One of the issues with creating successful campus ministry is that, unlike in evangelical churches, there’s much less guidance available for Episcopal campus chaplains. “I wish I had the training to have a strategy,” said the Rev. Mary Catherine Young, associate rector of campus ministry at Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, near UNC at Chapel Hill.
The Rev. Allen Wakabayashi, who began his career working for the evangelical campus ministry InterVarsity, has been frustrated by this. He rejects the idea that evangelical campus ministries attract more students because of their more conservative beliefs. “I don’t think it’s the theology,” he said. “I think it’s the gap in terms of money and people.”
Their experience is not new. When I was a university student in the late 1960s-early1970s my university's Episcopal student center was locked except on Wednesday night when it was opened for the weekly Canterbury Club meeting, consisting of an abbreviated Holy Communion service, followed by a fried chicken dinner, hosted by the community's only Episcopal church, Grace Memorial. The Baptist, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic student centers were open seven days and seven nights a week! Among Ryan Burge's research findings was that the Episcopal Church retains only 5 percent of its young people, an insufficient number to arrest, much less reverse, its decline!4 Realities of Rural Ministry You May Have to Accept
Challenges in the church are often problems to be solved, but for rural pastors, some might just be realities of that ministry context.
Lonely Nation, Quiet Church: How Sports and Recreation Ministries Solve Both
We are living in a lonely nation and serving in quiet churches.
Our nation and our churches are operating at two deficits:
1. A societal deficit: the collapse of social capital.
2. A church deficit: the collapse of ongoing evangelism emphasis.
I will first explain the problem, then how I believe sports and recreation ministries can solve both.
This crash course consists of seven videos produced by Church Fuel and covering such topics a social media, word of mouth, content marketing, SEO, and more.
Social Media Guide (PDF)
Lonely Nation, Quiet Church: How Sports and Recreation Ministries Solve Both
We are living in a lonely nation and serving in quiet churches.
Our nation and our churches are operating at two deficits:
1. A societal deficit: the collapse of social capital.
2. A church deficit: the collapse of ongoing evangelism emphasis.
I will first explain the problem, then how I believe sports and recreation ministries can solve both.
How else might a 'quiet church' realistically overcome these two deficits. How well does your church really know your community and understand its needs. The original vision for my former parish included a baseball field. However, our community had no shortage of baseball fields but it did have a dearth of soccer fields and of the two sports, soccer was the most popular. The soccer field that we opened to the use of local soccer teams helped us build social capital in the community.Church Marketing Crash Course for Pastors
This crash course consists of seven videos produced by Church Fuel and covering such topics a social media, word of mouth, content marketing, SEO, and more.
Social Media Guide (PDF)
Originally published by Church Fuel in 2024, this guide contains useful tips for the summer.
Five things resettlement orgs want you to know this World Refugee Day
As the U.S. welcomes individuals from all over the globe to celebrate the world’s game, most refugees remain largely shut out. On this World Refugee Day, faith-based resettlement organizations say caring for the stranger is a spiritual concern.
Al Mohler cozies up to Doug Wilson
Social media was abuzz this week with reaction to Southern Baptist Convention leader Al Mohler appearing on a podcast with Christian nationalist Doug Wilson.
The mere fact of them being in conversation is the most notable thing, because what they said did not break any new ground but instead amplified their existing views.
Tell the stories of women in church leadership, Vanderbilt dean urges
Five things resettlement orgs want you to know this World Refugee Day
As the U.S. welcomes individuals from all over the globe to celebrate the world’s game, most refugees remain largely shut out. On this World Refugee Day, faith-based resettlement organizations say caring for the stranger is a spiritual concern.
Al Mohler cozies up to Doug Wilson
Social media was abuzz this week with reaction to Southern Baptist Convention leader Al Mohler appearing on a podcast with Christian nationalist Doug Wilson.
The mere fact of them being in conversation is the most notable thing, because what they said did not break any new ground but instead amplified their existing views.
Tell the stories of women in church leadership, Vanderbilt dean urges
Women have served in ministry throughout the history of the church even as their courage and tenacity have been mostly overlooked and forgotten, said theologian Yolanda Pierce, dean of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School.
Therefore, it is important to begin the task of archiving the stories of women who quietly sustained families and congregations — and often faith itself — through eras of intense poverty and oppression for the church and for women, Pierce said during the Baptist Women in Ministry June 18 dinner at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) concluded its annual meeting this week in Tulsa, taking several significant actions that will shape the life and mission of the Province. It subsequently received an administrative schedule update from the Court for the Trial of a Bishop.
How the Antichrist infiltrated politics
The Antichrist is back in American political discourse. After President Donald Trump posted an AI photo of himself depicted as Jesus on Truth Social, many of his Christian followers were up in arms. Trump later claimed that he was supposed to be a doctor in the photo, but the damage was already done. Prominent far-right advocates like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and Nick Fuentes began wondering if Trump was the Antichrist.
Disclosure Day
As a high school chaplain, I get a lot of questions from my students about aliens. Every year I am asked if I think there are aliens, if aliens could be baptized, if it is possible that God became incarnate on alien worlds in the same way that he did on earth, and a host of other related questions. It is a subject that sparks their imaginations, and I admit that I share their excitement to talk about it. Our longing to know we are not alone in the universe is a spiritual longing.
Steven Spielberg’s new film, Disclosure Day, explores this theme extensively. Part action adventure, part mystery thriller, part philosophical symposium, and part sci-fi fever dream, the movie is difficult to summarize. It follows the journeys of Daniel Kellner and Margaret Fairchild, played brilliantly by Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt, as they seek to share the truth about the existence of aliens with a world on the brink of war. Both Daniel and Margaret discover that they have special abilities. At times, these gifts frighten and confuse them, but at other times they give them a sense of purpose and calling. There is a deeper truth to what it means to be human than what most people have accepted, and Daniel and Margaret come to believe that sharing that truth can transform the world.
