Friday's Catch: 'The Alternate Enchantment of the Reformation' And More

The Alternate Enchantment of the Reformation
The man so responsible for driving the theology of the English Reformation, Thomas Cranmer, declared that the Lord’s Supper was “no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing absent” but “the communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvellous incorporation, which by the operation of the Holy Ghost, the very bond of our conjunction with Christ, is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithful, whereby not only their souls live to eternal life, but they surely trust to win to their bodies a resurrection to immortality.” Thus, the Reformers spoke of the sacraments as means of grace, not in the sense that they were works of merit by which we may obtain grace, but that they were the ordinary means by which God communicates grace freely to his people, without regard to any merit but Christ’s.

This understanding of the sacraments was at the heart of the alternate enchantment offered by Protestants. They did not seek an end of all enchantment but the triumph of true enchantment over false enchantment. For the view that the sacraments do not communicate Christ and the world does not exist under his perfect providence, we must look to the Radical Reformation, which was as much opposed to the Magisterial Reformation as it was to any doctrine of Rome. There we find the transformation of the sacraments into bare signs that testify to human decision, along with a suspicion of the body and physicality. The disenchanted world in which we live is more the child of the Anabaptists than it is of Luther, Calvin, or Cranmer.

The Future of Rural Churches: Challenges, Opportunities, and Hope - Webinar Replay
Nearly 9 in 10 rural pastors believe their churches will be stronger 10 years from now. What fuels that optimism, and what can church leaders learn from it?

Join Carol Pipes, Lifeway's director of communications, for a conversation with Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, and Jason McConnell, director of Rural Church Institute at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, as they unpack findings from a nationwide study of Protestant pastors serving in rural communities. Together, they'll explore the realities rural pastors face, the relational ministry strategies making the greatest impact, and practical takeaways for strengthening churches and reaching communities for Christ.

Also See: Rural Churches Today Insight Report PDF

Religious observance in US ‘stable,’ combined research says
Religion is showing signs of “strength and stability” in the U.S. while attendance at religious services has increased from the lows of the COVID-19 era, according to a study released Oct. 28.

The analysis conducted by Pew Research Center and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation presents a synthesis of polling this year and last year in addition to surveys tracked since 2020.

Researchers found 70% of adults identify with a religious tradition, a figure that has held steady over the past six years. Similarly, Americans who report praying daily has held steady in the upper 40% range, with 47% saying that in 2026.

Also See: Religious identification, service attendance remains steady after years of decline: Pew

Five dioceses receive assessment waivers as Episcopal Church approaches full compliance
The Episcopal Church is approaching full compliance with payments of its diocesan assessments, which are the largest source of revenue supporting the churchwide budget.

Each of the church’s 106 dioceses, after an exemption for its first $200,000 in annual revenue, is required to contribute 15% of the rest of the income to the wider church. Only five dioceses — Albany, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Florida and Navajoland — requested and received waivers from that requirement in 2026.

The five previously had received assessment waivers for 2025 as well, as did New Jersey and Southwest Florida. Those two additional dioceses did not request new waivers for 2026 and are expected to pay their full assessments for the year.

UMC bishop removes ministers from Dallas’ Highland Park; church says they will stay
In yet another escalation, the bishop said he was removing the Rev. Matt Tuggle, senior minister, and the Rev. Paul Rasmussen, former senior minister, ‘from all positions’ at the church.

Also See: UMC Bishop appoints new pastor to Texas megachurch that voted to disaffiliate

Gun Violence is a Public Health Epidemic
The nation watched in horror as reports from Bend, Oregon, brought news of a much too frequent tragedy occurring in the United States. Again, a catastrophic shooting kills and injures children and teachers at school. It traumatizes everyone involved and their whole community. The country grieves, and we seem powerless as a nation to stop such violence and death.

If the Church Did Its Job, Would the Parachurch Exist?
The parachurch exists because God’s commands naturally generate institutions beyond family, church, and state.

Neo-monastic community to launch in diocese of Niagara
Bishop Susan Bell has wanted to support a neo-monastic religious community in Canada for years—even before she became a bishop. Now, the diocese of Niagara has begun work to make that dream a reality..

Neo-monastic communities are groups of people who live out a commitment to religious devotion and contemplation—such as that described in the Rule of Saint Benedict for monks—in forms adapted to the needs and challenges of the modern world. They often observe offices of prayer, take temporary or permanent oaths and gather for worship, though they are less likely to be cloistered or sworn to celibacy than traditional monks or nuns..

The Rooted Leader: Eric Geiger on Leading Like Nehemiah
Shallow roots can spell disaster for people as well as for trees. When those people hold leadership positions, their “toppling” is often public and painful. Eric Geiger proposes a way to prevent that: by building up leaders who stay firmly rooted so they can produce lasting fruit. The senior pastor of Mariners Church in Southern California applies his business background, leadership training and ministry experience to strengthen leaders of churches, organizations and families. In his new book, The Rooted Leader (Tyndale), Geiger shares lessons from Nehemiah with modern-day leaders who face their own tasks of restoration and heart-change. For each of seven leadership fruits—vision, conviction, servanthood, perseverance, credibility, transformation and resolve—he delves into the intermingling roots that must thrive below the surface.

Here, Geiger discusses pastoral challenges, plus the perks of leading from a faith foundation. Church leaders who feel discouraged and at risk of being uprooted will benefit from his Bible-based wisdom.

Clergy opinions run gamut on AI use in sermons
Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in writing sermons has sparked a wide range of responses among Anglican clergy, from enthusiastic embrace of the technology to pledges totally opposing its use.

More than 150 preachers and church leaders, including about a dozen Canadian Anglicans, have signed the Saint Dunstan Pledge for Preachers, committing not to use generative AI to write sermons, homilies or reflections. The Rev. Emily Garcia, an Episcopal priest in the diocese of Massachusetts, created the online pledge on May 19—the feast of St. Dunstan, patron saint of metal workers and other craftspeople.

Half of Christian questions on ChatGPT are attempts to understand the Bible
Figures from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, have shown that every week the AI chatbot receives around 70 million enquiries on the subject of religion.

Unsurprisingly it is the world’s two largest religions, Christianity and Islam that receive the lion’s share of interest.

The analysis, which looked at requests from September 2025 to September 2026 found that 45 per cent of religion-related interactions were about Islam and 34 per cent were concerned with Christianity.

Five Ways to Pray for Persecuted Christians
Sunday, Nov. 1, marks the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. It’s a day for believers across the globe to unite in concentrated prayer for Christians suffering for the gospel.

Here are a few biblically-based ways to pray for the persecuted, along with a guide to a few specific nations to remember.

Thursday's Catch: 'The Problem Your Church Can Feel but Can't Name' And More

The Problem Your Church Can Feel but Can't Name with Gavin Adams
Most churches aren't stuck because they lack passion. They're stuck because of 48 layers of paint. Gavin Adams has a name for what's quietly slowing your church down, and once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Gavin Adams led Woodstock City Church for 13 years, growing it from 200 to 8,000. Now he coaches pastors around the world, and he keeps finding the same thing under the hood: the problem is almost never passion or theology. It's a design problem. And design problems have answers.

