The National Council of Churches 2010 year book shows that only 5 of America’s top 25 denominations reported growth last year. The other 20 reported differing degrees of decline.
Small-community churches have seen such slippage that many are now on the verge of extinction. In the face of that threat, and confronting questions about closing or consolidating, some are fighting to retain their place.
A pastor has embezzled $50,000 from her congregation.
A pastor is hearing rumors that some members of his congregation are unhappy about his “leadership style,” or his “effectiveness,” or that he just “doesn’t seem to fit this congregation.”
Which congregation is faced with the more difficult conflict?
The Episcopal Church has released the numbers for membership for 2008
Episcopal Life Online notes that September 27 is Back to Church Sunday in the UK. The Church of England and Episcopal/Anglican churches around the world
The rapid growth of “emerging churches” worldwide provided a new opportunity for reflection on the nature and task of the church. This article briefly outlines some of the tensions this movement raises in relation to the traditional “marks” of the church
What makes a congregation bivocational and more likely to thrive into the future is the dual calling of the congregation to fresh understandings of mission and function—mission that is rooted locally, focused, and so primary that the church is willing to risk self in the cause, and functioning that is responsible, complementary, experimental, and not pastor-dependent, but lay-owned.
The developing ironic faith takes the believer to a fork in the road. Will the believer abandon the Christian faith altogether or will the believer redefine the meaning of being a Christian?
A notice from the Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries of the Episcopal Church regarding people who might arrive on Sunday morning at your church because of the news surrounding the Rev. Alberto Cutié joining the Episcopal Church.