Most church discipleship plans don’t fail because of bad strategy. They stall because they’re not clearly communicated.
3 Essential Steps to Clarify Your Church Planting Vision
Seasoned church planters understand that extensive preparation is required long before a public launch. This article outlines three essential steps to clarify your church planting vision before you announce a date or recruit a launch team.
Reformed firestorm
A simmering conflict at the church founded by theologian R.C. Sproul has spread repercussions to nearby Reformation Bible College and Ligonier Ministries.
Pope Leo signals shift away from Catholic Church's focus on sex
Pope Leo's four-nation Africa tour featured firm denunciations by the pontiff of despotism and war and also unprecedented attacks from U.S. President Donald Trump that grabbed headlines.
But a smaller moment, in which the pope said the Catholic Church should prioritise questions of inequality and justice over those of sexual ethics, may prove to be of longer-lasting importance for the Church's 1.4 billion members, said experts.
Catholicism has lost people to religious switching in many countries, while Protestantism has gained in some
Christianity has experienced some of the largest losses from religious switching of any faith group around the world, according to our 2024 surveys. Religious switching refers to when people identify with a different religion in adulthood than they were raised in as a child.
Within Christianity, however, religious switching has affected the two largest subgroups – Catholicism and Protestantism – differently....
Tim Keller Did Not Avoid Difficult Topics for the Sake of Being ‘Winsome,’ Says Kathy Keller
Contrary to what some people have claimed in recent years, the late Dr. Tim Keller did not avoid difficult topics for the sake of being “winsome,” said Keller’s widow, Kathy Keller. Speaking to Collin Hansen on the “Gospelbound” podcast April 20, Kathy said that from the beginning of her husband’s ministry in New York City, he graciously faced challenging questions and a hostile environment head on.
Personal change thresholds may explain why popular policies fail to spread
Why do widely supported solutions to major problems, such as climate change, so often struggle to gain real traction? A new study suggests that part of the answer lies in understanding why people resist change, and how the combination of their preferences and social networks can help overcome that resistance.
8 Reasons the Church Is a Light in a Troubled World
Cultivating hope, expressing encouragement and maintaining an authentically positive spirit are vital to your leadership. People need to sense your optimism as a leader.
But that’s not always easy, is it?
What Happens When the Pastor’s Kid Leaves the Church?
On most Sundays, the work of a pastor is unmistakably public: preaching sermons, offering prayers, counseling families, and guiding congregations through the rhythms of faith. Yet behind that visible calling lies a quieter, more complicated reality that rarely makes its way into sermons: what happens when a pastor’s own child walks away from the church or from Christianity altogether?
Why you don’t want your AI chatbot to be nice to you
Friendly AI chatbots are less accurate, a study has found.
AI Makes Research Easy. Maybe Too Easy.
ChatGPT and other “large language models” promise to make learning easier than ever. But new research suggests that lessons learned so easily are less likely to stick.
AI agent deletes company's entire database in 9 seconds, then confesses
An AI coding agent designed to help a small software company streamline its tasks instead blew a hole through its business in just nine seconds.
Evolving AI may arrive before AGI and create hard-to-control risks
Evolutionary biology holds clues for the future of AI, argue researchers from the HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Eötvös Loránd University, and the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts. In a new Perspective published April 20 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team warn that evolvable AI (eAI) systems that can undergo Darwinian evolution may soon emerge, and they will generate special risks that can be understood, and mitigated, based on insights from evolutionary biology.
Babies exposed to air pollution during pregnancy take longer to learn to speak, research finds
Babies exposed to higher levels of air pollution in the early stages of pregnancy take longer to learn to speak than those exposed to lower levels in the womb, new research suggests.
A study by researchers from King’s College London found exposure to nitrogen dioxide and fine and ultra-fine particulate matter during the first trimester of pregnancy delayed speech development at 18 months.
Why it’s good to admit when you’re wrong – and how to improve
You may be familiar with the feeling. Someone factchecks you mid-conversation or discredits your dishwasher-loading technique. Heat rises to your face; you might feel defensive, embarrassed or angry. Do you insist you’re right or can you accept the correction?
Admitting to being wrong can be difficult and uncomfortable. But the ability to admit to incorrect ideas or beliefs – what psychologists call “intellectual humility” – is important. Research shows that people with higher intellectual humility think more critically, and are less biased and less prone to dogmatism.
Former Georgia church properties become hubs for outreach ministries, community activities
The Diocese of Georgia is finding new life for two repurposed church properties after the congregations that had worshiped there disbanded.
One is now the diocesan headquarters. Last year, staff moved into the second floor of the parish hall at the former St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Savannah. The main space in the parish hall has become an active hub for community events, and an Episcopal worshiping community that had held services in secular spaces in the city has begun gathering regularly in the former church’s nave.
And in Augusta, a building formerly occupied by Christ Episcopal Church until it closed in 2020 is now home to the Byllesby Center, a collection of community ministries overseen by the Rev. Larry Jesion, the center’s executive director.
5 Things We Lose When We Subtract Evangelism from the Christian Life
What’s the real reason Christians often avoid evangelism? Some would say they’re afraid of being asked hard questions. Others might mention the inappropriateness of pushing religion on people. We might blame it on the busyness of life or on our social inadequacies. But I have observed that in my own life and in the lives of others, the problem is much simpler than that.
The real reason many of us avoid evangelism is the relational risk it brings. We don’t want people to avoid us. We fear losing friends. We dread the awkward Thanksgiving with a relative who mocked our gospel presentation, or the cold shoulder of a coworker who ridicules our belief in the resurrection. We tell ourselves that our commitment to maintaining relationships—at all costs—is to protect opportunities for future gospel conversations, while our highest priority is actually our own comfort—at all costs. If we’re ever to overcome our fear of evangelism, not only must we love others more than ourselves, but we must also believe that evangelism’s benefits outweigh any risks involved. But what are the benefits associated with sharing the gospel? Rather, what might we lose if we subtract evangelism from our lives? Here are five things to consider.
From Friend to Friend
The gospel has always had a way of moving in the most beautiful and ordinary way.
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