We get into why the ministry model that worked perfectly when you built it is already a little antiquated the next day, why churches keep bolting good things on until the whole engine slows down, and what the pandemic exposed about how many people missed church and never actually missed it. Then Gavin walks through where the redesign starts: eight words on a whiteboard, and the courage to be loyal to the mission instead of the model.

If you lead at the intersection of vision and execution and feel the complexity piling up, this conversation gives you language for what's happening and a place to start.

Your Bench Is Empty: What Growing Churches Do Before the Role Opens Up
Most churches don't think about leadership development until someone quits. By then, your only move is to post the job and hope. The fastest-growing churches don't work that way. They already know who's next.

At the start of 2026, I asked executive pastors what scared them most heading into the year. Nearly one in four named the same thing: staff health, team structure, and who's coming next. So for this final summer compilation, I pulled together four conversations that answer it.

Stop Losing First-Time Guests: What's Working at the Front Door Right Now
The biggest shift in first-time guests in 20 years just happened. Most churches haven't caught up yet.

Five years ago, 80% of young adults walked into church looking for community and 20% were looking for God. According to Greg Curtis at Eastside Church, that ratio has completely flipped. People are arriving with God questions burning in their hearts. They're not stumbling in. They're not browsing. They're searching.

The problem? Most of our front-door systems were built for the old reality.

Barry Manilow, the Spotlight Effect & Why Your People Are Closer to Inviting Than You Think
The weird psychology of why your church isn't inviting anyone — and what the research actually says you should do about it.

In 2000, a Cornell researcher made college students wear a Barry Manilow t-shirt and asked them to guess how many people in a room would notice. The students predicted half. The real number? One in four. That same gap is happening in your church right now — between what you're communicating about invitation and what your people are actually hearing.

We unpack the research (Barry Manilow t-shirts, tapping experiments, the collapse of social media reach, the rule of 29) and connect it to why most churches stall on invite culture. We lay out the five gears growing churches are actually turning to build invitation into everything they do.

If you're an Executive Pastor or senior leader wondering why your people aren't inviting their friends — even though you've been talking about it for months — this is the episode that will reframe the problem.

What the UMC Leadership Gathering Means for Church Leaders
Reflecting on the recent gathering of United Methodist leaders in Calgary, Canada, Jonathan Page identifies four key lessons for leading the church into the future: prioritizing younger and historically marginalized voices, turning vision into actionable strategy, leading from possibility rather than problems, and keeping Jesus at the center of the church’s mission.

Rising in Hope — But Hope in What?
The Episcopal Church has drawn up its plans for the 82nd General Convention, complete with new committees on artificial intelligence, racial justice, migration and the Holy Land. A committee for the salvation of souls did not make the list.

Executive Council approves 29 grants for new Episcopal communities seeking ‘next faithful step’
I have nothing against new church development or South Sudanese refugees and their families but in my corner of the Diocese of Kentucky, the Jackson Purchase, are four Episcopal churches which have no priest of their own and must rely upon supply priests, retired clergy from the Diocese of West Tennessee, for the administration of Holy Communion one or two Sundays of the month. Otherwise, they must make do without a priest. One of these churches hosts the Episcopal Campus Ministry at Murray State University. Has the national church and the diocese written off these churches, left them to hang out to dry?!  

Cut dioceses and restore parish authority, Church of England report urges
George Conger provides a thoughtful analysis of the "Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church" report.

Canadian gov't seeks to halt expansion of euthanasia based on mental illness
Canada is moving to change its law on medical assistance in dying (MAID) to add safeguards, allow advance requests and prohibit euthanasia solely based on mental illness.

Canada’s Department of Justice announced Tuesday that it was introducing the MAID Safeguards Act, also known as Bill C-41, which it says will “establish rigorous safeguards” for euthanasia.

An Empty House, a Full Table: Where Do Singles Belong in the Family of God?
The family of God is not a metaphor limited to Scripture or Sunday mornings. It’s the reality believers are called to live.

Keeping the Hallow in Hallowtide
Growing up in the South, I learned that Halloween was a touchy subject for some Christians. For lots of families, October 31 was a simple childhood pleasure: an evening of costumes, candy, and neighborhood block parties. For others, it was a holiday to avoid, one too tangled up with paganism and the occult to square with Christian faith. I still feel that tension, even though my view of the holiday has changed.

The New AI Discipleship Crisis
We're facing a new AI discipleship crisis — and almost nobody is preparing for it. AI answers instantly. God, as you know, sometimes doesn't answer at all. That gap between instant AI answers and God's silence is becoming one of the biggest discipleship crises the church has ever faced.

In this video, I break down why this new AI discipleship crisis is really about expectations — AI's instant, always-available answers are quietly reshaping what people expect from God. We'll talk about why a "predictable" God isn't God, it's a product. Why the real danger isn't people rejecting faith, but syncretism: slowly letting AI's immediacy define our spiritual expectations. And why the church might be uniquely positioned to offer something AI never can — the slow, real work of discipleship.

AI and religion: A modest proposal
In establishing safeguards for AI, some companies should attempt to build in not only rules of ethical behavior, but also, to the extent possible, a sense of what it means to be a flesh-and-blood being.

8 Ways to Help Your Kids Love the Church
While discipleship at home is extremely important and something every Christian parent should pursue, it can never replace the church. Reading Scripture together, praying as a family, and teaching our children about God within our homes are vital practices. Yet God's design for believers extends beyond the walls of our homes. He calls us to belong to a community of believers who worship, serve, and do life together.

Wholesome Talk in the Body of Christ
Dr. Dontá McGilvery reflects on Paul’s instruction to let no unwholesome talk come from our mouths and considers what that command requires in a divided world. Wholesome talk is not simply being nice; it is learning to speak truth, correction, encouragement, and even disagreement in ways that give grace and build up the pus MinistryBody of Christ.

Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (October 29, 2026) Is Now Online

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

In this evening’s message we revisit our Lord’s teaching, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” Anglican divine Charles Gibbon is credited with first naming this teaching the Golden Rule in 1604, a name by which it would be widely known in that century and since. It was also called the royal law after James 2: 8, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” in the seventeenth century, but that name did not catch on.

Reading: Matthew 7

Message: The Golden Rule Revisited

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/thursday-evenings-at-all-hallows_02041339193.html

Please feel free to share this link with anyone who may be interested.

If you are new to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows, you may find these directions helpful:

-It is recommended that after reading or hearing a lesson to take time to reflect on what you read or heard during the period of silence which follows the lesson. It is also recommended that you do the same thing after reading or hearing the message.

-When you open the link to a video in a new tab, check auto-play to make sure it is in the off position. Otherwise, a second video with a different song will follow the first.

-If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

-If a song begins partway through the video, click pause, move the slider to the beginning, and then click play.

-An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

May Thursday Evenings at All Hallows be a blessing to you.

Wednesday's Catch: 'Amid mixed Pew findings, youngest adults outpace parents’ generation in worship attendance' And More

Amid mixed Pew findings, youngest adults outpace parents’ generation in worship attendance
The complicated findings, based on relatively small samples within each age group, come as Americans’ religious decline continues to plateau.

