Tuesday's Catch: 'Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By SMALL Churches Than BIG Churches' And More

St. John's Anglican, Stuarttown, Ontario (Closed )

Mistakes More Likely To Be Made By SMALL Churches Than BIG Churches
Small churches are not just smaller versions of big churches.

Every size has value, but different sizes serve different functions in the body of Christ. They also have different challenges and they tend to make different kinds of mistakes.

Here are 5 mistakes that are more likely to be made by small churches than by big ones. The smaller, the more susceptible they are.

Churches must do more to equip Christians for evangelism, says J John
Churches need to devote more time and resources to evangelism and do more to equip their members to share their faith with non-Christians, evangelist Canon J John has said.

Speaking at the Church Resources Exhibition (CRE), the founder of the Philo Trust warned that many churches are devoting the overwhelming majority of their time and resources to worship and the wellbeing of existing congregations, while neglecting evangelism.

Churchwide Plan Targets Evangelism, Diocesan Support
Evangelism, supporting dioceses, and building a church built to last are the highlights of a strategic plan Executive Council adopted on October 19. The governing body, which functions as the board of directors of the Episcopal Church, gathered at the Church Center in Manhattan for its fall meeting.

Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe told Executive Council that the priorities laid out in “Our Courageous Witness,” developed during the council’s retreat in Puerto Rico over the summer, will “reorient our work as a churchwide body.” Rowe unveiled its priorities — witness, support, and sustain — and shared, in broad strokes, how they would be carried out.

The Executive Council may have developed and adopted a strategic plan but getting Episcopal dioceses, clergy, and laity on board may prove far more than daunting. For over three decades Episcopal clergy have been cultivating a culture in Episcopal churches antagonistic to evangelism. It was evident during the Decade of Evangelism in the 1990s and during the church planting initiative of the late Charles Jenkins, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana in the opening years of this century. It is a major factor that has contributed to the decline of the Episcopal Church. Posting "All are welcome. No exceptions" signs has not proven an effective means of outreach.

Legal Challenge to Project Spire Announced
A parish priest and a churchwarden have sought permission from the Charity Commission to launch a legal challenge to Project Spire, the Church of England’s plan to set up a £100 million fund as reparations for the church’s complicity in the transatlantic slave trade.

Bijan Omrani, a popular historian and churchwarden at St. Michael’s, Shute, in Devon, announced October 13 on X that he and the Rev. Jamie Franklin, the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic rector of Holy Trinity, Winchester, had sent the letter to the commission opposing the plan. Members of the church’s General Synod had been apprised of the likelihood of such a challenge at their meetings last July.

Civil rights groups sued to stop DHS voter intimidation
Civil rights and voting rights organizations have sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop its “secretive and unlawful effort” to gather and use sensitive voter information to help sabotage next month’s midterm elections.

“DHS claims that it needs this information to identify voter fraud. But DHS has no authority to stockpile voter data for a nationwide election-law dragnet, and in carrying out this policy it has disregarded federal safeguards and violated the privacy rights of millions of Americans,” the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and League of United Latin American Citizens charged in the action filed Oct. 15 in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Plaintiffs in the complaint are represented by Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

An ‘empathy gap' divides Americans ahead of the midterms, says PRRI report
A survey released Tuesday (Oct. 20) found that Republicans and evangelicals increasingly see empathy as a danger that can lead society away from God. The survey found that more than half of Americans see President Trump as a threat to democracy.

3 Reasons Christians Should Care About the Rule of Law
It’s common in our cultural moment to hear that “the rule of law is under attack.” Depending on your algorithm, the attackers come from different corners of the political-ideological spectrum.

In my legal practice, the rule of law seems to function. But headlines and anecdotes regularly cause me to wonder if its days are numbered. Media broadcasts daily claim that the rule of law is buckling, and international headlines regularly offer almost dystopian previews of what its total collapse might portend.

What the Respect for Marriage Act Means for Churches: Religious Liberty Protections Explained
The Respect for Marriage Act (RMA), passed into law in 2022, preserves important religious-liberty rights while requiring federal and state recognition of certain legally valid marriages.

Questions still occasionally circulate about protections churches receive under the Act. Here is what church leaders need to know.

The inspiring story of St Luke: the man who wrote a quarter of the New Testament
18 October is St Luke’s Day. This year’s observance has particular significance, marking the 500th anniversary of the first printed publication of Luke’s Gospel in English. This is the story....

5 Points of Possible Theological Confusion Among Your Churchgoers
Frequent confusion over these five theological questions reveals a lack of understanding of how Scripture addresses them.

A Guide to Praying the Daily Offices
In this article I offer a basic guide to praying the Daily Offices. The four offices with which Anglicans and Episcopalians in North America will be most familiar are the services of Morning and Evening Prayer, the service of Noon Day Prayer, and the service of Compline, or Prayer at the End of the Day. Some may be familiar with the Lucenary, or Lamp-Lighting Service, called the Order for Worship in the Evening in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; others may be familiar with the Litany, or General Intercession, used as a separate service.

For a growing number of Anglican and Episcopal congregations the Sunday service is Morning Prayer due to a shortage of priests and other factors. In future articles I will be looking at how celebrating Morning Prayer as the principal service on Sunday differs from celebrating Morning Prayer as a daily service on a weekday. I will also be looking at an alternative to Morning Prayer as the principal service on Sunday found in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and other more recent Prayer Books--the Service of the Word.

What Should I Do with My Doubts? 3 Suggestions
When someone has doubts in the Christian life, one of the things I remind them of is that it’s a very normal thing to have doubts. Christians have had doubts for generations. The Bible’s filled with people who doubted. Some of the most famous Christians we know of had serious moments of doubt. Martin Luther was famous for his doubting. Spurgeon had moments of crises of faith. The real question, though, is, What do you do when you have those doubts? What steps should a Christian take?

There are a number of steps that a Christian should take. The first thing to do when you have doubt is to recognize that you should not go it alone. When believers are doubting, they may be tempted to isolate themselves, like a wounded animal, and go off in the corner and be by yourself.

Image Credit: Historic Churches, Chapels and Places of Worship of Ontario

Monday's Catch: 'You Can’t Have Discipleship Without Evangelism' And More

You Can’t Have Discipleship Without Evangelism
The call to discipleship must always begin with evangelism: telling the lost about the life-changing gospel.

What I have observed is that Episcopal, United Methodist, Continuing Anglican, and Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) churches struggle with evangelism. They are not alone. Most mainline and evangelical churches do too. What I have also observed Episcopal, United Methodist, Continuing Anglican, and ACNA churches is that they have developed a church culture that is antagonistic toward evangelism. This observation was reinforced during a visit to a local Episcopal church when a retired Episcopal priest preached a sermon denigrating evangelism and the congregation enthusiastically agreed with her.

John Lennox urges Christians to overcome fear of sharing their faith
Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist Professor John Lennox has encouraged believers to be more confident in sharing their faith, stressing that evangelism is not reserved for preachers, theologians or those with extensive biblical knowledge.

