Saturday Lagniappe: 'The new American shopping mall is less Macy's, more church, bowling, Barnes & Noble' And More

The new American shopping mall is less Macy's, more church, bowling, Barnes & Noble
The Dayton Mall has been a shopping staple for residents of Dayton, Ohio, since it opened in 1970. The once-prospering mall, like many, has faced hard times with increased vacancies, exacerbated by the closing of two anchors, Sears and Bon Ton, in 2018.

As a result, the mall was put into receivership, where it remains. But the 162,000-square-foot former Sears space was sold to a local church, Crossroads, which has transformed 90,000 square feet of the former store into a house of worship and community hub with a traditional indoor entrance to the rest of the mall.

"Nothing says dying mall like having a church move in," said Rebecca Maguire, marketing manager of the Dayton Mall. "But Crossroads has a huge following, and they are so community driven that I think any mall in the world would be lucky to have a partner like that."

Weekly Church Attendance Patterns by Generation: 2016 to 2024
In this episode, Sam and Matt McCraw unpack weekly church attendance trends from 2016 to 2024 across four generations. While Boomers slightly increased from 27% to 28%, Gen X dropped from 24% to 22%, Millennials from 26% to 22%, and Gen Z saw the sharpest decline—from 29% to 24%. What do these shifts mean for the future of church engagement, discipleship, and ministry strategy? We explore the implications for leadership, generational outreach, and the need for intentional connection points that resonate with each group.

Continuing Bishop Deposed in Calvin Robinson Flap
The Anglican Province of America, one of the largest continuing Anglican churches in North America has deposed one of its bishops in a dispute related to its discipline of firebrand priest Calvin Robinson last January.

Bishop Organ Case Reveals Canadian Church’s Weaknesses
In recent years, the Anglican Church of Canada has been wrestling with a series of scandals related to clergy misconduct.

What Leaders Need to Know about the Emerging Church
Susan Cox-Johnson shares insights about the Emerging Church and ways of connecting with postmodern generations.

Also See: An Emerging Church Primer; What Is the "Emerging Church"?

These three articles reflect two different view of the "emerging church."

‘We don’t hate, but they do,’ conservative Christian activists claim
When conservative Christian activist groups are called hateful or placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s hate map, they claim innocence and reverse the charge: “The real haters are those people who say we’re hateful.”

But can claims of hate be dismissed so easily? Here’s a look at some of the main issues.

Report reveals alarming surge in anti-Christian attacks across India in 2025
Christians are continuing to suffer for their faith in India, with hundreds of instances of discrimination recorded in a new study.

Also See: Outcry as Indian lawmaker calls for Christians to be attacked for money; India: state government revokes Scheduled Caste certificates for converts to Christianity

America Is Living in a Climate-Denial Fantasy
The United States and the rest of the planet are now in “completely separate worlds” in terms of legal understanding of climate responsibility, the human-rights attorney Lotte Leicht, who works as the advocacy director of the nonprofit Climate Rights International, told me. “I think almost nothing could have painted a starker picture,” Nikki Reisch, an attorney and the Climate and Energy Program director at the Center for International Environmental Law, agrees.

Trump's push for drilling, mining sharpens debate for Alaska Natives about land they view as sacred
When Alaska Natives debate proposals to drill, mine or otherwise develop the landscape of the nation’s largest state, it involves more than an environmental or economic question. It’s also a spiritual and cultural one.

Trump Is a Degrowther
In the past few weeks, Americans learned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled half a billion dollars of government investment in the development of mRNA vaccines, Las Vegas saw a 7 percent drop in visitors, residential electricity prices shot up by an average of 6.5 percent, the number of housing permits issued hit their lowest point in half a decade, employers quit adding workers, the manufacturing sector shrank, and inflation rose.

These bleak figures depict an American economy slowing and its labor market weakening. A recession isn’t guaranteed, but it’s becoming much more likely and the stagflation that forecasters described as inevitable when President Donald Trump began prosecuting his global trade war is now a lot closer. Americans, now and in the future, will be paying more and buying less. Trump’s second-term economic ideology is not only one of protectionism, mercantilism, atavism, and cronyism. It is also one of degrowth.

What affect the US economy will also affect US churches.

West coast sees highest Covid-19 levels as cases rise across US, CDC data says
Several states in the western US are experiencing a surge in new Covid-19 infections, according to latest CDC data.

Also See: COVID levels rising in much of U.S., with highest in West, CDC says

On Calling an Organist
In Anglican liturgical theology, music is not simply ornament, it lifts us up into the living, pulsating story that is the base of all reality, the ground of our very being—the Gospel. The choir is not a backdrop, it is a praying body sacramentally embedded within time, place, and a gathered assembly. And the organist is not merely an accompanist, but a theological voice who joins Word and Sacrament in audible form. When a church finds itself in a season of transition and begins the search for a new Director of Music, Choirmaster, or Organist, it is not conducting a personnel search so much as entering a season of communal spiritual discernment.

The Case for Pew Bibles
...in this post-COVID, post-modern, post-literate, technological, consumer society, do pew Bibles matter? Does the connection between the Word and the form of accessing the Word matter? Is something lost when we depend on digital media for our Scripture consumption? Is projecting the Scripture passage onto the screen adequate for whole-person and whole-church discipleship and mission, or can a case be made that pew Bibles are an essential part of making God’s Word accessible for all?

In Defence of Silly Summers
There is an intrinsic goodness in silliness when it comes to parenting. Of course, there’s an extreme in being too silly. But if you’re like me, there’s a greater risk of devaluing summer fun. 

How Forgiveness Displays the Gospel to Our Kids

As parents, we have the unique privilege to share God’s amazing love with our kids. Since God especially shows His love to us by forgiving our sin, we can reflect His love to our children as we exhibit similar mercy and grace (Eph. 2:4-5).

Why Christians Need More than Classrooms
Many churches define spiritual maturity in terms of biblical knowledge: quoting verses, knowing theology, and explaining doctrine. But that view is incomplete.

The Christian life isn’t just something to study—it’s something to live. True spiritual maturity comes through a variety of experiences that touch your mind, heart, hands, and relationships. God uses all five purposes of the church—worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and evangelism—to grow you into maturity.