Why Churches Die: 6 Reasons Dying Churches Rarely Recover
Most dying churches have been declining for years before they close. Members age, the neighborhood changes, and the congregation turns inward to protect what it has. Lifeway Research estimates about 4,000 U.S. Protestant churches closed in 2024. The churches I have worked with that died shared six habits, and the first was refusing to admit the church was sick.

That slow decline is the main reason churches are closing. We wonder why churches die. Why do these dying churches walk resolutely down the path of death? Why don’t they attempt something dramatic, something bold? I have worked with too many of these churches, and have seen clearly why churches are dying.

Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By BIG Churches Than SMALL Churches
Just as the mistakes mentioned in my previous article were not inevitable for small churches, these are not inevitable for big churches.

Goodbye, ‘Sam’s Club’ Megachurch. Hello, Stained Glass.
Some church construction and renovation projects are starting to look more…churchy.

Making a church building look more churchy costs more. It can also make the building far less functional. The Gothic revival churches of the nineteenth century were designed for an age when the congregations were spectators at the Mass and the Daily Offices and not active participants in the liturgy and are ill-suited for Prayer Book rites and services that are congregational and participatory. For example, choristers in choir stalls facing each other across the central aisle of the chancel are poorly located to provide leadership and support to congregational singing. Past experience has also shown that church buildings are not an effective means of evangelism.

Violence and persecution driving global Christian exodus, report warns
Millions of Christians are being driven from their homes by conflict, extremism and religiously motivated violence, threatening the future of longstanding Christian communities, according to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The Catholic charity’s latest Persecuted and Forgotten? report, launched on Tuesday, found that conditions for Christians had deteriorated in 10 of the 18 countries examined, including China, Nigeria and Pakistan. None recorded an overall improvement.

United Methodist Church to host first-ever general conference in 2 locations
For the first time, the United Methodist Church will hold its next denomination-wide lawmaking gathering in two locations: one in the United States and one in Africa.

Every four years, the global UMC holds a General Conference to handle churchwide business and fellowship. The only exception was 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. That General Conference was pushed to 2024.

Aslan Sane: The Bowiefication of Narnia
My friend Amy is an English teacher in the UK. She writes well on her own Substack about all things literary, cultural and theological. Occasionally she drops a bon mot for me (well a few bon mots).

Here are some of them...

Is It a Sin to Use AI Porn?
What happens when the characters involved in pornography are no longer people? What happens when they no longer exist at all, but are merely generated by AI? Could AI allow us to create “ethical pornography” that solves one of the foremost concerns that come with “real” pornography? In other words, is it a sin to look at AI-generated porn?

Eight Essential Qualities of Pastors Who Love Their Jobs
You can do your job well without loving it. However, for pastors, the calling often goes beyond mere duty. It encompasses a passion for serving and guiding their flocks. What distinguishes pastors who love their jobs from those who do their jobs? Josh and Sam discuss on today's episode.

4 Ways to Keep Your Pastor From Quitting
Pastors quit because of stress, loneliness, church conflict, burnout and a sense that God is calling them somewhere else. Few actually walk away. Lifeway Research puts the rate at about 1 in 100 pastors a year. Many more think about it. In March 2022, Barna found that 42% of pastors had seriously considered quitting full-time ministry in the past year.

Here’s the deal. After spending 8 years as a pastor, I can confidently say that being a pastor is really, really hard. While you certainly experience much joy, you also must endure regular criticism, discouragement, attacks from Satan, and the soul exhaustion that comes from pouring yourself out for people.

The Real Reason Pastors Burn Out (It’s Not What You Think)
Chuck DeGroat has spent years helping pastors after the crisis hits. In this conversation, he explains why shame does more damage than fear, what your nervous system is trying to tell you before you burn out or hit a crisis in ministry, and why spiritual disciplines alone won't save you. If you're a young leader or starting to the see the cracks in ministry, listen closely.

The End of the Worship Leader? (The 2040 Crisis)
There is a massive crisis coming to worship leaders and churches by the year 2040.

A new report studying 5,000 churches reveal some frightening statistics about what's coming if we don't correct course.

In this video I break down what the report reveals, how we got here, how mega-churches are part of the problem (mine included), and what we can all do about it.

If you want to be part of the solution, watch this video and ask the Lord to give you wisdom on what action you should take.

Walking With God With or Without Other Believers
Does walking with God require the help of other believers? Americans hold conflicting thoughts on the matter.

The Lost Art of Christian Hospitality
Hospitality, at its core, is relational. It’s personal. It’s about more than inviting people into your home. It’s about inviting them into your heart.

Best Practices from Evangelistically Effective Churches
These days, evangelistically effective churches are keeping evangelism front of mind in the way they preach, train, and encourage their congregations. They’re celebrating small wins. And they’re leading with a high view of Scripture, prayer, and God’s sovereignty. Hospitality, at its core, is relational. It’s personal. It’s about more than inviting people into your home. It’s about inviting them into your heart.

Tuesday's Catch: 'The Future of Rural Churches: Challenges, Opportunities, and Hope' And More

The Future of Rural Churches: Challenges, Opportunities, and Hope - Webinar (Thursday, Oct 29,2026, 1:00 PM CDT)
Nearly 9 in 10 rural pastors believe their churches will be stronger 10 years from now. What fuels that optimism, and what can church leaders learn from it?

Join Carol Pipes, Lifeway's director of communications, for a conversation with Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research, and Jason McConnell, director of Rural Church Institute at the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, as they unpack findings from a nationwide study of Protestant pastors serving in rural communities. Together, they'll explore the realities rural pastors face, the relational ministry strategies making the greatest impact, and practical takeaways for strengthening churches and reaching communities for Christ.

It is my longstanding belief that Anglicans and other Christians can learn from Christians whose beliefs and practices may differ from ours. My own experience and the experience of others over four decades has validated and reinforced that belief.

Churches urged to tackle loneliness by making friendship a priority
Churches are being encouraged to put friendship at the heart of their ministry as concerns grow over rising loneliness in society and within congregations themselves.

The call came during the online launch of ‘Friendship Lab for Churches’, a new six-session course developed by author and broadcaster Sheridan Voysey. The course is designed to help churches build stronger relationships among their members and address the growing problem of social isolation.

Texas megachurch votes overwhelmingly to leave the UMC
A Texas megachurch currently in litigation with a regional body of The United Methodist Church over internal changes to its governing documents has voted overwhelmingly to leave the denomination.

Highland Park United Methodist Church of Dallas held a vote Oct. 25-26 asking members whether they wanted to disaffiliate from the UMC.

Also See: Dallas megachurch overwhelmingly votes to leave UMC; Highland Park Votes to Leave UMC

Gathering offers 16 ideas for church future
More than 230 United Methodists from four continents joined together for the Leadership Gathering.

Near the end of the meeting, the participants unveiled 16 recommendations they hope will help The United Methodist Church flourish.

The Council of Bishops plans to share a report shaped by those recommendations to the whole denomination in January.

These proposals are ambitious, but are they realistic and doable? Most importantly will they help the United Methodist Church's numerous declining churches turn around and thrive?! Or are they disconnected from the realities of the North American mission field and comprise wishful thinking on the part of the Leadership Gathering?