In a wide-ranging interview with Christian apologetics organisation Solas, the 81-year-old professor reflected on his decades of defending Christianity publicly and offered practical advice to Christians who feel intimidated by questions about their beliefs.

Bishop urges churches to embrace growing interest in Christianity
The Bishop of Blackburn has called on churches across Lancashire to prepare for a renewed interest in Christianity, saying there are encouraging signs of a “rebirth” among young people and families exploring faith.

The Rt Rev Philip North said Christians must move beyond a narrative of decline and become more confident in sharing the Gospel as churches report new people attending services after first exploring Christianity online.

Also See: How did Bishop Philip North slip through the managerialist episcopal net?

Episcopal Church membership has dropped by nearly 500K since 2015
The Episcopal Church's years-long decline continued in 2025, with the denomination having nearly 500,000 fewer members than a decade earlier, according to a new report.

The Episcopal Church was the church of my teen years and the church to which I returned in my 30s. In the 1980s and the 1990s I was involved in planting and pioneering a new Episcopal church and for a short time in the opening decade of this century I was also involved in launching a second new church plant, one of two new works started in the Diocese of Louisiana at that time. The events of 2003 damaged the public image of the Episcopal Church in a conservative state and resulted not only a sudden drop in church attendance and giving across the diocese but caused the closure of one of these church plants and the slow death of the other. Of the five remaining Episcopal churches in the part of the Diocese of Kentucky in which I live, only one has a priest of its own. For the sacraments the others must secure the services of a supply priest, often from the Diocese of West Tennessee. It is sad to see what has happened to the Episcopal Church both nationally and regionally.

Executive Council backs presiding bishop’s strategic vision for The Episcopal Church
Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe on Oct. 19 presented publicly for the first time his sweeping, point-by-point strategic vision for The Episcopal Church, titled “Our Courageous Witness,” that combines Christian witness in the public square, greater support for dioceses and congregations and structural and financial changes intended to sustain the church for years to come.

The 15-year framework, which is expected to guide a restructured triennial churchwide budget for 2028-30, was endorsed in a vote by Executive Council, the church’s governing and oversight body between meetings of General Convention. The council adopted the plan unanimously without discussion during a livestreamed session.

3 reasons all churches should pay attention to HPUMC right now
Why is a Baptist-affiliated news service spending so much time writing about the Methodists these days?

The answer is simple: Because the legal battle between Highland Park United Methodist Church and The United Methodist Church has implications for all churches — especially those with denominational identifications.

Also See: Dallas megachurch to vote on leaving UMC

The End of the Methodist Church? Why Baptists Are Taking Notes
The Methodist Church is on the brink of a historic split, and Baptists are watching closely to see how the situation unfolds. In this video, we explore the reasons behind the split and what it could mean for the future of the Methodist Church. We also examine why Baptists are paying close attention to the developments, and what lessons they can learn from the experience. With the Methodist Church's traditional stance on social issues being challenged, the split has significant implications for the wider Christian community. Join us as we delve into the complexities of the situation and discuss the potential consequences for the Methodist Church and beyond. Whether you're a Methodist, Baptist, or simply interested in the latest developments in the Christian world, this video is for you. Stay informed and up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.

VOICES: Yes, LGBT identity really is in free fall
What goes up so quickly will eventually come down just as fast.

This is precisely what has happened with gay and trans identity among American teens after our national LGBT social acid trip.

This development merits further study as does other developments which may affect the Episcopal church and other mainline churches not only in the near future but also the present. Both conservative and progressive Christians are prone to wishful thinking. Knowing your community, its culture and subcultures, and what members of the community and its various groups believe and value, and being sensitive to these beliefs and values is essential to reaching and engaging that community.

Greta Gerwig’s Sincere Subversion of Narnia
I have a confession: I like Greta Gerwig, even though she annoys me. I’ve written about why she already annoyed me even before I learned she was going to do weird stuff with her adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew for Netflix. The main Discourse around that adaptation has focused on her choice to cast Meryl Streep as the voice of Aslan. Writing for The Daily Wire, I observed that this is just the latest in a line of feminist choices in her filmmaking, from the decision to scrub out Jo’s marriage in Little Women to the emasculating portrayal of Ken and his fellow witless guy dolls in Barbie. Beyond this, Gerwig announced that she was taking other stylistic liberties with the aesthetics of Narnia, infusing it with a confusing jumble of Things Greta Gerwig Likes which may be cool in their place, yet make little sense when superimposed onto Lewis’s vision. Now that we’ve gotten a first trailer…well, see for yourself....

What Is the Most Important Part of a Church Service?
To ask whether one part of a church service is more important than another is like asking whether the most important ingredient in bread is the flour, the yeast, or the water. It’s a nonsense question because if you take away any of those ingredients, you don’t have bread. If you eat only the flour but skip the water, you may have eaten something, but it’s not bread. If you knead together yeast and water, you have created some substance, but it’s not dough and if you bake it, it won’t emerge as a well-formed loaf. You need it all to make something that is genuine, that is nourishing, that you can describe as bread.

Why Did American Churches Silence the Choir for a Worship Band? (Part 2)
The disappearance of the church choir wasn’t just about replacing organs with electric guitars—it changed the very nature of how we sing together. In Part 2 of this documentary series, we dive deeper into the technical, cultural, and practical mechanics behind the decline of congregational singing in American sanctuaries.

From unsingable pop-vocal ranges and commercial songwriting to high decibel levels and the rise of paid session musicians, we examine why modern churchgoers increasingly find themselves listening rather than singing out. We trace how the transition from four-part hymnal harmonies to dark, sound-dampened auditoriums altered the physical and theological landscape of Sunday morning worship.

Young people are finding their way to the Christian faith through media, says bishop
Christians working in the media are on the frontline of helping people find faith, says Church of England Bishop Ruth Bushyager.

She told a conference organised by Christians in Media that most of the increasing numbers of people exploring the gospel today are turning to media sources.

Children’s declining wellbeing linked to lack of belonging, Christian charity warns
A fifth of young people across the UK struggle to feel at home in their local area, according to a new report from Christian charity The Children’s Society.

Its ‘Good Childhood Report 2026’ warns of a concerning link between social isolation and declining childhood wellbeing, and highlights the importance of supportive relationships, welcoming community spaces, and trusted adults in helping children develop a sense of belonging.

Sundays at All Hallows (October 18, 2026) Is Now Online

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday, October 18, 2026, is the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity. It is also the feast day of Saint Luke the Evangelist. Luke wrote one of three Synoptic Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, an account of the New Testament Church, particularly the conversion of the apostle Paul, his missionary efforts, and his arrest and his appeal to the Roman Emperor which led to his imprisonment and subsequent execution in Rome. Luke was one of Paul’s companions at various times on his missionary journeys and travels. In his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles Luke emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis has earned the two documents, which form a single narrative, the description of being “the gospel of the Holy Spirit.”

