Tuesday, November 10, 2026

Tuesday's Catch: 'South East Asia Celebrates Sustained Church Growth' And More


South East Asia Celebrates Sustained Church Growth
Sustained growth in one of the Anglican Communion’s most unusual and dynamic member churches, the Province of South East Asia (PSEA), is prompting a range of practical and organizational responses to meet emergent training and pastoral needs. Much of the effort to manage and nourish church growth is concentrated in the Diocese of Sabah, on the tropical island of Borneo. The Very Rev. Musa Ambai, Dean of All Saints’ Cathedral in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah’s capital, outlines the diocese’s goal as “to build local churches throughout Sabah and beyond; passionate in worship, powerful in preaching, and prepared for effective mission and evangelism.”

Asian Tigers for Christ - The dynamic growth of the Church in South East Asia
Michael Green celebrates the astonishing growth of the Anglican Church in South East Asia, the youngest province in the world-wide Anglican Communion. He shows how this phenomenon should encourage the Church in the West and suggests how we might learn from South East Asian models of leadership, social involvement and strategies for mission and evangelism. A book that will inspire those concerned with spreading the gospel message.
Recommended reading.
How Preaching Can Bring Renewal to a Struggling Church
It is Saturday night. Your sermon is done, but your heart is not in it. Attendance dropped again. The board pushed back again. A family you poured into just left for the church across town. You wonder if you are the right person. You wonder if this church can live.

I have sat in that seat many times. Most revitalization pastors have too. Here is what I learned the hard way over the years. When everything feels stuck, empty, and stale, don’t start with a new program or idea, a new logo, or a new budget rollout. You start in the pulpit first. You and God’s Word alone.

Why 2025’s Attendance Patterns Create Unprecedented Ministry Opportunities
The biggest obstacle to church revitalization isn’t declining attendance—it’s pastors designing ministry for people who don’t exist.

Twenty years ago, church growth experts debated whether Americans attended church as much as they claimed. While Barna reported a 43% weekly attendance rate in 2004, the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion found the actual number was closer to 22%—a gap that created unrealistic expectations for church programming.

Today, that honesty gap has disappeared. This shift represents the most significant opportunity for vitality in modern ministry.

US pastors worship in the wilds of Wales
A group of Evangelical Lutheran church leaders from Ohio recently visited North Wales on a journey of faith and understanding.

The visit was part of a 10-day tour of the United Kingdom, with stops in London, Liverpool, Lincolnshire and the HQ of Fresh Expressions UK.

The Welsh portion of the tour entailed an encounter with a group known as the Nomadic Community which uses walking and pilgrimage in order to reach those who normally do not attend church. Activities include its “contemplative walking” and “Worship in the Wild”. The group is led by Rev Eryl Parry, a Pioneer Priest in the Diocese of Bangor.
Also See: What is a Pioneer? Fresh Expressions What is a pioneer? Diocese of Bath & Wells
Preparing for Christmas Eve Guests: More Unchurched Guests Than Any Other Day of the Year [Webinar- Thursday, November 12, 2026, 1:00 PM Eastern]
Christmas Eve is one of the greatest opportunities your church has to reach unchurched people. In fact, our consulting and coaching work consistently shows that churches welcome more unchurched guests on Christmas Eve than on any other day of the year.

Is your church ready to make the most of this opportunity?

Join Thom Rainer and Sam Rainer as they share 12 practical ways to prepare your church for Christmas Eve guests. You’ll discover often-overlooked details that can make a lasting impression, common mistakes churches should avoid, and simple ways to turn a first-time visit into a meaningful connection.

Don’t miss this opportunity to prepare your church for one of the most important outreach days of the year! Reserve your spot for this free webinar!

REC missionary accuses Bishop Ray Sutton of negligence over German camp dispute
A Reformed Episcopal Church missionary dismissed from the leadership of the church’s retreat centre in Germany has publicly accused the REC’s Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Ray Sutton, and the chairman of its Board of Foreign Missions of failing to act on his complaints against the German convocation’s bishop. He has offered to help bring a presentment against Bishop Sutton.

My Statement to the College of Bishops
As many of you know, I am a complainant in the case against Derek Jones. I recount a short background in my statement below, but it is a complex, enduring, and deeply painful story. Last month I was asked to yet again write out a statement and tell the same story I have told maybe a hundred times before. I admit it is difficult to recount this story again, but like all the times previous I felt that I must speak in order to be heard, as usually even despite this level of effort I and others have been continuously ignored. Alongside this request was a desire for a shorter statement so that our bishops, some of whom do not desire to read deeply into a situation that has consumed years of my life, could come to a rational conclusion.

Judge dismisses criminal charges against former Pawleys Island church leaders
A judge has dismissed all criminal charges against the former leaders of Pawleys Island Community Church in South Carolina over their decision to let a convicted sex offender work as a volunteer around children at their facilities.

Georgetown County Chief Magistrate Judge Anthony Love dismissed the charges Friday against church employees and those at its affiliated school. The judge found that the testimony did not provide sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, WCIV reports.

Christian nationalists have a problem with Christ, Perry says
Christian nationalists have a problem with Jesus Christ, sociologist Samuel Perry told a gathering of Oklahoma CBF Sunday night.

Perry, a professor at the University of Oklahoma and author of books and articles about Christian nationalism, was the keynote speaker for an annual awards banquet held by the Oklahoma chapter of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Norman, Okla., on the OU campus. In addition to his training as a sociologist, Perry is a master of divinity graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Why I Am Still a Christian
I can talk and write about transcendence and moral foundations and canonical coherence, but what really kept me Christian most is learning how to say, “I Love Jesus.”

Our Personalist Moment
In his important work of post-critical epistemology, Personal Knowledge, the scientist-philosopher Michael Polanyi spoke of the “tacit dimension.” By this he meant those features of a thing we take for granted, which only come to mind when we give conscious attention to what had been at the periphery of our awareness.

This came to my mind in relation to the recent, lively, and edifying conversation in this space about the role of AI in sermon writing (see here, here, and here). To this conversation I would add a friendly addendum, in the tacit dimension. In its essence, preaching is one child of God, who is also a dying sinner, telling other dying sinners where the Bread of Life is to be found (alluding to the famous quotation about evangelism from D. T. Niles). That encounter, and address, are ingredients in the very act of preaching, overlooked though they may often be.

7 Sermon Series on AI Your Church Needs
Your people are being discipled by AI, and most churches aren’t saying a word about it.

Practicing Christians trust AI more than non-practicing Christians and far more than pastors when it comes to mental health, meaning and purpose, and spiritual growth (Barna). The average person spends about 49 hours a week on screens and roughly 30 minutes listening to a sermon. If you aren’t preaching about AI, the algorithm is doing the discipling for you.

In this video, I share why pastors need to preach about artificial intelligence now, plus seven sermon series ideas (and a bonus) you can use at your church. These aren’t messages about writing better prompts. They’re about what AI is doing to people: identity, relationships, anxiety, work, thinking, patience, grief, and the end times.

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