Researchers at CoGenerate have a name for what we’ve lost: our “intergenerational infrastructure,” or the everyday relationships that once connected people across age and experience. Their national survey of religious adults found that more than a third of respondents say their religious community makes no effort to connect older and younger members, and nearly half said they’d be more likely to participate in religious activities if those activities were designed to build relationships across age groups. People can see the gap. They just don’t know how to close it.
Churches haven’t lost this infrastructure by accident. For many decades now, we’ve built ministry around what Virginia Theological Seminary’s Roots & Wings project calls an “age-and-stage” model. Children learn in Sunday school. Teenagers have youth group. College students find their own campus ministry. Adults attend adult formation. None of this is wrong, since each ministry meets a real need, but it also reflects a broader cultural tendency to organize life around age cohorts rather than relationships, and researchers are increasingly asking whether we’ve unintentionally lost something essential by assuming that faith is best formed when generations are kept separate. The alternative isn’t simply older adults teaching younger ones. It’s every generation both teaching and learning, so that ministry moves in more than one direction.
How Churches Can Respond to the Loneliness Epidemic
In a Surgeon General’s Advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that America is facing a public health epidemic of loneliness, isolation and disassociation that is linked to anxiety, depression and even increased mortality. Not only do adults report persistent loneliness, but the most digitally connected generation in history also is the most relationally disconnected.
If loneliness is the defining ache of our time and community is the church’s defining gift, then this isn’t merely a cultural problem—it is a great missional opportunity.
What the Church Growth Movement Got Wrong (And Right)
Jimmy Mellado unpacks what the church growth movement got right and wrong from the 90s through 2010s, why concentrated power without governance breaks leaders, the ingredients that go into moral failure, and what scale costs a pastor.
Plus, he shares lessons from his time as an Olympian. This one's for leaders who've mistaken growth for health.
What Happened to 8 Megachurches After Their Pastors Fell
This article looks at eight high-profile large churches after leaders fell or were removed. For each, we compare the size before the scandal or problem; what happened to attendance, leadership, and money; and where things stand now.
Hitting Home Runs with Church Marketing
Sam interviews David Graham of Five Loaves Marketing, and they talk about the best ways for churches to utilize marketing resources.
Volunteer at Their Own Church? What Pastors Need to Know
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has addressed an important question that often arises in church workplaces: When may a church employee volunteer additional time for the church without that time becoming compensable work under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?
Texas megachurch may leave UMC amid ongoing legal battle with conference
A Texas megachurch will consider leaving the United Methodist Church amid an ongoing legal battle over changes it made to its governing documents.
Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) in Dallas held a town hall meeting Sunday to discuss the possibility of leaving the mainline Protestant denomination.
Court to side with 70 South Carolina churches seeking to leave the UMC
A South Carolina judge is expected to dismiss cases brought by the UMC’s South Carolina Conference against about 70 congregations seeking to leave with their property, the conference announced.
The UMC South Carolina Conference announced an update on Tuesday regarding litigation between the regional body and 70 churches seeking to leave the denomination with their properties. The conference said it learned of the ruling Monday.
Pentagon’s Religious Trends Raise Concerns
The late Martin Marty, noted church historian, scholar, and distinguished educator, once said that in matters of warfare, “When God gets called in, things get worse.” He continued, “When people become convinced they are acting on God’s orders, it gives them an excuse to be less humane.” Recent developments related to “matters of warfare” make Marty’s warning a current dilemma for many people of faith.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was confirmed to his position In January of 2025. Since that time, actions and statements of his have led to concern regarding Hegseth’s understanding of the place of religion in relation to warfare, the military, and the Pentagon. The relationship of religious faith to warfare has always been complicated. Scholars, political leaders, and people of faith have worked through the years to examine and carefully monitor that connection. Today that work continues.
Teens less likely to identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, prompting debate over why: report
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that fewer younger teenagers are identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual, with the steepest decline occurring among ninth-grade girls, prompting debate over what may be driving the change.
According to an analysis of the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, 17% of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual in 2025, down from 30% in 2021. Over the same period, the share identifying specifically as bisexual fell from 26% to 13%.
AI Makes Sermon Prep Effortless. That’s the Problem.
We shouldn’t overlook or minimize Paul’s repeated emphasis on hard work.