The topic of this Sunday’s message is Jesus’ command to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field.

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: Isaiah 35: 3-6, 2 Timothy 4: 5-17, and Luke 10: 1-9

Message: “Pray to the Lord of the Harvest….”

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/sundays-at-all-hallows-october-18-2026.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.

Saturday Lagniappe: 'How Fast-Growing Churches Help Other Churches Thrive' And More

How Fast-Growing Churches Help Other Churches Thrive
For many fast-growing churches, their thankfulness toward God is expressed in how they serve other congregations. But receiving thanks from the churches they helped wasn’t the reason they decided to care for other congregations. Their motivation flowed from sources much deeper and more intrinsic to their identity.

How to Be a Church for Young Adult Skeptics
The challenge in reaching skeptics isn’t a lack of answers. It’s creating enough space for their questions to lead them toward the answers.

Stop Losing New Guests: How To Automate Church Visitor Follow-Up
Every first-time guest deserves a timely, personal response. These five easy workflows automate church visitor follow-up so no connection card gets left in a stack.

Are we ready to battle for the Gospel?
Dozens of church leaders gathered in Glasgow and online for The Evangelism Conference 2026 where they heard a sobering message from Rico Tice about what it will take to pass on the Gospel to the next generation.

Tice, a seasoned evangelist and co-founder of Christianity Explored, said that if Christians are serious about seeing more people come to faith, they need to embrace the “soldier’s life” and be “ready to suffer”.

“It’s a war,” Tice said.

“If you want to pass on the Gospel, it’s going to be brutal … Are we ready to battle?”

Nicky Gumbel elected to Church of England parliament with a call to put evangelism first
The founder of the globally influential Alpha Course, the Rev Nicky Gumbel, has been elected to the Church of England’s General Synod.

The 71-year-old former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) was elected to represent the Diocese of London in the House of Clergy, marking his first term on the Church’s national governing body.

Scottish Bishop Suspended Again
Troubled Bishop Anne Dyer of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney has been suspended from ministry for a third time just months before her planned retirement, according to an October 13 statement by the Scottish Episcopal Church.

The church’s first female bishop, Dyer has been a lightning rod for controversy throughout her eight-year tenure. When she was appointed by the church’s House of Bishops in 2018, half of the diocesan clergy protested because of her support for same-sex marriage, and she was suspended twice during a period of more than two years after allegations of bullying were raised against her.

In rare joint statement, evangelicals and Catholic bishops urge compassionate immigration laws
Catholic bishops and leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals drew on the Bible and Declaration of Independence to make a case for immigration reform.

‘Evangelicals leave the Church of England’ – a long lost speech has been rediscovered
A recording of a speech that sent shockwaves around the evangelical world, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaking in 1966 in London, has been rediscovered and made public on the internet by the Martyn Lloyd-Jones trust. A Youtube version is here. (A text version was published in Banner of Truth’s book Knowing the Times in 1989.) Lloyd-Jones, a key evangelical leader, speaking at the National Assembly of Evangelicals in London, called for visible evangelical unity and for evangelicals to leave mixed denominations like the Church of England.

Iona Collaborative helps small congregations bridge the leadership gap
According to the most recent Parochial Report published this week by The Episcopal Church, a full half of congregations had an average Sunday attendance of 50 or fewer in 2025. Yet those smaller congregations account for just 15% of worshipers; the remaining 85% attend churches with an average Sunday attendance of 51 or more. That kind of lopsided distribution, and the funding disparity that comes with it, makes it challenging for those smaller parishes and missions to recruit priests to serve their communities.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, which averages about 30 congregants on any given Sunday, is a case in point. After searching for a rector for two years, the parish in June 2024 announced the Rev. Erik Broeren was their choice — as did St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church 2.4 miles away in Benton Harbor. Broeren now alternates between the two: On the Sundays he’s there, he presides over the Eucharist, and on the Sundays he’s not, licensed lay preacher and longtime congregant Freya Gilbert oversees Morning Prayer, including a sermon.

“In rural settings or small towns like we’re in, you’re going to see more priests who are called to multiple parishes at the same time,” Broeren told the Episcopal News Service. “We have to empower our laity to live into their ministry as worship leaders, as preachers, as educators. To me, there’s no other way forward.”

What Is Preaching For?
just have to say it,” my friend, a theologian, recently said. “I don’t like sermons anymore.” The confession was honest and forthright, but not all that surprising. My impression is that my friend’s feeling is not terribly unique. People ache for good preaching. A Pew Research study from 2015 found that “quality sermons” were one of, if not the, most important factor for what leads people to choose a church.

But what makes for “quality” preaching? This is a substantive and urgent area for conversation, and Covenant has published numerous essays on preaching in the past year, hopefully provoking more conversations. In order to understand what makes for good preaching, we ought to give some thought to the end, the telos, of preaching.

Why Did American Churches Silence the Choir for a Worship Band?
Why did the choir disappear from the pews? We trace the shift from traditional sacred music to the modern worship band..

In 1963, the Second Vatican Council explicitly promoted the role of the church choir, yet today, these ensembles are increasingly absent from American sanctuaries. This documentary explores the history of sacred music to understand how the aesthetic and functional expectations of congregational singing have evolved over the last sixty years.

We trace how the rise of the modern worship band reflects broader shifts in American Christianity, from changing household economics to the reconfiguration of Sunday morning liturgy. By examining the move away from traditional liturgical music, we look at the sociological and practical reasons why local congregations prioritized contemporary sounds over established choir traditions, offering a new perspective on this quiet chapter of church history.

Also See: What Really Silenced the American Church Choir After 1995

6 Steps to Improve Your Church’s Singing
Here are a few words of practical advice on how pastors in particular can encourage loud, exuberant congregational singing in their churches.

Also See: 5 Ways to Improve Your Small Congregation’s Singing

The World Doesn’t Need You to Be Angry 

Every so often, I find myself drawn to one specific book of the Bible. No matter how many times I read it, I can’t get away from it. Most often, that’s been the Psalms. But recently, it’s been 1 Thessalonians. While not being one of the more popular epistles, this letter and it’s encouragements for enduring perseverance, questions about anti-Christs, and calls for personal holiness in the last days, is one I’m stuck in (in a good way).

And it’s especially that call to holiness that keeps me pouring over the letter’s words, as he reminded the Thessalonians that their conduct affected their witness.

Image Credit: Outreach Magazine

Friday's Catch: 'Parochial Report: Church Membership Down, ASA Stable' And More

Parochial Report: Church Membership Down, ASA Stable
The 2025 iteration of the Parochial Report, which paints a picture of church life in numbers, reveals that the Episcopal Church’s membership decline persists, while in-person attendance has stabilized in the post-pandemic period. The most recently available data represent 91.9 percent of Episcopal parishes and missions.

A data-gathering practice of the church since the early 19th century, the Parochial Report showed that membership in both 2024 and 2025 stood at 1.4 million, down from 2 million in 2015. The figure is also less than half the church’s peak membership of more than 3.5 million, reached 60 years ago.

