Thursday's Catch: 'What we lose when churches stop naming themselves' And More

What we lose when churches stop naming themselves
A church may drop “Baptist,” “Methodist,” “Presbyterian” or “Pentecostal” from the sign. It still has convictions about baptism, ministry, Scripture, worship, discipline and authority. Those convictions do not evaporate when the name does. They simply become less visible.

The Gen Z revival being debated won't happen in churches that talk but don't listen
Young people are not asking whether churches have better programming or more relevant worship. They are asking whether anyone in that building will actually hear them.

Pastors Support Legal Immigration, Split on Deportation Levels
Pastors overwhelmingly view legal immigration positively but are more divided over the deportation of those in the United States illegally.

How Should We Think About The Liberal Trad?
Over the past five years or so, I have begun encountering a kind of person I call the “Liberal Trad.”

Want to renew healthy eating habits? Greek monks have a spring playbook
For six weeks every year, millions of Orthodox Christians around the world adopt a largely vegan diet, abstaining from meat, dairy products, eggs, and fish with backbones.

The Top Ways to Annoy Your Pastor
In this tongue-in-cheek episode, Josh and Sam discuss their top annoyances as pastors. Everyone has their pet peeves, and the co-hosts share theirs.

Intercessory Prayer Examples: How to Pray for Others (+ Scriptures)
Looking for intercessory prayer examples you can actually use?

Why Kids in Your Community Need VBS This Summer
The biblical content of Illumination Station VBS addresses five apologetic questions kids in your community are facing this summer.

Sunday School Crafts for Kids: 16 Easy Bible Craft Ideas
Looking for easy, engaging Sunday school crafts for kids? These Bible-based craft ideas help children learn Scripture while creating something meaningful to take home.

Also See: 7 Easy Mother’s Day Crafts for Sunday School Kids (That Moms Will Keep)

Thursday Evenings at All Hallows (April 2, 2026) Is Now Online

 

Welcome to Thursday Evenings at All Hallows.

This Thursday is the Thursday before Easter, also called Maundy Thursday, the day in Holy Week, Christians in the Western Church commemorate the events of the Last Supper and celebrate our Lord’s institution of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. It is also known as Holy Thursday.

This Thursday evening, we complete our Lenten series on the means of grace, practices of Christian faith in which God meets us and works in us.

The topic of this Thursday evening’s message is fasting and abstinence.

Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Message: Fasting and Abstinence

Link: https://allhallowsmurray.blogspot.com/2026/04/thursday-evenings-at-all-hallows-april.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: 'Breaking Barriers Before Breaking 200' And More

Breaking Barriers Before Breaking 200
In this series, I want to walk through some best practices and principles for leading your church to grow. This first article will address two of the most powerful barriers that prevent churches from growing beyond 200. That said, the principles apply to churches of all sizes, and they start with church leaders and pastors.

This Pastor Started a Church for Gamers—and It’s Working
Mark Lutz pastored a regular church for a few years. Then, as a gamer, he opened up Lux Church, a 100% digital church created for gamers. He explains the model, why it's reaching people no one else is reaching, how online relationships are as real as IRL relationships and what other churches are missing and getting wrong when it comes to their digital ministry.

Judge rejects Johnson Amendment settlement, keeping ban on pastors endorsing candidates
The ruling caps a decades-long battle to overturn a ban on houses of worship endorsing candidates.

The demise of England’s great cathedral schools (and their choirs)
The most precious document held by Exeter Cathedral is its foundation charter. Written on parchment in elaborate Latin in 1050 by King Edward the Confessor, it orders the cathedral “to maintain pleasing melody day and night to the praise of God”. It has been doing so ever since, not least because, from 1179, the cathedral has been educating choristers to lift their voices to the heavens. No war, no flood, no plague, not even the Reformation could silence those pleasing melodies. But now the unthinkable has happened. Exeter Cathedral School has announced it will be closing its doors.

Church bells to ring for first time at Easter service in Betws-y-Coed
Bells at St Mary’s Church in Betws-y-Coed will rung for the first time at a church service this Easter, following the completion of a major restoration project.

Although the church was built with plans for a full ring of bells, that work was never completed. More than 150 years later, the tower now has a full set in place.

Religious people experience more mixed emotions than non-believers
Religious faith is often associated with happiness, peace of mind, and a sense of purpose. A new series of scientific analyses reveals that highly religious people also frequently experience a blend of positive and negative feelings known as mixed emotions. These findings were published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

How to Create a Culture of Recognition for Your Volunteers
As we build a volunteer team, we must also build a culture of recognition, taking time to notice and appreciate their work for the kingdom.

How to Protect Your Soul in Ministry: 6 Essential Strategies for Leaders
After almost four decades of ministry experience and coaching leaders around the U.S. and world, I have grown convinced that Satan spends a lot more time attacking effective evangelistic leaders than those who spend most of their time tending to sheep who are already following Jesus.

It’s a Risk To Be in Front of a Room
Few people have been canceled for what they have done in the pews, but a good many have been canceled for what they have done in the pulpit. Few gossip bloggers or discernment vloggers scan videos of the congregation to look for sins, nits, or anomalies, but many scan videos of the pastors. There is a whole industry of people who watch sermons in order to mock, rate, review, critique, or bring down the preachers. If it has always been a risk to be the person at the front of the room, how much more today, when a single errant word, embarrassing flub, or theological mistake can make its way around the world at the speed of social media? A sermon can become a meme before a pastor has even offered the benediction.

Connecticut woman’s passion for community helps provide people with hot meals and dignity
For almost 15 years, Dinner for a Dollar has been feeding hungry people in Hamden, Connecticut, with a focus on home cooking, dining with dignity and building community.

Allison Batson, a member of Grace and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hamden, a town of about 61,000 people six miles north of New Haven, started the program in June 2011 because she knew there were people in need in a town that “has a reputation for being prosperous, but there is economic disparity,” she told Episcopal News Service.

Evangelism Is Not a Thing You Do
When Jesus gives what we call the Great Commission, he isn’t handing his followers a marketing strategy or a church growth program. He is describing a way of life. The command to “make disciples” is not a call to manufacture converts and move on. It’s an invitation to form people who learn not just information about Jesus but how to live in relationship with him.