Are witchcraft and paganism a threat to Christianity in modern Britain?
Across Britain, interest in witchcraft and modern Pagan spirituality has become increasingly visible. Once relegated to folklore, Halloween imagery and historical myth, it now sits within a broader, more complex religious landscape in which traditional Christianity coexists with a growing range of alternative spiritual expressions.
While the trend is evident nationally, it is particularly noticeable in parts of Britain with a strong Celtic heritage, where landscape, folklore and a deep sense of place continue to shape cultural identity. In such areas, nature-based spirituality has become increasingly visible within wellbeing culture, online communities and public discussions about faith. What was once regarded as a fringe interest now enjoys a degree of cultural legitimacy that would have seemed unlikely a generation ago.
Pastoral Ethics: 13 Standards Every Church Leader Needs
A pastor can preach a flawless sermon on Sunday and lose the trust of the whole congregation by Monday. Not because of bad theology, but because of a quiet ethical drift that no one named in time. Pastoral ethics are the guardrails that keep that drift from ever starting. They protect your calling, your family, and the people who trusted you with their faith.
The headlines make the stakes plain. Well-known leaders have stepped away from ministry over failures that began as small compromises and grew in the dark. The encouraging truth is that integrity is built the same way it erodes, one decision at a time. Below are 13 standards that hold a ministry steady, with practical ways to live each one out.
In Colossians 1:28, Paul states that the aim of his ministry is to “present everyone mature in Christ.” This aim raises questions: What does it mean to be “mature in Christ”? How will we know when we arrive at spiritual maturity? Is spiritual maturity something believers can even attain this side of heaven?
Image Credit: Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, Hammond, Louisiana
Therefore, it is important to begin the task of archiving the stories of women who quietly sustained families and congregations — and often faith itself — through eras of intense poverty and oppression for the church and for women, Pierce said during the Baptist Women in Ministry June 18 dinner at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Jacksonville, Fla.
Also See: It’s bad interpretation, not the Bible, limiting female pastorsAnglican Church in North America Announces Key Governance Decisions from Provincial Council 2026 and Court Announces Delay of Trial for Archbishop Stephen D. Wood
The Provincial Council of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) concluded its annual meeting this week in Tulsa, taking several significant actions that will shape the life and mission of the Province. It subsequently received an administrative schedule update from the Court for the Trial of a Bishop.
How the Antichrist infiltrated politics
The Antichrist is back in American political discourse. After President Donald Trump posted an AI photo of himself depicted as Jesus on Truth Social, many of his Christian followers were up in arms. Trump later claimed that he was supposed to be a doctor in the photo, but the damage was already done. Prominent far-right advocates like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tucker Carlson, and Nick Fuentes began wondering if Trump was the Antichrist.
Disclosure Day
As a high school chaplain, I get a lot of questions from my students about aliens. Every year I am asked if I think there are aliens, if aliens could be baptized, if it is possible that God became incarnate on alien worlds in the same way that he did on earth, and a host of other related questions. It is a subject that sparks their imaginations, and I admit that I share their excitement to talk about it. Our longing to know we are not alone in the universe is a spiritual longing.
Steven Spielberg’s new film, Disclosure Day, explores this theme extensively. Part action adventure, part mystery thriller, part philosophical symposium, and part sci-fi fever dream, the movie is difficult to summarize. It follows the journeys of Daniel Kellner and Margaret Fairchild, played brilliantly by Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt, as they seek to share the truth about the existence of aliens with a world on the brink of war. Both Daniel and Margaret discover that they have special abilities. At times, these gifts frighten and confuse them, but at other times they give them a sense of purpose and calling. There is a deeper truth to what it means to be human than what most people have accepted, and Daniel and Margaret come to believe that sharing that truth can transform the world.
Are witchcraft and paganism a threat to Christianity in modern Britain?
Across Britain, interest in witchcraft and modern Pagan spirituality has become increasingly visible. Once relegated to folklore, Halloween imagery and historical myth, it now sits within a broader, more complex religious landscape in which traditional Christianity coexists with a growing range of alternative spiritual expressions.
While the trend is evident nationally, it is particularly noticeable in parts of Britain with a strong Celtic heritage, where landscape, folklore and a deep sense of place continue to shape cultural identity. In such areas, nature-based spirituality has become increasingly visible within wellbeing culture, online communities and public discussions about faith. What was once regarded as a fringe interest now enjoys a degree of cultural legitimacy that would have seemed unlikely a generation ago.
Pastoral Ethics: 13 Standards Every Church Leader Needs
A pastor can preach a flawless sermon on Sunday and lose the trust of the whole congregation by Monday. Not because of bad theology, but because of a quiet ethical drift that no one named in time. Pastoral ethics are the guardrails that keep that drift from ever starting. They protect your calling, your family, and the people who trusted you with their faith.
The headlines make the stakes plain. Well-known leaders have stepped away from ministry over failures that began as small compromises and grew in the dark. The encouraging truth is that integrity is built the same way it erodes, one decision at a time. Below are 13 standards that hold a ministry steady, with practical ways to live each one out.
Also See: An Open Letter to Pastors: 15 Things It’s Time to Stop DoingSpiritual Maturity Keeps Maturing
In Colossians 1:28, Paul states that the aim of his ministry is to “present everyone mature in Christ.” This aim raises questions: What does it mean to be “mature in Christ”? How will we know when we arrive at spiritual maturity? Is spiritual maturity something believers can even attain this side of heaven?
Image Credit: Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, Hammond, Louisiana
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