Tuesday's Catch: 'A Big Church? Or a Healthy Church? What If You Had to Choose?' And More

A Big Church? Or a Healthy Church? What If You Had to Choose?
Usually a choice for church health is also a choice for church growth. But not always. Sometimes it's one or the other.

Vibrant Church: Becoming a Healthy Church in the 21st Century - An Interview with Dr. Danny Akin
Thom interviews Dr. Danny Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, about his new book, "Vibrant Church."

Three Major Factors That Determine How Long It Will Take to Implement Change in Your Church
Many factors can affect the pace of change in a church. Thom discusses three of the biggest factors.

9 Encouraging Trends for Global Christianity in 2026
The latest report on global Christianity gives encouraging trends on the expansiveness of the faith and ways in which God is moving around the world.

Churchwide Survey Seeks Bright Spots for Growth
On April 13, the Rev. Christopher Corbin of the Diocese of Wisconsin is conducting a survey across the Episcopal Church to identify “bright spots” for growth, particularly in Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) of parishes. Corbin draws the term from the New York Times best-selling book Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, written by siblings Chip and Dan Heath.

The large-scale survey is being conducted with the support of Forward Movement. It features a comprehensive 43-page form with over 100 questions divided into three major topics....

As soon as the findings of this survey become available, Anglicans Ablaze will post a report on them.

Alabama cathedral in talks to buy nearby Board of Education building for $5.5 million
The Episcopal cathedral in the Diocese of Alabama reportedly has offered $5.5 million to purchase a building across the street in response to the congregation’s growth.

Cathedral Church of the Advent in downtown Birmingham plans to spend six months conducting due diligence work before closing on the purchase of the Birmingham Board of Education’s building on Sixth Avenue North, according to a report by AL.com.

Pope Leo XIV in Algeria to walk in footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine
Pope Leo XIV is following in the footsteps of his spiritual father, St. Augustine, making a pilgrimage to the archaeological ruins of eastern Algeria where the fifth-century titan of early Christianity lived, died and wrote some of the most important works in Western thought.

Leo’s visit to Annaba, the modern-day Hippo, is a spiritual homecoming for the American pope on his second full day in Algeria. He arrived Monday on the first-ever papal visit, against the backdrop of the war in Iran and his calls for peace that have sparked a feud with U.S. President Donald Trump.

‘Outrageous Blasphemy’—Christians Respond to Now-Deleted Image of President Trump as Jesus
On Sunday morning, April 12, President Donald Trump posted an image on Truth Social of himself as Jesus Christ that has sparked “blasphemy” claims from Christians, many of whom have supported his presidency. The image was deleted from Trump’s account shortly after 11 a.m. EST.

Also See: In criticizing Leo and posting image of himself resembling Jesus, Trump sparks outcry from religious allies; 'Gross blasphemy.' Image depicting Trump as Jesus figure removed after uproar; and In post full of lies, Trump lambastes Pope Leo

The Abuja Affirmation—A Theological Engagement
his essay kicks off a series of essays on the Abuja Affirmation running April 13 – 17. A Round Up with links to all of the essays will appear later this spring.

Also See: The Abuja Affirmation—A Propositional Solution?

Young men are demoralised, not apathetic, says report
A new report is challenging familiar assumptions about the struggles facing young men, arguing that the problem is better understood as discouragement than indifference.

Published by the Institute for Family Studies, "America’s Demoralized Men" draws on a YouGov survey of 2,000 US men aged 18 to 29 conducted in early April 2025.

Green from the Ashes: Easter in the Australian Bush
In the southern half of Australia, summer’s wildfires—called bushfires—leave the community wary and exhausted.

Lent coincides with the last burst of heat. “Ash Wednesday” is fixed in our history not as a holy day in the liturgical calendar, but the name given to catastrophic fires that hit South Australia and Victoria in 1983 just as Lent began.

Preaching from both sides now
In the 1960s, I was in my late 40s. The popular song “From Both Sides Now,” written by Canadian Joni Mitchell, found me through the singer Judy Collins. The song takes us on a journey from “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now” to “I’ve looked at love from both sides now” to “I’ve looked at life from both sides now.”

Recently, now in my tenth decade, this song popped into my mind along with this awareness: I’ve looked at preaching from both sides now, from the pulpit for about 30 years, from the pew for about 30 years.

Growing number of Americans buying highly priced luxury Bibles
Sales of high-end Bibles are climbing, with some fetching $400, as retailers and collectors alike report a surge that began with the COVID-19 pandemic and has recurred following events such as Charlie Kirk’s assassination and recent foreign conflicts.

While most standard editions of the Bible cost far less than $400, the luxury Bibles sought by a growing number of Americans typically feature leather bindings and elaborate illustrations, according to The New York Times.

What do thse expensive Bibles represent to those who purchase them? Do the they "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" the contents of these Bibles? Or do they serve some other purpose?

How Should We Think About Apparent Contradictions in the Gospels?
One of the most common objections to the Gospels—and one of the most common objections to the Bible as a whole—is that it contradicts itself, and in particular, the Gospels contradict themselves. They say one thing in one place, and they say another thing in another place, and these things can’t be reconciled, so skeptics say. Upon closer examination, you’ll quickly discover that a lot of these apparent contradictions evaporate quickly when you understand a number of things. So, let me just mention a few of those.

Don’t Let Preschool Ministry Be an Afterthought
Jared Kennedy hopes to bring the ministry efforts of home and church together with a trio of books. His Big Thoughts for Tiny Tots is a concise catechism for toddlers and preschoolers. It’s useful in the home or as part of The Beginner’s Gospel Story Curriculum. The 52 fully planned Sunday school lessons, with suggestions for crafts and for songs with motions, can help volunteers who love kids but don’t have much background in child development. The lessons also connect with The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible.

Give Your Kids the Gospel in Bite-Size Pieces
I was always the kid who needed a picture to grasp a concept, and children today are no different. We’re raising the next generation in a visually inundated world. So, in addition to words, we need visuals to help with understanding and retention.

My heart’s first cry for my children was that they’d be with me for eternity. As a young mom, I tried to come up with creative ways to help them understand and retain salvation truths. Just as illustrations help children understand a story, pictures or object lessons help them understand the gospel.

When you are offended in church
Let’s assume for a moment that your offence is genuine. Let’s also assume that your offence is entirely legitimate and justified. Somebody has been a colossal pillock and everybody would agree. What are your options? As I judge it, you only have three. I will lay them out below and then highlight one common, but untenable and unacceptable, position.

Sharing Without Shipwrecks
Instead of assuming the worst, what if we approached evangelism with hope? What if sharing our faith was more welcome than we feared? It can be, especially when we commit to being gracious, relational, and nonconfrontational.

Image Credit: Trinity Episcopal Church, Owensboro, KY