Lutheran synod to install first female bishop on Reformation Day
A Pennsylvania-based regional body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will soon install its first female bishop.

The Rev. Jennifer K. Dee will be installed as the fifth bishop of the ELCA Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod on Oct. 31, Reformation Day, at the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem. Dee began her six-year term on Sept. 1.

Catholic bishops accuse White House of manipulation over prayer video
Retired Kansas City Archbishop Joseph Naumann's office told RNS, 'The bishops were assured that no photographs would be made public. They came to have a discussion on important policy matters.' 

Also See: Catholic bishops take heat for praying over Trump

 3 Qualities Necessary to Learn from our Critics

Nobody likes to be criticized, at least not at first. Sometimes criticism is warranted. Sometimes it’s not. And sometimes it hard to differentiate between the two. The writer of Proverbs implies that we should learn from and even seek out the beneficial wounds from our critics. Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. (Pv 27.6) But when we need to heed a message from a critic, how can we position ourselves so that we can benefit from it? Below I suggest three ways we can do so.

7 Keys for Thriving in Lifelong Ministry
If we want to avoid the all-too-common pitfalls of burnout, scandal, and disillusionment, we must follow seven keys to pastoral perseverance rooted in Scripture and biblical wisdom.

Do Church Worship Bands Keep People From Singing?
In many churches, yes. A band in church quiets the congregation when it plays songs people don’t know, in keys they can’t reach, at a volume that buries their voices. Under those conditions, the worship time turns into a concert. The people in the seats listen and watch the stage, and only the team on the platform sings.

Navigators launch new course to teach disciple-making skills
Navigators UK have developed a new course to help ordinary Christians become effective disciple-makers.

The seven-week Alongsider Course takes as its model the relationship between Jesus and his 12 disciples.

Acknowledging that it is difficult for church leaders to invest in every member of their congregation the same time and attention that the 12 received from Jesus, the course nevertheless seeks to open up relational disciple-making to a wider group.

Attempt Small Things for God
Christians are called to faithfulness in the ordinary, everyday life rather than the pursuit of great things.

Micah 6:8: Walking humbly with God in the ordinary everyday life
How often do we acknowledge God’s presence in everything we do? Perhaps we are conscious of Him on Sunday mornings, during Bible study, at Christian events or when we are faced with a major life decision. But what about the ordinary moments? The commute to work. Cooking dinner. Eating a meal. Going for a walk. Sitting at our desks. Doing the laundry. Can God be present in these moments too?

Monday's Catch: 'Five Church Surprises We Should See Coming' And More

Five Church Surprises We Should See Coming
“I should have seen that coming.”

Those words are painful when a church leader looks back on a missed opportunity or a preventable crisis. The signs were present. Other matters simply seemed more urgent.

As I look toward the next five years, I see five developments that could catch many American churches unprepared. These are possibilities worth watching and preparing for prayerfully.

What Is Church SEO? How Search Helps Your Church Reach New People
Every week, people in your community use their phones to look for a church. They search “churches near me” on a Saturday night. They look up church service times before deciding whether to visit. Some add their town name to the search as well. But is your church the one that comes up first? If not, you may want to look into something called church SEO.

Church SEO, or church search engine optimization, is the practice of making your church easy to find online. It helps your church show up when people in your area search for a church, a service time, or a ministry need. And the demand is real: one large study of search engine logs found that searches with religious intent make up about 11.5% of all search sessions (Wan-Chik et al., 2013). Your neighbors are already searching. The question is whether your church shows up when they do.

Warning Signs of Church Decline: Three Indicators Your Church Might Be in Trouble
Warning signs of church decline show that a local church can still turn around. I do not believe that a local church must die. I have spent the last two decades fighting to keep churches alive. But the reality is that churches are closing. According to a Lifeway Research report, “A study, which analyzed church data from 34 Protestant denominations and groups, found that 4,500 churches closed in 2019, while about 3,000 new congregations were started. The 34 Protestant denominations account for about 60% of U.S.-based Protestant denominations.”

If the reality is that the church is declining, what are the significant revitalization-focused warning signs that your local church might be heading for closure?

Also See: When You Need to Revitalize Your Church Revitalization Efforts

How to Reverse the Decline in Stuck Churches
Daryl Cripe has worked with hundreds of church leaders and boards of all sizes. He shares the one key (more than anything else) that can reverse the decline in small, mid-sized, and stuck large churches.

Plus, Daryl shares how your church can reach new people without spending money you don't have and how to hit the tipping point in church revitalization.

Church of England faces ‘financial disaster’ without radical cuts, academics warn
A pair of Anglican professors have urged the Church of England to undergo a radical restructure in order to stave off financial disaster and to revitalises parish churches.

Canon Robin Gill and Professor John Craven set forth their “ruthless” plans in Wasted Money in a Diminishing Church, a report published by the Centre for Anglican History and Theology at the Universities of Kent and Christ Church Canterbury.

A timely report. "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians!"

Calls for shift away from Western-led mission towards greater global leadership
The CEO of Church Mission Society (CMS), Andy Roberts, has called for a rethink of traditional Christian mission models, arguing that organisations must give greater responsibility and decision-making power to local leaders as the centre of global Christianity continues to shift away from the West.

Simon Says: Inconspicuous Evidence of Eyewitnesses in Mark
When I watch Jesus films, whether the current series The Chosen, The Passion of the Christ in the early 2000s, or even Godspell from the 1970s, I can’t help but ask, Where did they get those stories? Sometimes I can piece together bits from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Occasionally I detect legendary material from church history or the apocryphal gospels. But at other times, my best guess is “They made it up,” and I ascribe the scene to creative liberty.

When we turn to the Gospel of Mark, which most scholars see as the first extant telling of the story of Jesus, we might also wonder, Where did Mark get these stories?

Christian Universalism Is Alive (Just Go to a Funeral)
I’ve been to many funerals and memorial services in my life, and through the years, I’ve encountered religious people who give off the impression that they believe everyone goes to heaven. Culture gives the same impression. Words reveal worldviews. The deceased person may not have received Christ by faith, may not have gone to church, may have even lived an unrepentant and selfish life, and some people still seem to assume they went to a “better place” or went to heaven. Might Christian Universalism be more prevalent than we think?

What to Do When You Doubt Your Calling to Ministry Leadership
We all have seasons in ministry leadership when the calling that once felt so clear suddenly feels clouded by doubts. What should we do then?

Why Nobody Sings in Church Anymore (It's Not What You Think)
Why doesn't anybody sing in church anymore? Is it the congregation's fault, the hymns we're choosing, or could the organist actually be part of the problem?

We've all heard the complaints. Congregations don't sing. People stand silently while the choir does all the work. And somehow, the same people who can sing every word at a hockey game suddenly lose their voices on Sunday morning!

But perhaps we're asking the wrong question.

Rather than simply complain about congregational singing, I'm going to demonstrate *seven things that can make or break a congregation's willingness to sing.

We'll explore uncomfortable hymn ranges, complicated rhythms, unfamiliar repertoire, inappropriate tempos, confusing introductions, and what happens when organists forget that their job is to LEAD the congregation rather than perform a solo recital!

