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.

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.