Tuesday's Catch: 'Is Facebook discipling your church members?' And More

Is Facebook discipling your church members?
This article on how technology is shaping the church and altering our worldview was originally publised i 2021 but it is even more relevant today--two years later.

Life Includes a Great Deal of Suffering
May is mental health awareness month. As this article draws to our attention, suffering is a part of the human condition.
3 Ways the Church Misunderstands Grief
It’s natural to try to help and give comfort to someone grieving. So, why do we struggle to be the hands and feet of Christ in grief?

The Church Isn’t Like a Family, It is a Family 

But this family is not merely about a status or a right. It is about affection.

What’s the Big Deal with Worship? 

What does gathered worship do? Sometimes it can make our souls soar. Other times not so much. It is easy to understand why non-believers scratch their heads at Christian worship. If I saw a small group of people awkwardly singing, listening to someone talk about an old book, and sharing a tiny amount of bread and wine, I’d scratch my head too.

Talking About Religion in a Better Way
How do we talk about religion without coming across as weird, wicked or something in between?

Black Protestant church still vital despite attendance drop
The wide empty spaces in pews between parishioners at a Sunday service at Zion Baptist Church in South Carolina’s capital highlight a post-pandemic reality common among many Black Protestant churches nationwide.

‘This is not right’: Pastor says United Methodist Church decision to close small church was unfair
A small Ohio congregation belonging to The United Methodist Church is dismayed by the regional body's decision to close the church later this month as part of a process the pastor said was unfair. Struthers United Methodist Church, a congregation with a membership of 87 and average weekly worship attendance of around 35 to 40 people, was recently told by UMC officials that their church will be permanently closed on May 21.

Number of teens who identify as LGBT skyrockets: CDC
One in four high school students in the United States identify as homosexual, bisexual or are questioning their sexuality, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The latest edition of the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System found that 74.2% of high school students claimed to be exclusively attracted to the opposite sex in 2021.

Churches seeking to reach and engage today's youth need to be aware of shifting attitudes toward human sexuality in the segment of the genera population they are seeking to reach and engage. The world outside their doors is not 1950. It's not 1980/ It is 2023.