...

New research shows disagreement over COVID-19 policies drove changes in attendance, but “a lot of it is a mystery.”After a few hard pandemic years, Paul Seay is happy to see more people coming to the two Methodist churches he pastors in Abingdon, Virginia.Still, he can’t help but wonder, What happened to the people who never returned?“Some had been very involved—and they’re just gone,” said Seay, who leads Charles Wesley United Methodist Church, a historically Black congregation, and Abingdon United Methodist Church, a large red brick church down the road.At a low point, Charles Wesley had about six people in attendance. Things didn’t get quite that dire at Abingdon UMC, which had about 180 before the pandemic. But it also really struggled with the impact of COVID-19.They weren’t alone. According to a new study on the impact of COVID-19 on the American church from ChurchSalary, a sister publication of Christianity Today, more than one in three churches saw attendance decline between 2020 and 2022. And while many, like Seay’s congregations, have seen growth since the darkest days, they still seem to be missing people.“It was not uncommon in discussions with pastors,” the researchers found, “to hear stories of ‘a third’ or ‘half’ or ‘20%’ of a congregation not coming back once the doors reopened.”Charles Wesley now has about 20 people on a good Sunday, and Abingdon UMC has grown to around 200. But Seay still notices the people who aren’t in the pews anymore.“The pandemic,” he told CT, “really zapped the congregation.”There doesn’t seem to be a single clear explanation for this. The survey of 1,164 Protestant pastors, followed by 17 focus groups and nine in-person case studies, found varied and ...Continue reading...

Our ideological opponents are not the enemy.Someone who grew up in a more liberal religious tradition than mine once told me the sermons in his church were always boring, especially on Easter Sunday. “That was the day the pastor had to deal with the Resurrection,” a doctrine about which he was at best squeamish and at worst skeptical. “We would have to wait to see what metaphor the Resurrection turned out to be—one year it was restarting one’s life afresh, another would be the importance of recycling, or whatever.” A secularized account of the Resurrection does indeed lack the punch of the real thing (and that’s the least of its problems).We evangelical Christians aren’t likely to secularize our beliefs about the Resurrection, but we are well on our way to secularizing something else: spiritual warfare.Some outside the church incorrectly see spiritual warfare as a recent innovation, traced back to C. Peter Wagner and the Fuller Seminary church growth classes of the 1970s (thus tying it to the New Apostolic Reformation) or to Frank Peretti’s This Present Darkness and other novels of the 1980s.But the concept of spiritual warfare has been firmly established in every era and wing of the Christian church, back even earlier than Saint Anthony wrestling demons in the desert, all the way to the New Testament itself.There’s no absence of spiritual warfare talk from Christians these days. But listen closely to it and you’ll notice something: Rarely is this language of warfare directed toward evil spirits. Instead, it’s usually employed to describe ideological opposition toward fellow human beings. “This is spiritual warfare!” we hear as the lead-in to a call to arms about some political or ...Continue reading...

Evolutionists struggle to explain both reproductive longevity and life longevity.

Après le retour de l'aide humanitaire — et l'assaut de l'Azerbaïdjan — dans l'enclave caucasienne du Haut-Karabakh, les défenseurs des populations locales débattent de l'utilité de mettre l'accent sur leur foi.

Today's category: BraggersThe Sahara� � � � � � A large, well established, Canadian lumber camp advertised that they were looking for a good Lumberjack. The very next day, a skinny little man showed up at the camp with his axe, and knocked on the head lumberjacks' door. � � � � � � The head lumberjack took one look at the little man and told him to leave. "Just give me a chance to show you what I can do," said the skinny man. � � � � � � "Okay, see that giant redwood over there?" said the lumberjack. "Take your axe and go cut it down." � � � � � � The skinny man headed for the tree, and in five minutes he was back knocking on the lumberjack's door. � � � � � � "I cut the tree down," said the man. The lumberjack couldn't believe his eyes and said, "Where did you get the skill to chop down trees like that?" � � � � � � "In the Sahara Forest," replied the puny man. � � � � � � "You mean the Sahara Desert," said the lumberjack. � � � � � � The little man laughed and answered back, "Oh sure, that's what they call it now!"View hundreds more jokes online.Email this joke to a friend

UK Report: Over One Third of Children on Puberty Blockers Experienced Worsened Mental Health...

The family of a church deacon in Georgia who died in police custody has called for authorities to release the full body camera footage of the tragic incident to the public.

Former Liberty University president and chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. has accused multiple past and current members of the Evangelical Christian university's senior leadership team of sexual misconduct and self-dealing in an amended lawsuit.�

In 1972, at the First Earth Summit in Stockholm, the issue of climate change was raised for the first time on the world stage, “warning governments to be mindful of activities that could lead to climate change and evaluate the likelihood and magnitude of climatic...

What is “modern monogamy”? Apparently, it's a new “relationship structure” that broadens the definition and shifts the timelines of traditional, biblical marriage.

Ahmed Bin Sulayem: "The Abraham Accords also unleashed a wave of business opportunities, positioning the UAE as a gateway for Israeli enterprises to access global markets."

Influential Jewish-American statesman and geopolitical expert Henry Kissinger recalls the drama behind the Yom Kippur War, Israel's finest hour, in this interview.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added that he had also met with 20 heads of state who sought to strengthen their ties with Israel.�

The soldier reportedly claimed that his commanders approved his participation in the protest. In response, the IDF said it will examine the claims after Yom Kippur.

The State of Israel will bring in the fast day on Sunday evening with increased tensions on the Lebanese and Gazan borders.

Incendiary balloon attacks and violent riots continue on Gaza border.