Pastor, when you’re considering whether to use AI in your sermon preparation, first ask, ‘What am I forfeiting by using AI to do this?
Churches haven’t lost this infrastructure by accident. For many decades now, we’ve built ministry around what Virginia Theological Seminary’s Roots & Wings project calls an “age-and-stage” model. Children learn in Sunday school. Teenagers have youth group. College students find their own campus ministry. Adults attend adult formation. None of this is wrong, since each ministry meets a real need, but it also reflects a broader cultural tendency to organize life around age cohorts rather than relationships, and researchers are increasingly asking whether we’ve unintentionally lost something essential by assuming that faith is best formed when generations are kept separate. The alternative isn’t simply older adults teaching younger ones. It’s every generation both teaching and learning, so that ministry moves in more than one direction.
How Churches Can Respond to the Loneliness Epidemic
In a Surgeon General’s Advisory, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy sounded the alarm that America is facing a public health epidemic of loneliness, isolation and disassociation that is linked to anxiety, depression and even increased mortality. Not only do adults report persistent loneliness, but the most digitally connected generation in history also is the most relationally disconnected.
If loneliness is the defining ache of our time and community is the church’s defining gift, then this isn’t merely a cultural problem—it is a great missional opportunity.
What the Church Growth Movement Got Wrong (And Right)
Jimmy Mellado unpacks what the church growth movement got right and wrong from the 90s through 2010s, why concentrated power without governance breaks leaders, the ingredients that go into moral failure, and what scale costs a pastor.
Plus, he shares lessons from his time as an Olympian. This one's for leaders who've mistaken growth for health.
What Happened to 8 Megachurches After Their Pastors Fell
This article looks at eight high-profile large churches after leaders fell or were removed. For each, we compare the size before the scandal or problem; what happened to attendance, leadership, and money; and where things stand now.
Hitting Home Runs with Church Marketing
Sam interviews David Graham of Five Loaves Marketing, and they talk about the best ways for churches to utilize marketing resources.
Volunteer at Their Own Church? What Pastors Need to Know
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has addressed an important question that often arises in church workplaces: When may a church employee volunteer additional time for the church without that time becoming compensable work under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)?
Texas megachurch may leave UMC amid ongoing legal battle with conference
A Texas megachurch will consider leaving the United Methodist Church amid an ongoing legal battle over changes it made to its governing documents.
Highland Park United Methodist Church (HPUMC) in Dallas held a town hall meeting Sunday to discuss the possibility of leaving the mainline Protestant denomination.
Court to side with 70 South Carolina churches seeking to leave the UMC
A South Carolina judge is expected to dismiss cases brought by the UMC’s South Carolina Conference against about 70 congregations seeking to leave with their property, the conference announced.
The UMC South Carolina Conference announced an update on Tuesday regarding litigation between the regional body and 70 churches seeking to leave the denomination with their properties. The conference said it learned of the ruling Monday.
Pentagon’s Religious Trends Raise Concerns
The late Martin Marty, noted church historian, scholar, and distinguished educator, once said that in matters of warfare, “When God gets called in, things get worse.” He continued, “When people become convinced they are acting on God’s orders, it gives them an excuse to be less humane.” Recent developments related to “matters of warfare” make Marty’s warning a current dilemma for many people of faith.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was confirmed to his position In January of 2025. Since that time, actions and statements of his have led to concern regarding Hegseth’s understanding of the place of religion in relation to warfare, the military, and the Pentagon. The relationship of religious faith to warfare has always been complicated. Scholars, political leaders, and people of faith have worked through the years to examine and carefully monitor that connection. Today that work continues.
Teens less likely to identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, prompting debate over why: report
New data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that fewer younger teenagers are identifying as lesbian, gay or bisexual, with the steepest decline occurring among ninth-grade girls, prompting debate over what may be driving the change.
According to an analysis of the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data by Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, 17% of ninth-grade girls identified as lesbian or bisexual in 2025, down from 30% in 2021. Over the same period, the share identifying specifically as bisexual fell from 26% to 13%.
AI Makes Sermon Prep Effortless. That’s the Problem.
We shouldn’t overlook or minimize Paul’s repeated emphasis on hard work.
Pastor, when you’re considering whether to use AI in your sermon preparation, first ask, ‘What am I forfeiting by using AI to do this?
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