Thom identifies clear, measurable indicators that a church is aging—and what leaders can do before it becomes irreversible.
The Hidden Reason Most Churches Stop Growing
Thom explores the less obvious barriers to growth—especially internal culture, comfort, and unspoken preferences that quietly resist change.
Northumberland County church says goodbye after more than 200 years
Christ United Methodist Church says goodbye, after seeing generations of families grow in Northumberland County.
Network without Being Awkward and Advice for Better 1:1s
Networking feels fake because most people do it wrong. Michael Bungay Stanier has a better way. In this conversation, MBS breaks down how to connect without the cringe, the seven questions you need to ask to run 1:1s that actually matter, and build a career path nobody handed you. Plus: a deep dive into self-publishing and viral marketing.
Do I Have to Give to My Local Church?
While many Christians give to their local church, many only give directly to specific people and causes in the name of careful stewardship. Their reasoning goes something like this: “If I give to my church, while some of it goes to its various ministries, much of it funds staff salaries, building overhead, fellowship events, and VBS crafts. To be sure, those are good things, but I want my financial generosity to help starving children, trafficked women, villages without clean water, and missionaries. It’s not that my church isn’t important. I just think my money can make a bigger difference if I give it elsewhere.”
As long as believers give generously to needy people and worthy causes, do they really need to give to their local church?
Should You Tithe While Paying Off Debt? What the Bible Actually Says
If you have ever sat down to build a budget while staring at a credit card balance, you have probably asked the question out loud. Do I keep giving to my church while I am this deep in debt? It feels like a math problem. It is really a faith problem, and faithful Christians land in very different places on it.
The disagreement is not about whether to be generous. Almost no one argues against generosity. The real question is how to order your priorities when the money is tight and the obligations are real. Here are the three main positions, what each one gets right, and how to think through your own situation.
ACNA Approves Title IV Overhaul
Comprehensive revisions to the Anglican Church in North America’s Title IV canons for clergy discipline were ratified by the church’s Provincial Assembly at a special virtual meeting on July 25, enacting the legislation passed unanimously by its Provincial Council a week prior.
Anglicans Challenged to Plant 1 Million Churches
A million new Anglican churches in the next decade is the goal of Vision 36, an ambitious initiative proposed to the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) by the Communion’s Commission for Evangelism and Discipleship at ACC-19 in Belfast on June 29. If successful, the vision would bring a threefold increase the number of Anglican congregations, and 20 million new Anglicans into the fold.
Truth in Time: Historical Discernment and the Nairobi-Cairo Proposals
The background of the NCPs is the recognition of deep divisions and broken relations among provinces and churches of the Anglican Communion, largely centered, however reluctantly we may say so, on questions of human sexuality. We cannot downplay this circumstance. It has already driven the Communion toward de facto division, visible in violations of provincial territorial boundaries through ordinations and “mission,” non-attendance at official gatherings of the Instruments of Communion, alternative coalitions, Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) covenantal intensification, and GAFCON’s contestation of the Communion’s spiritual and symbolic center. It is from within these realities—not through appeals to tradition abstracted from reception, unilateral definitions of truth exempted from Communion-wide testing, or an idealized account of full communion—that we should seek to rebuild relations, mutual recognition, and common mission.
Supreme Court rejects Trump's birthright citizenship order in major blow
The Supreme Court on June 30 rejected President Donald Trump’s attempt to redefine who is an American, striking down the limits on birthright citizenship that were a centerpiece of his hardline approach to immigration.
The 6-3 ruling landed as the nation is gearing up to celebrate its 250th anniversary, adding to the significance of a case that was already a blockbuster.
Americans Less Likely to See the Religious as Positive Influence on Society
Most U.S. adults believe the country would benefit from increased religious influence, but some are less likely to view this positively.
Why coercive religious politics undermine Christianity and democracy
When Christianity relies on coercion rather than persuasion, it distorts the very nature of the gospel.
Perspectives: You Were Not Born Gay
One of the most influential slogans in modern history is also one of the most deceptive. "I was born this way."
Those five words have done more to normalize homosexuality in the modern West than perhaps any politician, activist, celebrity, corporation, university, Supreme Court decision, or social movement. The slogan appears compassionate. It sounds scientific. It feels liberating. Yet hidden inside it is an assumption so enormous that most people never stop to examine it. The slogan does not merely describe an experience. It attempts to settle a moral argument. The reasoning works like this: If I was born this way, then God must have made me this way. If God made me this way, then this must be good. If this is good, then anyone who questions it must be questioning God Himself.
The Quiet Crisis of Prayerless Orthodoxy
There is a danger that can creep into conservative evangelical churches quietly, almost respectably. It does not usually arrive with scandal. It does not always look like compromise. It can sit under faithful preaching, sing doctrinally rich hymns, affirm historic confessions, defend biblical truth online, and recommend excellent books.
It is the danger of prayerless orthodoxy.
How Churches Can Safely Use AI: 7 Ways To Reduce Risks and Hidden Costs
Many churches are using generative artificial intelligence (AI)—whether leaders realize it or not.
Image Credit: St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Hickman, KY
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