Also See: Episcopal Church 2025 Parochial Report shows attendance stabilizing and new data on congregational life

Research uncovers some of the reasons why young people go to church
A new survey has given greater insight into the reasons why young people in the US go to church, with the desire to reconnect with their faith unsurprisingly getting the top spot.

The research, conducted by Barna, found that 43 per cent of young adults attended church in order to reconnect with their faith.

The joint second most commonly cited reasons, at 30 per cent each, were the desire to know oneself better and to improve their mental health.

Using What You Already Have to Jumpstart Outreach
What kind of reputation does your church have in the community? Laura Heikes suggests the answer may have less to do with your worship service or programs and more to do with how you show up in the life of your neighborhood. Drawing on examples of churches turning overlooked resources into opportunities for hospitality, she offers a simple framework for discovering what God has already placed in your hands and the impact it can have on ministry.

VOICES: Older members may be your church's best discipleship resource
Every Sunday, the doors of a rural church open again. A Sunday school teacher arrives for a class that may have fifteen people one week and eight the next. Before worship, members talk about their families, share concerns and pray for one another. Afterward, they return to their homes and Sunday lunch tables. A few days later, many gather again to open their Bibles and pray.

Between those gatherings come the hospital visits, funerals and phone calls from families facing a difficult week. Within that familiar rhythm are believers who have followed Christ for decades. Their presence has become so ordinary that a congregation can stop noticing what they have to offer.

Churches rightly ask how to reach new people and disciple the next generation. Yet we can invest considerable effort in finding resources elsewhere while overlooking faithful believers already sitting beside us. Whether a congregation meets in the country, a suburb, or a city, the experience of its older members deserves a place in its discipleship.

Church members are not exempt from domestic violence, author warns
Research and painful experience consistently demonstrate domestic violence is as prevalent in churchgoing families as it is in the general population, author and domestic abuse survivor Geneece Goertzen said.

“I want pastors to acknowledge and admit this is an issue in their congregations, and that the church is not better than people outside the church when it comes to domestic violence,” said Goertzen, author of the new book Taking It Seriously: A Faith Leader’s Guide to Domestic Violence.

Acknowledging the presence of battered members is crucial to their survival and well-being and to ending church complicity in ongoing and future cases of abuse, Goertzen said in an interview.

Dementia: Beyond Forgetting — Free Webinar
I keep forgetting where I left my keys and can’t remember the names of all of my grandchildren—do I have dementia? What causes dementia and what can I do to prevent it from happening to me? How can we better serve family members and congregants with dementia? How can I make the upcoming holidays dementia friendly?

Florida churches turn backpack drives into a gateway to immigration advocacy
Beyond supporting families in distress, the group hopes to activate Christians, especially white or English-speaking evangelicals, to help immigrants as deportations have ramped up.

Church warden and rector lead legal challenge against Church of England's Project Spire
A church warden and a rector in the Church of England have sought permission from the Charity Commission to initiate a legal challenge against Project Spire, the controversial plan to commit £100 million towards reparations for the Church’s alleged historical links to the transatlantic slave trade.

The prospect of a legal challenge has been on the cards for some time. Last year Conservative MPs and peers wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, urging her to abandon the plans and stating that Charity Commission rules require charitable funds be used for the purpose for which they were donated.

“By law, the endowment must be used to support parish ministry, maintain church buildings, and care for the Church’s historic records," the letter said.

What Do I Think of the Trailer of Gerwig’s Magician’s Nephew?
Apparently, according to some tweets I saw somewhere or other, the film was supposed to be released in December but it’s been moved to February when people don’t bother to go see films. This indicates that the people who are making the movie have lost confidence in their own efforts. Also, apparently, some people saw the film and said it was “awful.” Here’s my shocked face… oops, I don’t have one.

Greta Gerwig is clearly showing herself to be the wrong person to translate one of the stories of C. S. Lewis' iconic and much loved Chronicles of Narnia into a film. She is out of her depth.

You Become What You Listen To; You Are Formed By What You Read
I’m reading quite a bit about the death of nonfiction books, and the more I read, the more discouraged I am. As an editor and an author, my life is built around books. My wife can attest that we have far too many: my shelves are double-stacked, and book piles abound in my small basement office.

So as many are talking about the death of nonfiction, and others attempt to diagnose it, I want to reframe the discussion to look at what is at stake as readers, particularly of history books, shift to podcasts for their content consumption.

Meditation as a Bridge to Prayer
Why does prayer sometimes feel empty and lacking? There may be many answers to this question, most you have likely heard before. We are human, finite, and still struggling against sin in this world, therefore our prayer lives are rarely what we hope they would be. But the Bible also teaches us that lacking content or depth in prayer may also arise from a surprising problem: our lack of biblical meditation.

Meditation is a fundamentally Christian concept. Eastern religions and Hollywood proclaim meditation to be a state of emptiness where one allows the contents of the mind to disappear or drop out of sight. For Christians, meditation is a fixing of the mind on the word of God.

How Churches Can Better Support Moms in the Unseen Midnight Moments of Motherhood
Sam welcomes Susan K. Pitts and Becky Thompson to the Rainer on Leadership podcast. They are a mother-daughter team who have built their lives around encouraging moms right in the middle of everyday life. Susan has spent over forty years in ministry, walking alongside women and families with wisdom and compassion. She is the prayer director for the Midnight Mom Devotional and co-author of the Midnight Mom Devotional books. Becky has spent the last decade creating resources to equip and encourage the heart of the momma. They are both bestselling authors and Becky is a national speaker who speaks honestly about faith and family.

They are the authors of two devotional books, "Tonight We Pray for the Momma" and "Midnight Mom Devotional" and are the content writers for the devotional content in the "Midnight Mom Devotional Bible." In addition, they have a vibrant social media community on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok where they lead over 2 million mommas in nightly prayer.

It Is Hard to Be 10 Years Old in America Right Now
Church leaders have a responsibility to advocate for children’s well-being and inspire their congregations to do the same. Through the 2026 National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, Trevor Beauford challenges faith communities to listen to children, advocate for their needs, and take meaningful action to address the challenges they face.

When the Fall Gets Busy, Anchor Your Family in Church
The slow days of summer are in the books. As evening temperatures begin to cool, hints of autumn are emerging. Alongside such whispers of fall come the gale-force winds of the family calendar: school, sports, and extracurricular activities. Excitement rises alongside tension as children settle into a new school year and parents try to piece together what often feels like an impossible jigsaw puzzle, schedule-wise.

I remember those days well, as I homeschooled four children involved in many activities. Between school, practice, lessons, and social events, autumn felt overwhelming. I am eternally grateful that my husband and I drew a firm line: church was non-negotiable.