The decline in congregational singing is not confined to churches with worship bands.

What Fifty Words Can Hold
The name is disputed, which is appropriate for something so old. Collecta may refer to the gathering of the assembly—the prayer said when the people have been collected into one place. It may refer to the collecting of their individual petitions into a single voiced prayer. What is not disputed is the structure, which has remained essentially unchanged for 16 centuries and accomplishes, in 50 words, what most theology takes 50 pages to approximate and frequently does not achieve.

A classical collect has five parts. They proceed in order. They do not repeat. They do not elaborate. They move.

A Kentucky man becomes the first humanist granted religious exemption from AI
David Durman, an administrator at the University of Kentucky, said using AI would cause him to offload his thinking and decision making, which would violate his humanist views. He hopes other Americans will rethink their views on AI, too.

Don’t Just Tell Teenagers to Study the Bible, Show Them Why
There’s something beautiful about an argument that persuades not merely because of the facts it presents, but because of the character and genuine conviction of the person presenting them. Youth ministers would do well to remember that lesson as we seek to model and teach the spiritual discipline of Bible study. Too often, our appeals sound something like this: “Read your Bible. Make sure you’re doing your quiet time. Are you spending time in the Word?”

There is certainly nothing wrong with those exhortations. They are necessary and should continue. Nor is there any shortage of excellent tools that teach students how to study Scripture—HEAR, REAP, and SevenArrows, to name just a few. But what if our strongest argument wasn’t another method or another challenge? What if the most compelling reason for a student to open God’s Word for personal study wasn’t because we told them they should, but because they couldn’t help but see that we ourselves treasure every opportunity to open it?

Consider these three considerations....

Unclear Evangelism Leads to Unclear (and False) Conversions
John Lee explains how bad evangelistic methods and approaches can lead to false conversions. When we are unclear about the urgency of conversion, the cost of conversion, or the accountability that should accompany conversion, we risk leaving people deceived about their eternal state. Ultimately, our job is simply to proclaim the gospel clearly, trust God to open people’s hearts to the truth, and provide ongoing discipleship to those who respond in repentance and faith.

Saturday Lagniappe: ‘The UK is a mission field’ And More

‘The UK is a mission field’ - churches encouraged to embrace cross-cultural mission on their doorstep
Churches are being encouraged to embrace cross-cultural mission on their own doorstep by building relationships with people of different backgrounds and generations who may have little or no contact with Christianity.

Experienced practitioners in overseas and UK community-based mission shared their advice for effective engagement during a panel discussion at the Church Resources Exhibition 2026.

Sharing your faith: practical tips for evangelism
Sharing your faith, or evangelising, is not always an easy experience. For those of us who are not naturally extroverted or confident in public speaking, talking about our faith with people close to us, let alone complete strangers, can be nerve-wracking.

Nonetheless, sharing the gospel is something all Christians have been called to participate in through the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), regardless of our personality, intellectual knowledge or position within the church.

As someone who regularly participates in street evangelism and teaches the Bible to young people, I have learnt a few lessons along the way. Here are some practical tips that may help you grow in confidence and approach evangelism with greater love, wisdom and faith.

Radical Hospitality: How Grace Should Shape Your Table
Here’s what I’m learning: The table is one of the most powerful tools we have for proclaiming the gospel. Not because we preach sermons over dinner. Not because we turn every meal into an evangelistic event. But because the act of sharing a table with someone says, You matter. You’re seen. You belong.

In a world that is increasingly divided, isolated, and lonely, the simple act of inviting someone different from you to your table is radical. It’s countercultural. It’s a tangible expression of the grace of God.

And when we invite people who can’t repay us, people who might make things a little messy or uncomfortable, we’re not just being nice; we’re participating in the upside-down kingdom of God. We’re saying, “This is what grace looks like. This is what it means to belong to a community shaped not by status or obligation but by love.”

Ordinary Church? That’s Okay. We Serve an Extraordinary God
We live in a society that wants to be wowed. People want to be amazed. They crave the extraordinary, turning their noses up at the mundane. There is little to no appreciation for ordinary things. In the area of our Christian faith, therefore, we want God to do amazing things—all the time. For example, every time the gospel is preached we expect the multitudes to repent of their sins; we anticipate lives turned upside down, drastically changed; and we’re annoyed when people don’t suddenly sacrifice everything for the sake of following Christ. If I’m honest, that’s what I desire Sunday-to-Sunday. We want the extraordinary. The exceptional.

But often God works in the ordinary ways of life. Therefore we mustn’t miss the ordinary things that God provides to help us grow and progress in our faith. Just think of Paul’s analogy in 2 Timothy 2:6, where he likens pastoral work to the labour of farming. I think we should be more like farmers in our own faith. We plant. We cultivate. Then we wait for the harvest. But as we wait we know that these things take time. You can’t plant today and expect to harvest tomorrow. With that analogy in mind, below I exhort readers to remember that ordinary churches doing ordinary things nevertheless serve an extraordinary Saviour.

Vatican calls for renewed evangelization with the publication of Venite ad me as inherited Christianity falters
The Vatican’s doctrinal office has called for a reordering of pastoral ministry around the proclamation of Jesus Christ, warning that churches can no longer assume baptism, childhood instruction and family tradition will produce believing adults.

Also See: New Vatican document cautions against ‘triumphalism’ over rise in baptisms

Growing number of ‘Lutherpalian’ churches blend two traditions in unified congregations
Barb Bowers and Sue Sachs are both longtime residents of this college town in the center of the state. And both are active in their church, Beloved Community, on the east end of Stevens Point. On a recent Sunday morning before the congregation’s 8:15 a.m. service, both were in the church’s kitchen area assembling finger food for post-worship coffee hour.

What may set the two women apart are their denominational roots — Bowers comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, while Sachs is Episcopalian — yet they and their congregation now blend both traditions. The former Redeemer Lutheran Church and the former Intercession Episcopal Church joined in October 2024 to become one Beloved Community. The congregation is officially Episcopal and Lutheran, part of both the Episcopal Diocese of Wisconsin and the ELCA’s East Central Synod of Wisconsin.

The merger of Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran congregations and the sharing of clergy by Episcopal and Evangelical Lutheran congregations are further evidence of the decline in vocations and church attendance in both denominations It is also evidence of the Episcopal Church's abandonment of a longstanding Anglican doctrinal view of the eucharistic presence.

When Politics Becomes an Idol: Five Warning Signs for Christians
As another election approaches, political passions are running high. Campaign ads fill our screens, candidates make their promises, and Americans prepare to cast their votes. For Christians, these elections matter. Political decisions affect our families, communities, religious freedoms, and neighbors. We should care about these things. But there is a difference between caring deeply about politics and allowing politics to become an idol.

An idol is anything that takes a place in our hearts that belongs to God alone. And politics, like anything else, can quietly become an object of misplaced worship.

So how can we recognize when our political convictions have become political idolatry? Here are five warning signs.

Roman love
Popular mythology holds that a tolerant and affirmative view of human sexuality prevailed in classical Antiquity until it was crushed by puritanical and repressive Christianity. I passively accepted this view until I read Kyle Harper’s celebrated book, From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity. Harper shows that, although the standard picture is not entirely wrong, it is so incomplete as to be fundamentally misleading.

