For many fast-growing churches, their thankfulness toward God is expressed in how they serve other congregations. But receiving thanks from the churches they helped wasn’t the reason they decided to care for other congregations. Their motivation flowed from sources much deeper and more intrinsic to their identity.
How to Be a Church for Young Adult Skeptics
The challenge in reaching skeptics isn’t a lack of answers. It’s creating enough space for their questions to lead them toward the answers.
Stop Losing New Guests: How To Automate Church Visitor Follow-Up
Every first-time guest deserves a timely, personal response. These five easy workflows automate church visitor follow-up so no connection card gets left in a stack.
Are we ready to battle for the Gospel?
Dozens of church leaders gathered in Glasgow and online for The Evangelism Conference 2026 where they heard a sobering message from Rico Tice about what it will take to pass on the Gospel to the next generation.
Tice, a seasoned evangelist and co-founder of Christianity Explored, said that if Christians are serious about seeing more people come to faith, they need to embrace the “soldier’s life” and be “ready to suffer”.
“It’s a war,” Tice said.
“If you want to pass on the Gospel, it’s going to be brutal … Are we ready to battle?”
Nicky Gumbel elected to Church of England parliament with a call to put evangelism first
The founder of the globally influential Alpha Course, the Rev Nicky Gumbel, has been elected to the Church of England’s General Synod.
The 71-year-old former vicar of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) was elected to represent the Diocese of London in the House of Clergy, marking his first term on the Church’s national governing body.
Scottish Bishop Suspended Again
Troubled Bishop Anne Dyer of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney has been suspended from ministry for a third time just months before her planned retirement, according to an October 13 statement by the Scottish Episcopal Church.
The church’s first female bishop, Dyer has been a lightning rod for controversy throughout her eight-year tenure. When she was appointed by the church’s House of Bishops in 2018, half of the diocesan clergy protested because of her support for same-sex marriage, and she was suspended twice during a period of more than two years after allegations of bullying were raised against her.
In rare joint statement, evangelicals and Catholic bishops urge compassionate immigration laws
Catholic bishops and leaders from the National Association of Evangelicals drew on the Bible and Declaration of Independence to make a case for immigration reform.
‘Evangelicals leave the Church of England’ – a long lost speech has been rediscovered
A recording of a speech that sent shockwaves around the evangelical world, Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones speaking in 1966 in London, has been rediscovered and made public on the internet by the Martyn Lloyd-Jones trust. A Youtube version is here. (A text version was published in Banner of Truth’s book Knowing the Times in 1989.) Lloyd-Jones, a key evangelical leader, speaking at the National Assembly of Evangelicals in London, called for visible evangelical unity and for evangelicals to leave mixed denominations like the Church of England.
Iona Collaborative helps small congregations bridge the leadership gap
According to the most recent Parochial Report published this week by The Episcopal Church, a full half of congregations had an average Sunday attendance of 50 or fewer in 2025. Yet those smaller congregations account for just 15% of worshipers; the remaining 85% attend churches with an average Sunday attendance of 51 or more. That kind of lopsided distribution, and the funding disparity that comes with it, makes it challenging for those smaller parishes and missions to recruit priests to serve their communities.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, which averages about 30 congregants on any given Sunday, is a case in point. After searching for a rector for two years, the parish in June 2024 announced the Rev. Erik Broeren was their choice — as did St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church 2.4 miles away in Benton Harbor. Broeren now alternates between the two: On the Sundays he’s there, he presides over the Eucharist, and on the Sundays he’s not, licensed lay preacher and longtime congregant Freya Gilbert oversees Morning Prayer, including a sermon.
“In rural settings or small towns like we’re in, you’re going to see more priests who are called to multiple parishes at the same time,” Broeren told the Episcopal News Service. “We have to empower our laity to live into their ministry as worship leaders, as preachers, as educators. To me, there’s no other way forward.”
What Is Preaching For?
just have to say it,” my friend, a theologian, recently said. “I don’t like sermons anymore.” The confession was honest and forthright, but not all that surprising. My impression is that my friend’s feeling is not terribly unique. People ache for good preaching. A Pew Research study from 2015 found that “quality sermons” were one of, if not the, most important factor for what leads people to choose a church.
But what makes for “quality” preaching? This is a substantive and urgent area for conversation, and Covenant has published numerous essays on preaching in the past year, hopefully provoking more conversations. In order to understand what makes for good preaching, we ought to give some thought to the end, the telos, of preaching.
Why Did American Churches Silence the Choir for a Worship Band?
Why did the choir disappear from the pews? We trace the shift from traditional sacred music to the modern worship band..
In 1963, the Second Vatican Council explicitly promoted the role of the church choir, yet today, these ensembles are increasingly absent from American sanctuaries. This documentary explores the history of sacred music to understand how the aesthetic and functional expectations of congregational singing have evolved over the last sixty years.
We trace how the rise of the modern worship band reflects broader shifts in American Christianity, from changing household economics to the reconfiguration of Sunday morning liturgy. By examining the move away from traditional liturgical music, we look at the sociological and practical reasons why local congregations prioritized contemporary sounds over established choir traditions, offering a new perspective on this quiet chapter of church history.
Also See: What Really Silenced the American Church Choir After 19956 Steps to Improve Your Church’s Singing
Here are a few words of practical advice on how pastors in particular can encourage loud, exuberant congregational singing in their churches.
Also See: 5 Ways to Improve Your Small Congregation’s SingingThe World Doesn’t Need You to Be Angry
Every so often, I find myself drawn to one specific book of the Bible. No matter how many times I read it, I can’t get away from it. Most often, that’s been the Psalms. But recently, it’s been 1 Thessalonians. While not being one of the more popular epistles, this letter and it’s encouragements for enduring perseverance, questions about anti-Christs, and calls for personal holiness in the last days, is one I’m stuck in (in a good way).
And it’s especially that call to holiness that keeps me pouring over the letter’s words, as he reminded the Thessalonians that their conduct affected their witness.
And it’s especially that call to holiness that keeps me pouring over the letter’s words, as he reminded the Thessalonians that their conduct affected their witness.
Image Credit: Outreach Magazine
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