Ministers and church leaders traveled to a Nebraska farming town to pray, fellowship and brainstorm ideas for revival at a time of declining numbers, post-pandemic challenges and political polarization.
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(OPINION) If you, like me, think faith in God and religious affiliation are generally good things for people, then you, like me, ought to feel unsettled by the findings of political scientist Ryan Burge. He argues that religious participation in the United States is now largely the domain of the educated and comfortable, rather than a buttress for those on the margins of society, who historically were the core audience for Christianity.
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(OPINION) Here’s another transition I’m having a hard time with: The small rural church I lead seems to be struggling in a way I’ve never seen in 40-some years of ministry. And I thought I’d seen it all by now.
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(ANALYSIS) The mainline is just a bloodbath. Five traditions are down by at least 30%. The ELCA is down 41%. The United Church of Christ is less than half the size it was in the late 1980s. The United Methodists are already down 31%, but with over 15% of their churches disaffiliating just this year, I wouldn’t be surprised in membership is down 40% or more by this time next year.
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With membership shrinking, churches closing and preachers in short supply, how do churches grow again? It’s not a new question, but Kairos’ answer is one it believes many Christians haven’t considered: Instead of focusing entirely on maintaining or revitalizing existing churches, put efforts into planting new ones.
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More Protestant church congregations close than open in a year in America. According to Lifeway Research, in 2019, 4,500 churches closed their doors, while only 3,000 new churches were started. As they face closure, some churches are turning to a strategy found in the 2018 book “Dying to Restart” by Greg Wiens and Dan Turner — not just to survive, but thrive.
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The Central Lutheran Church of Dallas just celebrated its 100th anniversary. The congregation, which recently merged with 70-year-old Bethany Lutheran Church of Dallas, is starting to reckon with the decline in attendance and membership that is plaguing mainline traditions across the United States.
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In Manchester, Tennessee, the final assembly of the Ragsdale Church of Christ was an old-time singing — the kind they used to have every fourth Sunday. After nearly 70 years, the church could no longer sustain itself.
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The structure of St. Baglan's Church in North Wales is simple, with plastered stone walls and whitewashed timbers between the slate slabs of its roof and floor. The 13th Century sanctuary was rebuilt in the 1800s, but the carved doorway lintel dates from the 5th or 6th century. An adjacent field contains the 7th Century well of St. Baglan and for ages the faithful sought healing in its waters.
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