Wednesday's Catch: The Role of the Church in Solving Local Problems and More

One in Four U.S. Adults Believes the Church Should Lead in Solving Local Problems

Should the Church be involved in helping solve issues at the local level? Read More

10 Signs Your Organization's Culture Is Toxic

How can you tell your organization’s culture is toxic? Read More

Supreme Court Issues a Surprising—and Divisive—Decision on Churches and Pandemic Restrictions

Despite what appears to be a blatantly unconstitutional infringement of religious liberty, five Supreme Court justices are allowing Nevada to hold churches to a stricter standard than casinos. Read More

Nevada, I believe, was discriminatory in applying a strict standard to religious organizations alone. Nevada in my estimation should have applied the same standard to the casinos and other businesses. "What's good for the goose is good for the gander," as the old saying goes.

What concerns me most is that Nevada in what was clearly discriminatory application of a stricter standard to religious organizations has provided ammunition for those who are opposed to the more reasonable public health measures that states like California and Kentucky have implemented. It has helped make public health measures affecting religious organizations a political issue that politicians whose states have a poor track record in containing or slowing the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus can exploit in the next election.

A small group of Republican senators are already urging President Trump to support a number of measures that they are proposing and pressure state and local governments into relaxing public health measures affecting religious organizations on the grounds that they are an infringement of religious liberty. They are urging the president to use the threat of withholding federal aid to force state and local governments into relaxing public health measures that affect religious organizations, primarily Christian ones. The timing of their proposals suggests that they themselves, if they are standing for re-election, are hoping to garner more votes for themselves while at the same playing to the willingness of the president to do just about anything that might help his re-election bid. They are also hoping to portray the Democrats as the enemies of religious freedom and damage their prospects in the upcoming election.

These proposals will not only intensify the divisions in Congress and the nation but will also are bound to end up in the federal court system. They can also be expected to contribute in a variety of ways to the suffering and loss of life, caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and undermine state and local efforts to contain or slow the spread of the virus.

Remixed Religiosity in Our (Still Very) Religious Culture

As religions and their creeds are maligned in secular society, so too are all institutions and channels of authority. Institutions, in a godless world, instead have been replaced by intuitions. Read More

Despite the decline of organized religion in the West, superstition has been flourishing. This phenomenon is not limited to the West. It is also evident in China among the atheistic Communist Party elite and in Japan whose conformist culture discourages any form of religious enthusiasm.

A Pop Quiz for Pastors and Church Leaders

Based on what I’ve learned about church leaders via years of church consulting, here’s a pop quiz for pastors and other church leaders. Many leaders with whom I’ve worked could not answer these questions – questions I believe strong church leaders should be able to answer.... Read More

12 Questions I Might Ask a Pastor Search Team

In response to a question students frequently ask him: “What questions would you ask a pastor search team if you were their candidate?” Chuck Lawless provides a list of 12 helpful questions. Read More

6 Tips on How Pastors can Help Others Discover their Spiritual Gifts

The more we pastors help people discover, develop, and deploy their spiritual gifts, the healthier our churches become. In this post I suggest 6 tips that can help others discover their gifts. Read More

How to CRAFT a Sermon

I don’t care what you call your preaching style, but our preaching should lead to life change. I’ve developed my sermon-preparation method around that goal. I call it the CRAFT method. Read More

Churchgoers Read the Bible with Both Confidence and Confusion

Most churchgoers say they can address doubts others have about the Bible, but half admit they have problems understanding Scripture on their own. Read More

6 Things Your Church May Be Doing Illegally

As a best practice to ensure your church is acting above reproach in honoring copyright law, survey the below list and seek to avoid the following six things that may be putting your ministry at risk. Read More

How To Respond to Social Media Enemies

If our social media world has given us new ways of making friends, it has also given us new ways of making enemies. Read More

Helping One Another Persevere in the Faith

The entire Christian life is lived in light of the tension between what we already are in Christ and what we hope ultimately to be some day. Read More