It is true that Roman sexual norms were permissive in some ways. In particular, it was entirely permitted for free Roman men to have sex with male and female slaves and prostitutes, including children. No norm of male fidelity existed: male extramarital sex was not merely tolerated in practice but was generally considered completely acceptable as a matter of principle, even if wives found it hurtful. Many men had a general preference for boys or for women, but such preferences were merely personal taste, not a defining identity; most men seem to have been what we would call bisexual. Although only a small minority of Romans owned slaves, the prostitution of slaves was widespread, so coerced sex was ubiquitous. The price of sex in the Roman Empire was about that of a loaf of bread.

The conservatism of Beatrix Potter
There is a type of academic who can only get noticed by attacking the legacies of greater men and women, and a prime example was cited by Matthew Dennison in The Spectator in his essay “Don’t Cancel Beatrix Potter.” The beloved children’s author has become the target of “specialist in postcolonial literature” Dr. Emily Zobel Marshall, who hilariously claims that Potter failed “to acknowledge her indebtedness to an oral storytelling tradition of enslaved Africans working on American plantations” and that this contributes to “a damaging and recurring appropriation of Black cultural forms that continues today.”

This is frivolous stuff, and Marshall’s claims are a parasitic attempt to gain fifteen minutes of fame by slandering a woman who cannot defend herself. Dennison handily rebuts Marshall, and I’m glad he did—but I can’t help but think that fortunately, some writers are uncancellable. Potter’s books have sold 250 million copies. Her legacy is just fine. Her characters will continue to be household names for countless children, while Dr. Whatserface will have to find a new target if she wants to trigger further discussion of her own work. People who take these accusations seriously should not be taken seriously.

I do, however, think that a study of Potter’s life has something to contribute to current cultural conversations—not in “postcolonial literature studies,” but in the discussions unfolding in traditionalist circles on how to respond to our civilizational moment, in which many things appear to be ending.

Holy Claude! When AI Comes to Church + Jay Y. Kim
What do we lose when our churches become another space for optimizing efficiency?

AI and the expendability of humans
The explosion of AI has been matched by a rising dread: That machines will take our jobs and render human beings obsolete in the workforce.

More than half of Americans fear AI could cost them or someone in their household a job, according to a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll. Meanwhile, many religious leaders have expressed concerns about AI sapping humans of their sense of purpose.

These fears point to something deeply troubling. They reveal what our society actually believes, at a bedrock level, about why human beings deserve to exist.

A Christian’s Guide to AI
Those who use AI widely and those who reject it entirely are both under obligation to think about it well. Thankfully, we are quickly being resourced with helpful books that can guide us. The latest of these is Pete Killingley’s A Christian’s Guide to AI: 12 Biblical Answers to the Questions We’re All Asking.

Sundays at All Hallows (October 25, 2026) Is Now Online

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday, October 25, 2026, is the Twenty-First Sunday after Trinity. Next Saturday is All Hallows Eve, commonly called Hallowe’en, a contraction of Hallow Even, the first eve of All Hallows Day, or Hallowmas, also known as All Saints’ Day, which falls this year on a Sunday.

Feast days and Sundays begin at sunset on the previous day so Hallowe’en once the sun dips beneath the horizon is the beginning of a holy day.

Hallowe’en, All Hallows Day, and All Souls Day (November 2) form together the season of Hallowtide in which we honor that great cloud of witnesses of past generations as well as those of the faithful who recently departed this life.

All Hallows Day, or Hallowmas, is the namesake of All Hallows Murray and its patronal festival.

This Sunday’s message takes a look at what The Book of Common Prayer with Additions and Deviation Proposed in 1928 calls “Our Lord’s Summary of the Law,” also known as the Greatest Commandments.

Just a reminder. The MP3s of the simple piano accompaniment for the metrical versions of the Benedictus and the Te Deum for the remaining Sunday for Trinitytide, the Season after Trinity, contains no vocals, just the tune played on the piano. Each accompaniment begins with a brief introduction. The tunes, KINGSFOLD and TALLIS’ CANON(EIGTH TUNE), were picked for their wide use in hymnals and other collections of sacred music and the greater likelihood of familiarity to the singer.

Readings: Leviticus 19: 1-4, 11-18, 1 Thessalonians 2: 1-8, and Matthew 22: 34-46

Message: Our Lord’s Summary of the Law

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/sundays-at-all-hallows-october-25-2026.html

Please feel free to share this link with anyone who may be interested.

If you are new to Sundays at All Hallows, you may find these directions helpful:

-It is recommended that after reading or hearing each lesson to take time to reflect on what you read or heard during the period of silence which follows each lesson. It is also recommended that you do the same thing after reading or hearing the message.

-When you open the link to a video in a new tab, check auto-play to make sure it is in the off position. Otherwise, a second video with a different song will follow the first.

-If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

-If a song begins partway through the video, click pause, move the slider to the beginning, and then click play.

-An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

May Sundays at All Hallows be a blessing to you.

Friday's Catch: 'Multisite churches — also known as franchises — are now a staple of American life' And More

Multisite churches — also known as franchises — are now a staple of American life
A new study of multi-site churches has found that such congregations have become commonplace, found in almost every state in the nation. Many of the 1,800 multisite churches have started a new location by merging with another church.

The Burge Report: America’s Largest Churches: What's Happened the Last Decade?
America’s largest churches are becoming significantly larger. A decade of Outreach 100 data shows that megachurch growth is increasingly concentrated among a relatively small group of established, evangelical, multisite congregations. Yet the picture is more complex than explosive growth alone: many longtime megachurches have grown only incrementally, many have declined, and the pandemic reshaped attendance in uneven and lasting ways.

Five Tips for Churches Considering Property Development
Mark Elsdon, Co-CEO and Lead Builder of RootedGood, shares five lessons to help church leaders reimagine their property, respond to community needs, and develop new expressions of ministry while creating sustainable futures for their congregations.

Rising food costs putting children’s futures at risk across the globe, World Vision warns
Rising food prices are putting the futures of millions of children around the world at risk, as families in many countries struggle to afford the basics, a new report from a leading Evangelical humanitarian organization has warned.

World Vision released its "Price Shocks 2026: The Affordability Crisis Moving Nutritious Diets Out of Reach" report last week, the fifth annual such survey. It compared the price of a basket of basic food with average wages in 62 countries, based on prices found at local markets for 10 common items, among them rice, flour, eggs, chicken and milk.

Nationalism is a discipleship challenge, say Christian leaders
The growth of nationalism is raising important questions about how churches disciple the people in their pews, a panel of Christian leaders told the Church Resources Exhibition 2026.

Regardless of Legal Indecision, Few Pastors Want to Endorse Candidate

Even if everything were legally settled to allow religious organizations to endorse candidates, few pastors would take that opportunity.

Yes, pretend Trump is on the ballot, because he is
According to Frederick Buechner, one of my favorite writers, “Generally speaking, if you want to know who you really are, as distinct from who you like to think you are, keep an eye on where your feet take you.”

