Recent Articles
May 22, 2020
More Than 1,200 Pastors Say They’ll Defy California’s State Order and Resume In-Person Worship Services (CNN) What’s Really Behind Republicans Wanting a Swift Reopening? Evangelicals. (Washington Post) Arson Suspected in Destruction of Mississippi Church that was...
A Baptist World Pentecost
Elijah Brown, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), announced this week that leaders will celebrate Pentecost amid the pandemic by hosting a "virtual global BWA worship service" on Friday and Saturday, May 29 and 30. Both services will feature a short...
For Class of 2020, Exactly What Are You Graduating Into? A Mess
Physical distancing measures to respond to COVID-19 created an alternate universe for graduates in 2020. Our world faces a mess, yet your generation can help us clean it up. You are an inspiration. You will change the world.
4 Suggestions on How We Can Improve Clergy Mental Health
Clergy are more open today to seeking help for mental health issues. And when churches speak openly about mental health, they reduce the mystery and stigma for everyone, including their ministers. Consider these four suggestions.
Her Fight: How Many Pastors’ Spouses Deal with Depression
Choosing to be married to a pastor is hard. Many spouses deal with depression. The church needs to come to a fuller understanding of the often unrealistic expectations and pressures placed on ministers and their families.
Young Adults Face Mental Health Issues in ‘Emerging Adulthood’
With milestones like marriage and degrees pushed later into life, young adults are plunged into ‘emerging adulthood.’ This new stage brings with it challenges and mental health problems that previous generations never faced.
3 Trends to Help Your Church Weather COVID-19’s Financial Storm
Most churches have taken a significant financial hit from the COVID-19 health crisis, but some have seen their giving hold up and even increase. How did they do it? Check out these three trends most of these churches have in common.
Maintaining Clergy Mental Health Proves to be Complex Puzzle
During the coronavirus pandemic, clergy have led their churches from in-person to online ministry and now struggle with what comes next. It’s a frustrating process, like piecing together a complex jigsaw puzzle.
May 20, 2020
A New Documentary Reveals Jane Roe’s Anti-Abortion Pivot was ‘All an Act’ (Mic) Religious Exemptions are Gutting Civil Rights Protections, Advocacy Groups Warn (NBC News) Georgia Church Closes Two Weeks After Reopening as Families Come Down with Coronavirus (Christian...
7 Issues Your Family Must Navigate During COVID-19 Crisis
During this global pandemic, every family must learn to function in a world challenged by a shared contagious enemy and an economy built on unstable consumerism. All of us are struggling through these seven emotions and topics.
Despite ACA, Not All Insurance Provides Mental Health Care
Not all health care plans cover mental health benefits per the Affordable Care Act: grandfathered insurance policies and health care cost-sharing ministries. So why do Christian insurance groups fail to offer mental health care?
The Subtle Religious Education of White Supremacy – Part 2
The well-supported god of white supremacy is often the one that many Christian churches actually worship. This god offers them a worldview in which they are both hero and victim of a country amid dramatic demographic transition.
May 19, 2020
On the First Sunday Churches Could Reopen, a Church Called Hopeful Baptist Lived Up to Its Name (Washington Post) Evangelical Leaders Urge Congress to Protect Churches from Coronavirus Lawsuits (Christian Post) The Kind of Evangelicals Who Support Trump are Changing....
Chancel surfing
By John D. Pierce Asking, “How was church last Sunday?” has a whole new connotation. The answer is likely to have a technical dimension. Curses, biblical and otherwise, rained down on Zoom’s unfaithfulness yesterday. Other online services were delivered as advertised....
How Coronavirus Affects Your Mental Health and What You Can Do
While suffering is inevitable in life, our suffering caused by this global pandemic is unlike any we’ve experienced during our lifetimes. We’ve heard about maintaining our physical health, but we cannot neglect our mental health.
Baptist Church in India Meets Community Needs During Pandemic
A Baptist church in India has found creative ways to minister to the physical and spiritual needs of its community during the pandemic, including providing food to poor families and the homeless.
The Subtle Religious Education of White Supremacy – Part 1
White supremacy has a subtle catechesis, or religious education. Its god trains people to see the world through the lens of the white gaze. Often worshipped at the altar of patriotism, it dominates through power and control.
May 18, 2020
180 Exposed to Coronavirus at Church Service (CNN) ‘God Will Protect Me.’ Here’s How Religious Americans View the Coronavirus Pandemic (Charlotte Observer) Followed by White Evangelical Christians, Trump is Staking Out His Own Universe of ‘Alternative Facts’ (New York...
Good news and bad news
In the field of archaeology, there's good news and bad. We might as well get the bad news out of the way first: virtually the entire 2020 digging season for volunteers has become a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most digs in Israel, at least, take place in May,...
The BS Express has left the station — at record speed
By John D. Pierce It was lunchtime in Rome, Ga., in 1980. I was living on a meager intern’s stipend so a Big Mac was the day’s sustenance. An older man at the neighboring table started a conversation. I was young, and had not yet learned to tell such strangers that I...
US Church Culture Tones Down Jesus’ Rebellious, Radical Side
The radical side of Jesus is downplayed in a US church culture that values order and authority and resists challenges to the status quo. For a reminder, look to the music of Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson.
7 Moments History Will Remember About COVID-19 Global Crisis
If specific moments can serve as memory triggers for a larger historical period, these seven current headlines would characterize this COVID-19 season in US history. God have mercy on our souls.
Clergy, Church Members Differ on How Long Sermons Seem to Last
How long does the average sermon last? Well, that depends on what side of the pulpit you’re on, a new report says. Church members are more likely to report a longer average sermon time than their pastors.
Look Back | Balancing Act: Government’s Role vs. Individual Rights
The question of the role of government versus individual rights is at least as old as the 17th century, but a major problem in debates over that role is the shortsightedness of people up and down the ideological spectrum.
May 15, 2020
What Churches Really Think About Opening Up (New York Times) In Push to Reopen American Evangelicals Fall Prey to Political Strategy (Sojourners) White Evangelical Church Leaders in Raleigh Demand Reopening of Churches (WRAL) Massachusetts Pastor Sues City After Being...
Whether You Wear Mask During Pandemic Unmasks Your Theology
Whether or not we choose to wear masks during a global pandemic might very well unmask our theology. Those who don’t wear them reveal a theology of individualism that ignores sacred teachings urging self-sacrifice for others.
Proverbial Good Guy Finally Wakes Up to His White Privilege
It took me 40 years to accept my privilege as a white, middle-class man. I thought I was one of the good guys, but we live in a system historically skewed to favor my gender. Here’s what shook me out of my bubble.
‘Becoming’
While rather slow moving and in need of some sharper editing, the Netflix documentary ‘Becoming’ about Michelle Obama nevertheless presents an accurate portrayal of an accomplished woman being judged unfairly at every turn.
May 14, 2020
Poll: Most in US Back Curbing In-Person Worship Amid Virus (Beaumont Enterprise) U.S. Judge Sides with Pritzker in Religious Challenge as Governor Moves More Lawsuits to Federal Court (Chicago Sun Times) This New York Pastor Says His Parish Lost 44 People to the...
May 13, 2020
Gun Control Group Starts Faith-Driven Push Ahead of Election (Associated Press) North Carolina Governor Cooper Pushes Back on Criticism Over Church Service Restrictions (WFAE) Franklin Graham, Faith Leaders Ask Congress to Grant Legal Immunity to Religious...