Tuesday’s Catch: ‘5 Ways the World Would Be Worse without Christianity’ And More
In 2007, God Is Not Great, a bestselling book by the late Christopher Hitchens, denounced Christianity as being violent, hateful, and inimical to human flourishing. Today, similar claims are reiterated by those who condemn Christianity as the religion of the oppressor class. Christians are instructed to “check their privilege” and “do the work” to repudiate Christianity’s toxic legacy. But what would the world really be like without Christianity?
The Mission Field We Don’t Think About
Thousands each year are consigned to live out their last years in isolating, impoverished, and sometimes dangerous living environments.
Post-COVID, U.S. poverty and hunger rates are soaring
While the U.S. government must act decisively to counter poverty rates that are increasing as pandemic-era assistance programs end, people of faith also have a responsibility to counter food insecurity, hunger expert Jeremy Everett said. “As people of faith who confess Jesus as Lord, it is imperative on us — it is core to discipleship — that we are addressing hunger and poverty in our communities and in a systemic and structural way. It’s hard to love your neighbor who is hungry if you are not doing anything about it,” said Everett, executive director of the Baylor University Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty.
Churches, Ministries and the SMLLC
SMLLC stands for Single Member Limited Liability Companies. These corporate structures have gained popularity among nonprofit organizations for years, as they offer the flexibility of limited liability protection combined with the tax-exempt status granted under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Seven Arrows of Bible Reading
Sarah Puryear describes the Bible study method, developed by Matt Rogers and Donny Mathis at Christ Fellowship Cherrydale Church in Greenville, South Carolina.
Truths the Devil Uses To Stop Us From Praying
Joe McKeever describes the different ways that the evil one seeks to discourage us from praying.
Youth Ministry Is More Than Friday Night
Jill started coming to youth group in year 7. She loves hanging out with her friends but sometimes the games are lame and the Bible teaching can be a bit boring. What’s it going to take to get someone like Jill from a current youth group attendee to a future youth group leader? If we want deep, lasting fruit then we need to realise that youth ministry is much larger than what happens on a Friday night.
11 Ways to Use Email to Make Things Worse
Email has become endemic to our culture. Without it, it would be difficult to communicate as much as it seems that ministry and the marketplace require. I receive scores of emails every day and I know some pastors and leaders who get over 100. YIKES! It can be a useful tool if used correctly. But it can also be a deadly tool if used poorly. If you want to make matters worse with people you know or within your organization or church, these 12 practices will definitely get the results you want.
10 Things Every New Christian Should Know
Here are the 10 things (not necessarily in any particular order) that Brian Mavis thinks new Christians should inernalize as they walk their first year with Jesus.
When Is Satan’s Birthday? (And Other Halloween Issues)
What’s the trick to surviving this treat-filled holiday with your faith intact? Here are a few suggestions….
One thing that we need to remember is that All Hallows Eve is the eve of what has been for Christians a feast day since the seventh century A.D. It marks the beginning of Hallowmas, or All Saints’ Day. Contrary to what some people believe, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day did not evolve from paganism. Both are days for commemorating the faithful departed and giving thanks for their lives and witness.
Abandoned by evangelicals, Americans United continues 75-year fight for church-state separation
In 1947, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Seventh-day Adventist leaders gathered in Chicago to form a new group: Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Founding members included Clyde W. Taylor, secretary of the National Association of Evangelicals, and Louie D. Newton, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. SBC pastor Robbert Maddox later served as the group’s executive director. But by the 1980s, prominent and politically active evangelical and Southern Baptist leaders went in the opposite direction, waging culture war, enlisting congregations in political activism, and — according to traditional separationists — working to blow up any wall of separation.
Catholic Church seeing ‘troubling’ decline in attendance, except in these states
While Catholic Church enrollment continues to decline in the Northeast, it has experienced a rapid resurgence in South Florida as the Hispanic population increases. In a piece published on Substack Thursday, Pastor Ryan Burge presented data outlining the changes in the share of Americans who identify as Roman Catholic by state from 2008-2022.
Anglicans Ablaze