So, as your feet take you into the voting booth now or on Nov. 3, please do what President Donald Trump has asked you to do: “Pretend that I am on the ballot.”

Actually, you don’t have to pretend at all, because every Republican candidate who has remained silent in the face of the president’s cruelty and ridicule and lying and greed might as well be Trump himself.

Two years into the Trump administration, tariffs and an unprovoked war with Iran, YouTube viewers are bombarded with Republican attack ads blaming the Biden administration for the nation's economic woes brought on by Trump's policies. This is rich considering who it comes from. The Republican congress has done next to nothing for the average American Joe but gone along with Trump and contributed to the nation's economic woes. And they want the public to believe that is the fault of the Democrats?! Independents like myself need to think real hard whether they want two more years of this nonsense.

The True Voice of Aslan
What 'The Chronicles of Narnia' say about the voice of the great Lion, and why it matters.

Improving the Worship Service Experience
What makes people choose a church and keep coming back? Russ Bredholt Jr. examines research on worship attendance and the factors that shape a meaningful church experience, from preaching and hospitality to community and connection. He challenges church leaders to look beyond attendance numbers and rethink how the entire worship experience can better serve their congregation.

Reformed Doesn’t Mean Robotic: A Case for Expressive Worship
Reformed theology is grounded in convictions concerning the Bible, salvation, the Church, God’s sovereignty and the gospel....Reformed theology doesn’t prescribe a single cultural style of worship for all Christian communities. This distinction is particularly important among African Christians. For while we should readily receive Reformed theology we must simultaneously ask whether certain inherited worship practices are biblical necessities or simply cultural expressions.

AI Panel Discussion with Gen. James Cartwright and Allison Pugh
As artificial intelligence continues to impact the ways that we work, connect, and care for each other, faith communities are still developing an understanding of what it means for the church, relationships, and ethics. In this discussion hosted by Wesley Theological Seminary, David McAllister Wilson is joined by Dr. Allison Pugh and General James Cartwright to examine both the opportunities and the risks of AI.

10,000 Digital Guides and the Need for Spiritual Fathers 

You and I live in a digital Corinth, and we too certainly have “countless guides in Christ” (1 Cor. 4:15). Podcasts, social media accounts, YouTube channels, book authors, Xers, Substackers, sermons from celebrity pastors we care for more than the ones coming from the pulpits at our own churches—we have countless guides in Christ. More countless than the Corinthians could have dreamed of.

And, also like them, we don’t have many spiritual fathers. The Corinthians at least had Paul. What about us? Can the swaths of Gen Zers getting the vast majority of their Christian content via their phones name anyone they could call a father in the faith?

Thursday's Catch: 'Why Your Church’s "Growth" Might Actually Be Churn' And More

Why Your Church’s "Growth" Might Actually Be Churn
Your attendance number might look steady, but is your church actually growing, or are you just churning people? In this episode, Scott and A.J. show how to look beneath the top line by following one group of people over three years, so you can see exactly where folks are slipping away: at the front door, in discipleship, or before they ever start serving. You will walk away with four simple numbers that tell you far more than average attendance ever could.

Why Non-Denominational Churches Are Dominating America
Between 2010 and 2020, nondenominational Christianity added roughly six and a half million adherents and about four thousand new congregations, while many of the best-known names in American Protestantism steadily lost ground. This documentary examines how churches with no denominational label became a major force in American religious life, and what that shift costs.

We trace five developments behind the rise: falling trust in familiar institutional names, the speed of local decision-making without layers of approval, the church planting networks that shortened the road to a new congregation, a Sunday experience built around families, children's ministry, and practical preaching, and a public of religious free agents who choose a church by fit, not family loyalty.

We also weigh the limits of the model, from dependence on a single lead pastor and the risks of succession to the ease with which a church built on attraction can be left. Along the way, we draw on survey research, congregational studies, and historians and sociologists of American religion, and we compare how Catholic and Orthodox traditions understand authority and unity.

This is a balanced, research-based look at a quiet change that became a major one, offered without arguing for or against independent churches or any denomination.

Survey shows a rise in Christian nationalism in Britain
The Christian nationalist movement is relatively new in Britain but has caused concern, including among bishops who have tried to disassociate the established Church of England from it, following large demonstrations and some well-known far-right, anti-migrant activists saying that they have become Christians.

Current and past senior ministers urge HPUMC to vote for disaffiliation
The current senior minister of Highland Park United Methodist Church and his two immediate predecessors have sent a message to congregants about why they should vote to leave The United Methodist Church.

And the three senior ministers directly counter the plea of a longtime former associate minister to slow down the process.

More Churches Feeling Economic Squeeze
Lifeway Research’s annual tracking survey reveals most pastors report the economy is negatively impacting their congregations.

An Honest Perspective on Celebrating Halloween as Christians
Halloween often creates unnecessary tension among Christians. Some avoid it because of its association with spiritual darkness and the occult, while others view it as a harmless cultural tradition centered on costumes, candy, and neighborhood fun. Josh and Sam discuss how churches do not need to retreat from their communities during Halloween.

‘Be Careful’ With Worship Music From Bethel, Hillsong and Elevation, Says Ministry Leader Allen Parr
“Some of the most popular worship songs that you’re probably listening to right now more than likely need to be removed from your worship playlist,” Bible teacher Allen Parr told viewers of his YouTube channel, THE BEAT by Allen Parr.

Parr speaks from inside church music. He served as a worship pastor before building his teaching ministry, and he holds a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. In a 16-minute video, he took Jesus’ words to the Samaritan woman in John 4 and turned them into four tests for worship in spirit and truth. Then he ran songs from Bethel, Hillsong and Elevation through those tests by name. Below are all four tests, the songs he flagged and a way to use the same filter on your next set list.

I have found that a number of "worship songs" from the three sources contain wording that is theologically unsound and a number of instances blatantly unscriptural. Most of the older worship songs were sounder in their theology and far more scriptural. They were also within the range of an average congregational singer.

Why Humans Pretend to Be Computers
The AI Christian Benchmark 2026, released last week by The Gospel Coalition and The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, exposes the wizard behind the AI curtain. Yes, when tested for Bible knowledge, AI outperforms all but the most dedicated and gifted seminary students. (I remember when my family challenged me to face my sister-in-law in a Bible knowledge contest. Seminary has nothing on Awana graduates!) Just as AI can solve math problems, you can trust AI to give accurate answers when asking for objective data about the biblical text.

Where AI fails is when you start to ask questions about ethics. We posed 10 questions on each of the Ten Commandments to the most popular AI models. When prompted to answer from the perspective of TGC’s Foundation Documents, the models gave perfectly credible explanations. But for anyone who asked these ethical questions without context, the models delivered destructive advice.

It’s not that the models rejected the Ten Commandments altogether. It’s that they picked and chose which commandments you should observe. Don’t steal, certainly. Best not murder, either. But remember the Sabbath day? Worship no other gods? Not so much.

It’s almost like AI gave you the ethical answers you’d expect from the average Silicon Valley computer programmer in 2026.

VOICES: Is doubt a sign Christian teens are drifting? A teenager says, “I believe in God,” but then they walk into school and open their phones or talk with friends and think about the future.

