Saturday Lagniappe: 'The Burge Report: Why Immigration Won't Reverse America's Secular Drift'

The Burge Report: Why Immigration Won't Reverse America's Secular Drift
A common argument says immigration could help reverse America’s secular drift because immigrants are assumed to be more religious than native-born Americans. Ryan Burge’s analysis challenges that assumption. Using Cooperative Election Study data, he finds that immigrants are only slightly more religious than Americans whose families have been in the United States for generations—and not nearly enough to shift the country’s overall religious trajectory. The larger story is assimilation: immigrants, like the broader American population, are becoming more secular over time.

ACNA Bishop Jones Guilty on All Counts
The Anglican Church in North America’s Court for the Trial of a Bishop has granted summary judgment against the Rt. Rev. Derek Jones, the church’s former chaplaincy bishop. Resolving the case without a trial, the August 19 judgment declared Bishop Jones guilty of violating denominational canons, abusing ecclesiastical power, and promoting and causing schism.

Christian nationalists’ professed support for religious pluralism is often drowned out by perceptions that Christians are under threat
Two political scientists explain why Christian nationalist beliefs endure.

Leading Your Church Faithfully Through Elections
When discipleship extends into public life, what does faithful Christian leadership look like? Kendal McBroom equips leaders with practical resources and practices to build spiritually grounded communities that engage civic life with courage, humility, and a commitment to the common good.

Birmingham church bombing wasn’t an isolated act of terrorism – there were dozens of attacks on Black houses of worship during the Civil Rights Movement
More than 100 Black churches across the South were targeted from the 1950s-70s. Another wave of violence followed in the ‘90s – and there have been attacks in recent years, too.

Why Tom Wright Remains Anglican While Others Change Denomination
In this clip from Ask NT Wright Anything, host Mike Bird and Tom Wright explore how their very different denominational journeys have shaped their Christian lives. Mike explains that he did not grow up in a Christian home and first came to faith through a Baptist church in Sydney while serving in the army, later studying at a Baptist theological college. Moving to Scotland then drew him deeper into the Reformed and Presbyterian world. He also shares how discovering that biblical scholar F. F. Bruce combined a Greek New Testament with the Book of Common Prayer prompted him to try Anglican daily offices, a practice that eventually led him into the Anglican tradition and ordination.

Tom Wright, by contrast, describes being born and bred within the Church of England, surrounded by Anglican clergy and lay leaders in his family. He recalls moments as a student when zealous Baptist friends urged him to leave what they saw as a corrupt Anglican structure, yet he remained anchored by the rhythm of Anglican morning and evening prayer and the central place of Scripture in that worship. Tom reflects on the freedom and breadth within Anglicanism, its commitment to the Bible, and his ecumenical engagement with Methodists, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox and Pentecostal movements. Together, Mike and Tom show how modern Christians often move more fluidly between denominations while still seeking a solid scriptural and liturgical centre.

We Need Healthy Tribalism
It’s OK for you to have a tribe and to learn from people outside your tribe. It’s even OK to recognize that the Lord might use someone outside your tribe to do great things for his kingdom. And so I want to give you a framework—four helpful truths as we maneuver this hypertribal world while trying not to become hypertribal ourselves.

Get Nervous Before Preaching? 3 Remedies
Do you find yourself getting nervous before you preach? Maybe even nervous while you're preaching? Maybe even struggling with fear? I made this video specifically for you. Watch this before Sunday and say goodbye to those preaching nerves.

When Screens Become a Theological Question
An aesthetic objection to adding a large screen became a theological question about how worship spaces distribute attention, ease and participation.

Imagining what another person needs is not the same as asking.

Access begins by asking people what helps them worship and allowing their answers to shape the room.

How to Gather Well: 5 Ways to Prepare for Corporate Worship
I almost called this article, “Getting the Most out of the Gathering,” but I was cautious about accidentally communicating something in the title that I don’t mean. To be clear, I don’t believe the gathering is primarily about us getting something. I trust we all understand that it would be wrong to come to church with the mindset of expecting to have our preferences catered to. That is not the ‘getting’ that I mean.

But it is clear through the pages of the Bible that God has ordained the Christian gathering to be a place for us to not only offer worship to him but also to receive grace from him.

The Biggest Intellectual Struggle Christians Face at College Isn't What You Think
In this video, Michael Kruger shares the biggest intellectual struggle Christian's face at college.

Michael J. Kruger is the Samuel C. Patterson Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a leading scholar on the origins and development of the New Testament canon. He blogs regularly at michaeljkruger.com. He is the author of 'Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College'.

How to Streamline Your Adult Discipleship Ministries - The Church Revitalization Podcast 

Is your church overwhelmed by a maze of groups, classes, and ministries, or struggling to get people engaged at all? On this episode, we break down how to streamline your adult discipleship ministries for greater clarity and real spiritual growth.

Your hosts, Scott Ball and A.J. Mathieu from The Malphurs Group, bring years of hands-on experience revitalizing churches. Each week, they share practical strategies for church leaders to create healthier, more effective ministries—no matter your church’s size or context...