Thursday's Catch: 'Mind the (Age) Gap' And More

Mind the (Age) Gap 

Researchers at CoGenerate have a name for what we’ve lost: our “intergenerational infrastructure,” or the everyday relationships that once connected people across age and experience. Their national survey of religious adults found that more than a third of respondents say their religious community makes no effort to connect older and younger members, and nearly half said they’d be more likely to participate in religious activities if those activities were designed to build relationships across age groups. People can see the gap. They just don’t know how to close it.

Churches haven’t lost this infrastructure by accident. For many decades now, we’ve built ministry around what Virginia Theological Seminary’s Roots & Wings project calls an “age-and-stage” model. Children learn in Sunday school. Teenagers have youth group. College students find their own campus ministry. Adults attend adult formation. None of this is wrong, since each ministry meets a real need, but it also reflects a broader cultural tendency to organize life around age cohorts rather than relationships, and researchers are increasingly asking whether we’ve unintentionally lost something essential by assuming that faith is best formed when generations are kept separate. The alternative isn’t simply older adults teaching younger ones. It’s every generation both teaching and learning, so that ministry moves in more than one direction.

How Churches Can Respond to the Loneliness Epidemic
In a Surgeon General’s Advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that America is facing a public health epidemic of loneliness, isolation and disassociation that is linked to anxiety, depression and even increased mortality. Not only do adults report persistent loneliness, but the most digitally connected generation in history also is the most relationally disconnected.

If loneliness is the defining ache of our time and community is the church’s defining gift, then this isn’t merely a cultural problem—it is a great missional opportunity.

What the Church Growth Movement Got Wrong (And Right)
Jimmy Mellado unpacks what the church growth movement got right and wrong from the 90s through 2010s, why concentrated power without governance breaks leaders, the ingredients that go into moral failure, and what scale costs a pastor.

Plus, he shares lessons from his time as an Olympian. This one's for leaders who've mistaken growth for health.

What Happened to 8 Megachurches After Their Pastors Fell
This article looks at eight high-profile large churches after leaders fell or were removed. For each, we compare the size before the scandal or problem; what happened to attendance, leadership, and money; and where things stand now.

Hitting Home Runs with Church Marketing
Sam interviews David Graham of Five Loaves Marketing, and they talk about the best ways for churches to utilize marketing resources.

Volunteer at Their Own Church? What Pastors Need to Know
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has addressed an important question that often arises in church workplaces: When may a church employee volunteer additional time for the church without that time becoming compensable work under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?

Texas megachurch may leave UMC amid ongoing legal battle with conference
A Texas megachurch will consider leaving the United Methodist Church amid an ongoing legal battle over changes it made to its governing documents.

Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) in Dallas held a town hall meeting Sunday to discuss the possibility of leaving the mainline Protestant denomination.

Court to side with 70 South Carolina churches seeking to leave the UMC
A South Carolina judge is expected to dismiss cases brought by the UMC’s South Carolina Conference against about 70 congregations seeking to leave with their property, the conference announced.

The UMC South Carolina Conference announced an update on Tuesday regarding litigation between the regional body and 70 churches seeking to leave the denomination with their properties. The conference said it learned of the ruling Monday.

Pentagon’s Religious Trends Raise Concerns
The late Martin Marty, noted church historian, scholar, and distinguished educator, once said that in matters of warfare, “When God gets called in, things get worse.” He continued, “When people become convinced they are acting on God’s orders, it gives them an excuse to be less humane.” Recent developments related to “matters of warfare” make Marty’s warning a current dilemma for many people of faith.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was confirmed to his position In January of 2025. Since that time, actions and statements of his have led to concern regarding Hegseth’s understanding of the place of religion in relation to warfare, the military, and the Pentagon. The relationship of religious faith to warfare has always been complicated. Scholars, political leaders, and people of faith have worked through the years to examine and carefully monitor that connection. Today that work continues.

Teens less likely to identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, prompting debate over why: report
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that fewer younger teenagers are identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual, with the steepest decline occurring among ninth-grade girls, prompting debate over what may be driving the change.

According to an analysis of the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, 17% of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual in 2025, down from 30% in 2021. Over the same period, the share identifying specifically as bisexual fell from 26% to 13%.

AI Makes Sermon Prep Effortless. That’s the Problem.
We shouldn’t overlook or minimize Paul’s repeated emphasis on hard work.

Pastor, when you’re considering whether to use AI in your sermon preparation, first ask, ‘What am I forfeiting by using AI to do this?

Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (October 15, 2026) Is Now Online

 

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

In this evening’s message we take a look at the three sayings of Jesus in Luke 9: 57-62, the circumstances in which Jesus said them, and their implications for Christians and those exploring the Christian faith and life.

Reading: Luke 9: 57-62

Message: Three Short Sayings of Jesus

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/thursday-evenings-at-all-hallows_01996267318.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: 'Christian beliefs increasingly unfamiliar to British public, research finds' And More

Christian beliefs increasingly unfamiliar to British public, research finds
A growing number of people across Britain are unclear about basic Christian teachings, according to new research that finds religious uncertainty has increased considerably over the past eight years.

The findings, published in the 2026 State of Theology survey, point to a decline in familiarity with Christian doctrine among the general public, even as churches report signs of renewed interest in Christianity and an “influx” of newcomers attending services.

Military archbishop asks that Catholics be excused from livestreamed execution
The archdiocese’s statement adds to the list of faith leaders who have condemned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plans to livestream the execution of former Major Nidal Hasan.

Also See: Catholic and Methodist leaders condemn livestreamed firing squad

When justice becomes a spectacle
When did killing someone become a measure of justice? And when did watching someone die become entertainment?

Also See: Alypius, Public Executions, and the Formation of Souls

In Canada, New Push for Euthanasia for People with Dementia
The government is now promoting euthanasia for people with dementia.

Here’s what a Baptist sees in the HPUMC legal dispute
Here’s how this looks to a Baptist outsider with more than average knowledge of The United Methodist Church: The denomination’s second-largest church intentionally changed its governing documents to allow the possibility of withdrawing from the UMC. And once the denomination learned about and objected to that quiet change, the church is threatening indeed to leave.

Based on this logic, if Bishop Reuben Saenz had just left well enough alone, Highland Park United Methodist Church would have had the escape hatch it wanted without anyone needing to know about it or worry about it.

Also See: Maryland appeals court says 37 churches must pay up to leave UMC

Global Methodist Church cuts ties with seminary over ‘doctrinal commitments’
The Global Methodist Church has cut ties with an Ohio-based seminary, with the theologically conservative denomination citing multiple differences, including “doctrinal commitments.”

GMC announced last week that it was ending its relationship with United Theological Seminary (UTS), a Dayton-based institution that had been an approved school for the denomination since 2024.

Thousands petition Netflix to remove Greta Gerwig from future Narnia films: 'A disrespect to Lewis'
A grassroots petition urging Netflix to remove Greta Gerwig as director of future adaptations of "The Chronicles of Narnia" has garnered signatures from thousands of fans who worry she is unfaithfully adapting C.S. Lewis' classic Christian allegory.

