Monday’s Catch: “Why ‘Friendly Church’ Is No Longer Enough” And More
Why “Friendly Church” Is No Longer Enough
In today’s culture, friendliness is expected. It is no longer the factor that sets a church apart. Guests are not just looking for a warm welcome; they are looking for meaningful connection, clear purpose, and a place where they can belong.
A church can be friendly and still struggle to reach new people.
If we want to engage our communities more effectively, we must move beyond friendliness and toward something deeper, more intentional, and more transformative.
Dramatic Changes Are Ahead. The Small Church Can Guide Us.
Church leaders are facing huge demographic shifts, leading to smaller denominations, fewer resources, and leaner institutions. Allen T. Stanton gives us three lessons we can learn from small-membership congregations about how to flourish in a shifting landscape.
According to Ryan Burge’s research, the number one factor predicting the future viability of a church is its ability to retain its children as they move into adulthood. How well a congregation does religious education and spiritual formation will determine whether its kid fall away from the faith when they become adults.
The Resilient Small Church
We often think of large churches as strong and small churches as weak. But Lovett H. Weems Jr. shares a powerful example of how size does not always bring resilience in the face of adversity. He explains how in some circumstances smaller churches can be less vulnerable and fragile than larger ones.
Detained pastor couple had religious worker visas, Assemblies of God leaders say
Pastor Nepthali Zozaya Saucedo, 36, said he and his wife, who came to the U.S. legally, were repeatedly pressured to sign voluntary departure papers but that they had refused.
ICE agents are least-trained law enforcement in America
Proper training and education for officers of the law should be mandatory for the safety of the public and our officers. However, ICE has made cuts to its required curriculum from an already short training program and failed to properly vet its officers.
Today, the quality of education and training received by people who want to make their way in the American workforce is expected to be as top tier in quality and as thorough as possible. This is true for doctors, firemen, lawyers and police officers, who are expected to responsibly carry firearms in public and deal with dangerous situations in a calm and capable manner on the regular.
But our federal government does not expect the same training and professionalism from agents of ICE.
Also See: Trump ‘border czar’ says ICE officer in Maine killing should not have cleared vetting
Warnock stumped by those who love Jesus but not the poor
Baptist preacher and U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock said he is often stumped by evangelical Christians who claim to love Christ but blame the poor for being poor.
“I do not understand how it is that people who claim to be people of faith, people who say the name of Jesus more than anybody, the loudest voices of the Christian faith in our country, are often the meanest voices,” the Democrat from Georgia said during the 65th annual session of the Progressive National Baptist Convention in Washington, D.C.
The 1 thing cult experts want you to do when talking to your MAGA relatives
In an era where misinformation spreads faster than the truth, and political extremism often feels more like a full belief system than a policy stance, many of us have found ourselves in painfully surreal situations. Maybe it’s a relative who sends you a link to a fringe conspiracy site, or an old friend who insists the government is run by subterranean lizard people — and they mean it.
Often, these interactions aren’t just absurd or frustrating, they’re heartbreaking. How do you keep a relationship alive when someone you care about seems captured by a worldview that’s not only disconnected from reality, but openly hostile to yours?
America’s big cities are rapidly losing kids
With the nation’s fertility rate at record lows, the number of children under 18 is falling across the U.S. The decline is especially pronounced in big cities, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.
The story of St Maughold, patron saint of the Isle of Man
St Maughold was the patron saint of the Isle of Man. But who was St Maughold, and what do we know about him? This is the story…
Lay Preacher Training Informational Webinar
The role of lay preacher has been an important part of the church from its earliest days. As the clergy shortage grows and churches are under increased financial strain, the need for licensed lay preachers grows each year.
Celebrating 500 Years of the English New Testament
Churches, cathedrals and Christian groups across England are marking the 500th anniversary of the first printed English New Testament. This is the story…
Do the Gospels Contain Eyewitness Testimony? An Overlooked Aspect of the Debate
But the issue isn’t just whether they would have wanted to include such testimony, but whether reliable eyewitness testimony was readily available. Put in the form of a question, were there named individuals in the early Christian movement who were understood to have witnessed the events related to Jesus of Nazareth and were actively engaged in transmitting their testimony about those events?
AI is an evangelistic opportunity but Christians must shape its future, summit hears
Artificial intelligence is creating fresh opportunities for evangelism, but Christians must help shape the technology’s future before it is defined by those with “very different values”, leaders at the Missional AI Summit in London said.
Practicing Christians use AI more than most Americans, Barna finds
Practicing Christians are using artificial intelligence in both their work and personal lives more than most Americans, and nearly half of them say they would trust the technology with their spiritual growth, according to a recent survey from Barna Group.
The findings come from a survey of 1,514 U.S. adults conducted in November 2025 and another of 442 Protestant pastors conducted in December 2025. Researchers found that even though practicing Christians already use AI more than their pastors, they still want their guidance on engaging with the technology. Only a minority of pastors, around 12%, feel prepared to give guidance on using AI.
How to Start a Financial Discipleship Ministry in Your Church
Effective financial discipleship ministries create disciples who transform the world through stewarding their finances God’s way.
Image Credit: St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Pennington, New Jersey