Around the country, Christians are exiting the Church or adapting the faith to accommodate their preferences. Dennis Allen believes the way to grow resilient, mature disciples is to return to the way Jesus did it.   “Until leaders, leaders in Christ, until we start changing the culture, to realize what relationship means, and true biblical …

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Each year more than 10 million people worldwide are newly diagnosed with dementia. And that means more and more adult children are faced with decisions about their parents’ care. “It is very hard to watch a competent loved one lose his or her ability to bathe and dress, to make a grocery list or fix …

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Both Church and country are deeply divided. Author Hannah Anderson believes developing the biblical discipline of discernment can help us sort through all the messages so that we can determine what is good and then pursue it.   “We are being flooded with information and the conversations are often so polarized, so tribal, that we …

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The Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade promises to save lives. But women continue to face the circumstances that motivated them to choose abortion in the past.   “In every state we will have women who–married and unmarried–face an unwanted pregnancy, face fear, anxiety, and real challenges for bringing that baby into the …

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What are churches to do about the alarming percentage of pastors thinking of leaving ministry? One option is to grant weary pastors a sabbatical–or preempt the weariness with intentional time away. Relieving pastors of church responsibilities for a short time can give them time to refocus, recharge, and tap into their relationship with Jesus.   …

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The war in Ukraine continues to rage.  “I know that the war has gone down the list of headlines in North America,” Don Parsons told me right before leaving the US to head back to Poland. “But the war is just as intense as it was. There is heavy fighting. There are people who are …

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Looking for silver linings in the pandemic? Photographer and author Dorothy Littell Greco believes we can mine helpful marriage lessons from the disruptions of the past two years.   “COVID made it impossible to ignore or dismiss the fact that we are all limited people and that we don’t have much control over the world, …

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The pandemic has taken a toll on the Church.  “Churches initially lost 50 percent of their congregations,” says pastor, author, and podcaster Dr. Desmond Barrett. “Since that time, 75 percent of it has come back, but there is a quarter of the population that has not come back to the church.”  Barrett serves as the …

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New research finds that 42 percent are thinking about leaving full-time ministry, according to Joe Jensen, Vice President of Church Engagement for The Barna Group. The percentage of pastors thinking of stepping down from the pulpit had already risen from 29 to 38 percent in the course of 2021. Jensen says doesn’t believe that in …

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More people have begun researching their family history during the pandemic–and family research was already the second-most popular hobby in the US.   “I think the people who are starting to search, who are doing Ancestry DNA tests, are looking for connection,” says speaker and author Michelle Van Loon, whose newest book is Translating Your …

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