Chaz Migliacci, who began the petition last month and moderates a Facebook group for Narnia fans with more than 81,000 members, told The Christian Post that while many have been focusing on the theological implications of actress Meryl Streep voicing Aslan, some of their concerns go deeper.

C.S. Lewis himself did not consider The Chronicles of Narnia to be a Christian allegory but rather a collection of stories imagining how Christ might make himself known in a world different from ours. The changes Greta Gerwig has made in his work, The Magician's Nephew, defeat his original purpose as they do not accurately reflect his narrative and his orthodox biblical understanding of Christ. Rather the movie reflects Gerwig's own ideological views.

VOICES: Is the LGBT fad fading?
...for younger Americans, the novelty of being gay, bi, nonbinary, and trans is wearing off.

At the same time...the numbers have not moved significantly among older Americans, especially millennial women.This means that young people will continue be taught and influenced by adults who remain convinced that it’s their sacred duty to promote LGBT identification and lifestyles. This means that young people who question the validity of such categories will inevitably find themselves in conflict with older, true believers.

This development is going to impact the ability of churches committed to an agenda of radical inclusivity to reach and engage younger Americans should it increasingly characterize their segment of the population.

Why Christianity Is Worth Rethinking
What if the most important questions people are asking about Christianity are no longer about whether it's true, but whether it can make sense of their lives?

Do we truly give thanks for harvest and the harvesters?
Are you noticing a slight chill in the air, perhaps a crunchy leaf underfoot, or washed out greens slowly turning into brilliant reds and oranges? Autumn is arriving, and with it the seasonal celebration of harvest.

In the United States turkey and football are the most common associations with Thanksgiving Day. Few churches have services on that day and few people attend the services of churches that do.

Pitfalls in Preaching: A Letter on Application
The following letter was published in the December 2025 issue of the Banner Magazine. It is published here at the request of a reader who found it helpful, in the hope that its counsel might be blessed to others also. You can also listen to a reading of this letter on the Banner Podcast.

When Following Jesus Leads to an Ending
Following Jesus may lead you away from places you wished to stay. But if you keep following Him, you will end up exactly where God intends.

Tuesday's Catch: 'The Best Way To Avoid Pastor Burnout? Equip The Saints' And More

St. Oswald's Church, Grasmere, Cumbria

The Best Way To Avoid Pastor Burnout? Equip The Saints
The longer I’m in ministry the more I’m convinced that one of the prime reasons for pastoral burnout is that too many pastors are ignoring a simple command. Equip the saints.

The New Testament doesn’t emphasize the role of pastor nearly as much as our current church structure does. In fact, there’s just one passage – one! – in which the role of the pastor (along with apostles, prophets, evangelists, and teachers) is mentioned.

To be sure, there are plenty of passages about bishops, overseers, and more that apply to pastors, but Ephesians 4:11-12 could easily be called the pastoral prime mandate. In that passage, the Apostle Paul clearly tells us we have been called “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

Even in a small church, where the pastor often has to do more of the mundane tasks than our big-church friends do, we’re never exempted from the pastoral mandate to make disciples by equipping the saints.

Why the Decline of Church Transfer Growth is a Good Thing
Isn't any growth in a local church a good thing? Jess and Thom demonstrate why one particular type of growth can do more harm than good.

How to Eliminate Programs and Ministries
Most church leaders acknowledge that their churches are too busy and that their church calendars are too cluttered. Jess and Thom share a simple process for focusing on the right ministries and eliminating or minimizing others.

When Are Half Your Members Going to be Dead?
The tipping point for many denominations is not that far away.

Why Do Educated People Go to Church More?
It’s not about work schedules, free time, or even how religious they are.

Why Private Religion and Public Religion Tell Different Stories
Plus: a quiz to see where you land on both.

US evangelicals more religious than other Christians, but still declining
A professor at Washington University has used Pew research data to argues that while US evangelicals take their faith more seriously than Christians of other traditions, they are still being secularised, albeit at a slower rate.

Looking at a “composite religiosity index” (CRI), which essentially merges together factors like the importance of religion in a person’s life, church attendance and certainty in God’s existence, Professor Ryan Burge reports that since at least 2007 evangelicals have been consistently more religious than other traditions by a large margin.

Christianity teaches us not to turn executions into entertainment
The history of public executions suggests that when they are staged in free countries, they serve to degrade the citizens.

Also See: Theobro pastor Joel Webbon calls for public execution of Mike Huckabee

Immigration fears shape views of Britishness and Christianity, report finds
Anxiety about immigration and cultural change is closely linked to how people view British identity and Christianity’s place in national life, according to a new report by the religion and society think tank Theos.

Addressing the Pastor Shortage With the Gospel
The church in Canada has a serious problem: there are not enough pastors, even for the churches that already exist. In a now somewhat famous article in Faith Today, “Waking up to the pastor shortage”, Rick Hiemstra writes, “evangelicalism in Canada, as a movement, needs 625 new pastors per year over the next 12 years just to deal with retirement attrition. And of course, that’s not the only reason pastors leave active ministry.”

With this qualification, too, the problem is still understated, because addressing this issue would not touch the lack of church planters needed to start new churches.

What’s so fascinating about Church of England vicars?
Church of England priest Pippa White has more than 32,000 followers on TikTok, her online posts have been seen by millions, and she has just published a book explaining clerical life for a non-church audience.

In Not a Priestess, Pippa “brings her uniquely offbeat perspective to life as a young, female priest navigating the Church of England."

The London church that helped shape a nation: 300 years of St Martin-in-the-Fields
Few parish churches are as famous as St Martin-in-the-Fields in central London. This year, it marks its 300th anniversary. This is the story....

At one time Mayfield, Kentucky, in the Jackson Purchase, had an Episcopal church named after this famous London church. It was closed in 2006, in part due to its poor location and lack of visibilty, at the end of a culdesac, in an aging subdivision, a culdesac that was not directly accessible from a main artery of the town but required taking three different streets to reach. What ultimately caused the demise of the church was the appointment of a vicar who was not a good match with the conservative population of the community but who fit with the diocese's agenda of promoting radical inclusion.

LOST CHORDS: England’s Forgotten Hymns
In this episode Ben Maton plays the organ of St. Peter's Church, a Victorian church located in Hornblotton, Somerset, and built between 1872 and 1874 by architect Sir Thomas Graham Jackson for rector Godfrey Thring. Thring loved church music, wrote a number of hymns and published several hymn collections. The church's interior reflects the Victorian obsession with the medieval church. Note that the choir stalls face each other, a hangover from the medieval monastic church when the chancel was the church and the monks were the congregation who sang the monastic daily offices throughout the day and into the night and the nave was a barn attached to the church.The church has no rood screen which would have hidden the Lord's Table and muffled the voices of the choir. As it is is, this placement of the choir requires the choristers to turn in their stalls to face the congregation to be heard and is ill-suited for Prayer Book worship, an admission its admirers are loathe to make!

