If your church cares about its youth growing up in the faith, it'll hire full-time youth ministers.
Not surprisingly, abortion and homosexuality. More surprisingly, international aid and poverty. And few actually demonstrate over anything.
You might think white conservative Protestants are more political than black or mainline Protestants or Catholics. You’d be wrong.
The initiative increased congregations’ interest in cooperating with government on social service. But actual congregational partnering with government has not increased at all.
Since debates homosexuality began to dominate the church landscape, more congregations have called themselves “conservative” and fewer are “in the middle.”
An astute comment here on C&R sent Chaves back to his study. His hypothesis, that the gap reflects a difference in resources, was only partly right.
Congregations are slightly wealthier and better educated than a decade ago. But those numbers are misleading. In fact, congregations tend to mirror social changes rather than catalyze them.
Religious leaders have often lamented that they have too many old people and too few young people. It turns out that such leaders in the US have good reason to worry.
Many people cheer when denominations weaken. They may fail to realize exactly how much crucial support denominations still provide.
Congregations hire consults for all sorts of reasons. Some of the reasons they give for doing so may surprise you. So too might some reasons they do not give.
'Okay, you can give a talk from the pulpit -- but no preaching.'
Only about 5% of American churchgoers attend a congregation led by a woman. The year, in case you're checking, is 2009.
This way of describing oneself is more common than it used to be, but its prevalence should not be exaggerated. The vast majority of Americans--approximately 80 percent--describe themselves as both spiritual and religious.
If there are more congregations hiring staff without seminary training, it's not because they devalue learning. It's because seminary-trained people are more expensive.