They navigate questions about everything from relationships to identity, success and belonging. Suddenly the question is no longer simply, “what do I believe?” It is, “because I believe it, how do I live?”

Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (October 22, 2026) Is Now Online

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

In this evening’s message we look at the reasons a Christian should persevere in prayer.

Reading: Luke 18:1-8

Message: Why Should a Christian Persevere in Prayer?

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/thursday-evenings-at-all-hallows_0261928356.html

Please feel free to share this link with anyone who may be interested.

If you are new to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows, you may find these directions helpful:

-It is recommended that after reading or hearing a lesson to take time to reflect on what you read or heard during the period of silence which follows the lesson. It is also recommended that you do the same thing after reading or hearing the message.

-When you open the link to a video in a new tab, check auto-play to make sure it is in the off position. Otherwise, a second video with a different song will follow the first.

-If an ad plays when you open a link to a video in a new tab, click the refresh icon of your browser until the song appears.

-If a song begins partway through the video, click pause, move the slider to the beginning, and then click play.

-An ad may follow a song so as soon as the song is finished, close the tab.

May Thursday Evenings at All Hallows be a blessing to you.

Wednesday's Catch: 'The Tightrope of Leading Growth: Why People Will Attack You' And More

The Tightrope of Leading Growth: Why People Will Attack You
Andrew Hopper saw his church plant grow to 1000 in two years, and almost nobody understood how hard that actually was. Especially when you planted at 28 years-old. In this conversation, he tackles church growth critics and he opens up about the tightrope of leading crazy growth in public.

US Episcopal Church membership falls below 1.5 million as decades-long decline continues
The US Episcopal Church has reported a further decline in membership and worship attendance, with new data it has fallen below 1.5 million members despite signs of post-pandemic stabilisation.

According to its 2025 Parochial Report, the Church’s membership now stands at 1,425,065, compared with nearly 2 million in 2015, continuing a downward trend that has persisted for decades.

Immigration Restrictions Keep Deputies From General Convention
Immigration restrictions and the threat of arrests by ICE are two reasons several deputies will not be able to attend the 82nd General Convention, which will be held in Phoenix next summer, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris told Executive Council on October 19.

The governing body, which functions as the board of directors of the Episcopal Church, meets several times annually during the triennium before General Convention. Its members gathered at the Church Center in Manhattan for their fall session.

Appeals court sides with Episcopal Church, interfaith partners in immigration enforcement lawsuit
A federal appeals court panel has ruled in favor of The Episcopal Church and 26 ecumenical and interfaith partners in a lawsuit contesting the Trump administration’s removal of “sensitive locations” protections for houses of worship in immigration enforcement.

The three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled, 2-1, that a lower court judge erred in finding that the faith-based plaintiffs lacked standing to file their lawsuit. The plaintiffs have argued that the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement actions have driven some worshippers to stay home.

Episcopal Church finds potential buyer for NYC headquarters
Four months after announcing plans to offload the 12-story building that houses its headquarters in midtown Manhattan, Episcopal Church leaders say they have found a potential buyer for the building, which is valued at nearly $52 million.

The church’s Executive Council authorized officers to negotiate a purchase agreement to sell the Episcopal Church Center at 815 Second Ave. during a regular meeting Monday, the denomination said in a statement. The council also passed a resolution adopting the Episcopal Church’s strategic plan, which includes the sale of the building.

Also See: Executive Council authorizes sale negotiations with potential buyer of church’s NYC headquarters

Prominent members weigh in on HPUMC vote
As the nation’s wealthiest United Methodist church readies to vote on a proposed split with its denomination, some church members are weighing in publicly with their opinions.

Members of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas will vote this coming Sunday and Monday on whether to sever ties with The United Methodist Church amid a dispute over changes to governing documents. Church leaders claim to want more control over their assets and property and clergy hiring, while denominational leaders say that’s not the way the UMC works.

Belonging and belief: Why evangelical churches draw many migrants in the US
Many migrants find community in evangelical churches in the U.S. – part of wider shifts in the country’s religious landscape.

More Americans believe Trump is ‘dangerous dictator’
An increasing number of Americans consider Donald Trump a threat to democracy and even more believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, according to a new study by Public Religion Research Institute.

Also See: White Evangelicals backing GOP midterm candidates, but other religious groups favor Democrats: Pew poll

Americans who go to church and trust science are also more likely to believe in ghosts and curses, new research shows
Belief in science and belief in magic can coexist.

Michael Roberts: Ghosts, Witches, and Apparitions
There was a time when Wesley was particularly interested in what we might call paranormal phenomena. And he made some interesting spiritual connections. He corresponded with family about ghosts in his childhood home. One was even given a name – Old Jeffery. John was away at school at the time but trusted that there was something to the stories. In addition, he spoke of people who believed they were possessed by the devil and received deliverance through prayer. He heard other stories with caution but not dismissal. Then comes the leap, where this interest led to a critique of the Enlightenment.

Wesley laments how “men of learning” had “given up all accounts of witches and apparitions.” To do so, in his reasoning, is also a step away from giving up the Bible. If they admit any “intercourse with separate spirits,” then “their whole castle in the air (Deism, Atheism, Materialism) falls to the ground.” Wesley does what he does so often. He tries to find middle ground between extremes. In his Journals, as he reviews a book about apparitions, Wesley admits how hard (and necessary) it is “to keep the middle way; not to believe too little or too much!”

Trump tries shifting child care funds to stay-at-home parents
The Trump administration wants to change a Clinton-era program designed to help working single mothers afford child care to instead help married, stay-at-home parents offset the cost of staying home.

The planned shift is part of the administration’s goal of adopting pro-family, pro-natalist policies proposed in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 that prioritize married couples over single mothers, who head about 20% of U.S. families.

Vice President JD Vance, the Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Family support changing guidelines for the Child Care and Development Fund, which was enacted by Congress in 1996 to help low-income parents afford child care so they can keep working to support their families.

Such a change would not only adversely affect working low-income parents but also churches and other NPOs that operate child care and early childhood development programs for the children of working low-income parents.

5 Signs Your Church Might Be Too Seeker Sensitive
Is it wrong for a church to be seeker sensitive? Pastor Adriel Sanchez expounds on the differences between seeker-sensitive and seeker-driven churches, and why ordering our services to be palatable for certain demographics is a way of domesticating the worship of God.

Evangelicals Must Reform Their Worship
Church isn't meant to be a dull routine or an entertainment-driven spectacle. It's a weekly heavenly ascent that transforms us to live the Christian life here on earth. Adriel Sanchez joins Michael Horton and Bob Hiller to discuss his book, Why We Worship: Experiencing Heaven on Earth at Church.

4 Steps for Deeper Scripture Meditation
To be sure, it’s a mistake to make “experience” the ultimate measure for whether or not our Scripture reading is “working.” And yet, we should acknowledge that there’s something wrong with being completely unmoved at God’s self-disclosure in his Word.

How can we move forward?

Discipleship Is Messy Because Relationships Are
Healthy, intentional relationships aren’t simply a means of discipleship; they’re an expression of it, as we grow in Christlikeness.