Are You Using AI to Think, or to Stop Thinking?
Does using AI make you dumber? A Brown University professor thought take-home exams would help his students after a tragedy on campus. Instead, the class average hit 96%, then crashed to 48% the moment laptops were banned.

The problem isn't AI. It's how we're using it to skip the thinking instead of sharpen it.

In this video, I share how to use AI to build your mind instead of outsourcing it. What's your take? 

Monday's Catch: 'What Any Church Can Do to Reach More Young Adults' And More

What Any Church Can Do to Reach More Young Adults
The news about young adults and churches often sounds discouraging. Many young adults have no connection to a congregation, and numerous churches struggle to reach them.

Research from Faith Communities Today, commonly known as FACT, reinforces the challenge. In its study of more than 11,000 congregations, only 16 percent had what researchers called “significant young adult participation.” That meant at least 21 percent of the congregation’s participants were between 18 and 34 years old.

Some findings seem to favor churches that are already large, growing, or located in areas with expanding young populations. Most churches do not fit those descriptions.

But the research also points to several factors that almost any church can influence. A congregation does not have to be large, wealthy, or located in a booming suburb to take these steps.

A Centuries-Old Minnesota Parish Starts Afresh 

A replant may be the way forward for a number of declining Episcopal churches. A replant may involve a change of name and a change of location. It will require changes in how the church has always done things.

How Patient Attention Nurtures the Life of the Church
When people grow tired of the rapidly shifting nature of modern culture, weary of not finding happiness in self-satisfaction, they will find the core of their longing fulfilled in the steadfast, though paradoxical, love of Christ.

Canada's Religious Revival That Never Came
Twenty years after a bold prediction, Canada's churches are still in decline.

What Can We Learn from the 100 Largest United Methodist Churches?
...there’s just not a whole lot of discussion of really big United Methodist Churches for a very good reason – there aren’t that many of them. But that gives me even more motivation to study this subset of American Christianity. Thankfully, the United Methodists have an easily accessible table listed on their website with the title “Largest 100 Churches by Membership.” I wanted to use this list because it offers a glimpse into a problem that plagues a lot of churches, especially in the mainline: their membership rolls are bloated with folks who haven’t attended a service in decades.

Men’s group loses United Methodist affiliation
The general agency that oversees United Methodist Men has halted — at least for now — its affiliation with a fellowship that supports U.S. conference men’s ministries.

At heart, the Commission on United Methodist Men’s dispute with the National Association of Conference Presidents is about whether the association has been claiming authority that, under church law, belongs solely to the commission. The national association is a separately incorporated organization.

Pete Hegseth’s gospel of violence
Hegseth has spent years framing America’s political and cultural struggles using the imagery of the Crusades.

This execution is to satisfy Hegseth’s bloodlust and the bloodlust of all those like him.

While this is the logic of Christian nationalism and radical Islam, it is not the logic of Jesus.

Also See: What kind of people are we becoming?

Fewer than half of Americans believe in virgin birth, study finds
Fewer than half of Americans now believe the birth of Jesus was a miracle stemming from the supernatural conception of Mary by the Holy Spirit, according to new research from the American Bible Society.

In the seventh chapter of its 16th annual State of the Bible report released Thursday, the American Bible Society highlights the experiences of Americans with the supernatural, including beliefs in God, Heaven, Hell, Satan, angels and demons. The data included responses from 2,649 Americans collected from Jan. 8 to 27.

Overall, 171 million Americans, about 62% of U.S. adults, believe in the supernatural, ABS said.

Who was the Ethiopian eunuch and what can we learn from him?
When we think about the history of Christianity in Africa, we may immediately think of European missionaries who travelled to the continent to spread the gospel. Yet Africa’s connection to Christianity stretches much further back, to the earliest days of the Church itself.

One particularly remarkable example is found in Acts 8:26–40, which recounts the conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch, a high-ranking African official whose encounter with Philip the evangelist transformed his life.

Although his name is never mentioned and his story occupies only a short passage, this man holds an important place in the biblical account of Christianity’s early expansion. His story not only reminds us of Africa’s presence in the early Christian movement but also offers timeless lessons about faith, humility and God’s love for all people.

Christian, Be a Gardener
Can you imagine what it would’ve been like to live in God’s garden and walk with him “in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8)? Imagine being the Lord’s appointed gardener in Eden, commissioned by God himself to “work it and keep it” (2:15). Living in God’s presence among lush vegetation, hypnotically vibrant flowers, and weather that was always perfect. No weeds, drought, or pests, so your labor always resulted in a full harvest.

Now, when you imagine Eden, have you considered how our gardening work continues today? While all human lives are marked by sin this side of the fall, believers are still called to work as God’s gardeners. One fundamental way we garden is as members of our local churches.

How to Arrange Your Sermon in the Most Persuasive Way Possible
Ancient experts on persuasion, such as Quintilian, spent considerable time training up-and-coming speakers. In particular, Quintilian explained the persuasive roles that confirmation, concession, and refutation play. Confirmation refers to the logical arguments that support a claim. Concession refers to the need to point out opposing views. And refutation refers to making counterarguments to persuade listeners to reject those views.1

The preacher who aims at persuasion would do well to employ similar strategies. These are not simply three tasks we do in order but three kinds of tasks we engage in as we move through the text in proclamation. Think of your task in the body of your sermon as riffing on these ancient tactics. To be persuasive, the body of your sermon must involve logical progression, naming obstacles, and well-reasoned counterarguments.

The work of confirming the main point of your sermon isn’t easy. It takes logic that arranges a series of smaller, progressively unfolding arguments. So what will help?

5 Ways to Develop Bible-Reading Disciples in Your Church
In an age of digital consumption, it’s never been more important to embrace the intentionally slow and formative habit of Bible reading.

AI Is Weakening Pastors’ Authority
Christians should not be receiving pastoral guidance from technology that won’t give an account for their souls.

Also See: Eric Mascall and a Christian Account of the Human Person in the Age of AI

Sundays at All Hallows (October 11, 2026) Is Now Online

 

Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.

This Sunday, October 11, 2026, is the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity. It is also the feast day of Saint Philip the Deacon. Philip was one of seven men who were chosen to relieve the apostles of the task of caring for the poorer members of the church at Jerusalem. However, Philip is better described as Philip the Evangelist as it is in the role of an evangelist that we read about him in the Acts of the Apostles, Luke’s account of the New Testament Church, preaching the gospel in Samaria and baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, a minister of the Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia.

In this Sunday’s message we will be unpacking Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet and address a ticklish subject for some Christians—what is the nature of the wedding clothes mentioned in the parable and why one of the guests who was not wearing such clothes was tied hand and foot and cast into the outer darkness.

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: Isaiah 25: 1-9, Philippians 4: 1-9, and Matthew 22: 1-14

Message: What! No Wedding Clothes!

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/10/sundays-at-all-hallows-october-11-2026.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.

