Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Wednesday's Catch: 'Is Gen Z In Revival or Retreat?' And More


Is Gen Z In Revival or Retreat?
Trends suggest Gen Z is simultaneously experiencing revival and retreat. How can churches be the front line for reaching the next generation?

New Research: Where Are Church Attendance Trends Headed Through 2030?
In the previous episode, Thom and Jess provided some of the most accurate data on worship attendance trends from 2019, the last pre-COVID year, through today. In this episode, they extrapolate the data to provide projected trends through 2030. You will probably be surprised.

SBC Pastor in Tennessee Faces Backlash for Immigration Comments
One online commentator's response to the sermon prompted me to dig deeper into the assertion that empathy is a sin. See the four articles to which I have posted links below.
Related articles: Have you heard the one about empathy being a sin?, ‘Empathy is considered a sin’: MAGAS viciously attack the church after Trump is asked to show compassion, The dangerous fad of calling empathy a sin, and What does the Bible say about empathy?
Bishop Budde was speaking Hebrew 
The bishop spoke truth to power. She has inherited a long and sacred lineage.

The gathering force of Trump's religious opposition
We are seeing the beginnings of an interfaith protest movement the likes of which we haven’t seen since the March on Washington.

How to Make Friends in College (or Anywhere)
As I’ve talked with youth leaders and campus pastors, some tell me that Gen Z struggles so much with social interactions that older generations almost need to reverse engineer their friendships, figure out what makes them work, and teach that to young people. So I asked those leaders for their best tips for young people trying to build their own friendships. I asked specifically about making friends in college, because that’s a time when young people are handling their own schedules and living with thousands of potential friends. But this advice could be adjusted to apply to all of us.

Church Youth Program Outline: Tips for Planning Youth Worship
No one-size-fits-all church youth program outline exists. But I believe the perfect order exists for youth worship. It just happens to be a case-by-case basis. Sure, our youth ministry has similarities in its regular worship order. But we like to view every program as its own living being.

Derwin Gray: Everyday Missionaries
If we do not equip the precious souls under our care and leadership to think and act like missionaries, the church in America will continue to reach fewer people, and discipleship in the church will continue to suffer.

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