Saturday Lagniappe: 'Church Worship Attendance Is... Up! (For the First Time in Years)' And More

Church Worship Attendance Is... Up! (For the First Time in Years)
A new Hartford Institute report shows median in-person worship attendance increasing from 65 to 70 since just before the pandemic. That five-person gain may sound small, but it represents a 7.7% increase and moves the median congregation above its pre-pandemic level. Still, the story requires careful interpretation. This is not a return to the church landscape of 2000, when the median congregation had 137 in worship. It is better understood as a modest but meaningful inflection point—encouraging enough to notice, but not strong enough yet to call a trend.

The Missing Person in Worship Planning
Worship is a central part of the life of every kind of congregation, and there is a range of mindsets to bring to the planning of worship. It may be to do the kind of worship our church always does in the best way possible. It may be to communicate a distinctive message for a season or a sermon theme.

Another important way to begin planning is from the perspective of the worshipers and especially those attending for the first time.

Are You Glad When Passing the Peace Ends?
I first learned about the ancient practice of passing the peace in seminary. Since then, whenever I have been part of a service that included it, even when practiced poorly, I have kept in mind its place in the church’s history and liturgical tradition. It grows out of biblical sources such as the greeting of Jesus in John 20:19, “Peace be with you.” By the mid-second century, the practice was common in Christian worship, normally prior to the Eucharist. Later the custom faded but was revived in the mid-twentieth century. It was this revival of interest that was included in the study of worship when I was in seminary.

The passing of the peace had not been part of the United Methodist communion liturgy prior to 1972, but it was included in “A Service of Word and Table” adopted in that year. While some churches use the passing of the peace only when the Eucharist is celebrated, it is common for the practice to occur in every worship service in many churches. In the Episcopal Church, when the 1979 Book of Common Prayer replaced the 1928 edition as their official liturgical book, the new edition included the passing of the peace. While some thought this must be a new element of worship, they soon learned of its place in liturgical history.

Are Altar Calls Biblical? 4 Mistakes That Quietly Distort the Gospel
The sermon ends, the music softens, and the pastor asks people to come forward. For millions of Christians, that is how church is supposed to close. Some can still name the night they walked the aisle.

But a familiar habit can hide a serious question. Is your altar call helping people trust Christ, or is it quietly adding something to the gospel that was never there?

An altar call can point people straight to Jesus. Handled carelessly, it blurs the very message it exists to deliver. Most of the danger sits in habits pastors rarely stop to examine. Below is what an altar call is, where it came from, four ways it goes wrong, and how to invite people to Christ without your method getting in the way.

Altar calls are far more common in Baptist, Methodist, and other churches whose practices were influenced by the revivals of the nineteenth century than in Anglican and Episcopal churches where they are extremely rare.

Anglo-Catholic parishes embody ‘appreciation for the mystical’
Worship at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, a historic Anglo-Catholic parish in downtown Toronto, invariably provokes one of a few strong reactions from newcomers, rector Fr. Nathan Humphrey says.

Some people, he says, ask him, “Wow, where has this been all my life?” Others who come from Protestant or evangelical backgrounds can have a strong knee-jerk reaction against worship that seems to them “too Catholic,” even “weird” or “idolatrous.”

“I don’t think anybody ever comes to the service at St. Thomas’s and has the attitude of ‘meh,’” Humphrey says. “A good Anglo-Catholic parish worth its salt won’t ever result in a ‘meh’ reaction from somebody who comes through the doors, because there’s always a particular identity that it’s conveying.”

As Rob Smith observes in his book Leading Christians to Christ: Evangelizing the Church (Morehouse Publishing, 1990), it is not uncommon to find in churches with this kind of ambience, churchgoers who, while they have fallen in love with the church's ambience have not fallen in love with the church's Lord. They are converts to the church's ambience but not to Christ. To be fair, a church can adopt all of the elements associated with so-called "contemporary worship" and experience the same problem.

Want to Reach the World? Evangelize the Church. 

What is the church’s greatest need today? I imagine there are all sorts of answers. One of them, surely, is mission-centric: “The church needs the world to be evangelized.” And that’s true.

But so is the reverse: the world needs the church to be evangelized.

10 Signs You Belong to a Healthy Church
Good lighting, a tight band and a confident preacher are standard equipment at churches of almost every size now. A livestream lets you preview a dozen congregations from your couch before you visit one.

Church health shows up in places a camera rarely goes. Watch who is allowed to tell the pastor no. Notice what happens when a member disappears for three Sundays. Ask whether the person beside you in the pew could explain the Gospel to a coworker on Monday.

Here are 10 biblical signs of a healthy church, one question to ask about each, the red flags that should concern you and what to do if your church comes up short.

Catholic, evangelical leaders condemn public execution plan of Fort Hood gunman
‘The public execution even of one who has done grave harm will only further undermine the moral fabric of our nation and be a blight on the conscience of its people,’ Archbishop Paul S. Coakley said in a statement.

This is the kind of thing one might expect in a Communist country like North Korea or an Islamist country like Afghanistan or Iran. Such public executions are designed to intimidate the population and to suppress opposition to the regime. They are not meant to be a deterent to crime. It shows the direction in which the present administration seeks to take the United States.

Anglican Watch Raises Alarm Over Cathedral of St. John the Divine Finances, Spending Priorities
Anglican Watch, the unofficial watchdog of the Episcopal Church, today raised serious concerns about the finances and spending priorities of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York, citing financial information showing a multimillion-dollar structural deficit alongside substantial expenditures for an Episcopal credit union, plans for a $70,000 kitchen renovation at the dean’s residence, and the proposed outsourcing of two full-time maintenance positions.

Financial information reviewed by Anglican Watch projects approximately $10.2 million in FY26 revenue against $17.7 million in expenditures, producing an operating deficit of approximately $7.6 million before an endowment draw.

Purgatory and the Anglican Tradition (Part 1)
Among Anglicans, few words provoke as much suspicion as “purgatory.” Article XXII is cited, and the matter is deemed settled. But that conclusion mistakes the specific target of the article.

Anglican formularies reject the “Romish” doctrine concerning purgatory—a specific medieval system of indulgences, pardons, and quasi-legal penalties. They do not require Anglicans to deny the existence of an intermediate state between bodily death and the great day of resurrection, nor do they prohibit belief in the continued perfecting of the faithful departed who will rise on that last day with bodies beyond sin and death. The Reformers were condemning a corrupt economy of salvation, not the biblical vision of a purifying transition from death to life.

Also See: Purgatory and the Anglican Tradition (Part 2)

The Renewed Pastor: Dale Sellers on How to Stay Healthy When Ministry Demands Keep Changing (Ep 138) 

Dale Sellers has good news and bad news.

The good news is that pastors are staying in their churches longer than ever before. The bad news is that pastors are aging and there aren’t as many young pastors coming in. This makes pastoral and church renewal more important than ever before.

AI is changing pilgrims’ journeys, but sacred journeys have always adapted to new technology
From the printing press to smartphone apps, technology has continually transformed the experience of sacred journeys. A scholar of trails and walking explains the history.