The Church and Society
The College for Bishops Leadership Institute was established to provide educational resources for new bishops as well as trending informational resources for all bishops. The Church and Society focuses on the following specific topics:
New items are added on a monthly basis. To comment or suggest additional topics or resources, please use the feedback form located at the bottom of this page.
Current Religious Trends
Why It’s Unlikely U.S. Mainline Protestants Outnumber Evangelicals
The Public Religion Research Institute recently reported some interesting numbers about faith in America. Most of the news coverage has focused on the fact that the PRRI survey shows a dramatic drop in the number of white Americans who identify as evangelical Christians and an unexpected uptick in the number of white mainline Protestants. This article from Religion Unplugged takes a deep dive into why methodology may have caused some of these surprising shifts. As the author states, measuring religion is hard.
The Unmaking of Biblical Womanhood
Beth Allison Barr is a conservative evangelical Christian and believes that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God. But she is also the author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth,” a new book that uses historical analysis to challenge contemporary claims of scriptural gender roles. The idea that women should be subordinate to men has deep roots in the Christian tradition. But Barr’s book argues that the modern version of complementarianism was invented in the twentieth century, in response to an increasingly effective feminist movement, to reinforce cultural gender divisions.
Religion after pandemic
Diana Butler Bass writes in this blog post that people have used the words “loss” and “lost” to describe the past year; however, lost doesn’t just refer to what is gone. It also means that which is mislaid, out of place, dislocated. Sometimes lost just means that we’re lost. And that is the other task for the post-pandemic world: to help others find what has been lost. We need to find ourselves; we need to be relocated in the world.
Americans return to in-person church with emotion — and uncertainty about the future of worship
The wave of coronavirus vaccines across the United States in recent weeks is allowing some to experience in-person worship after the pandemic upended their spiritual life. According to the Pew Research Center, about 45 percent of Americans attended worship services at least monthly before the pandemic. For those who seek in-person worship, vaccinations and loosened legal restrictionsare bringing them back to a place that can’t be replicated.
Sikhs in America: A religious community long misunderstood is mourning deaths in Indianapolis mass shooting
On April 16, 2021, a gunman opened fire at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis killing eight people and injuring several others. Four members of the Sikh community were among those gunned down. There is little understanding in the U.S. of who exactly the Sikhs are and what they believe. Here’s a primer by Simran Jeet Singh, Visiting Professor at Union Theological Seminary.
The Digital Divide is Giving American Churches Hell
During the past year, the digital divide in churches has reflected the digital divide in American society in general. Resources such as digital tithing and a robust online presence have been a lifeline for churches of all sizes. What new trends will we see ahead in the year ahead with the current acceleration of new church technologies?
Want to understand Black experience? Learn about African American faith, survey finds
Most religious Black Americans say understanding the role of religion in the lives of Black people is essential for understanding the African American experience, a new Barna Group survey finds. The recently released findings are the second of several planned reports from Barna’s State of the Black Church project.
What Research has Revealed About the New Sunday Morning
Since March of this year, Barna has been researching digital church trends that have surfaced (or simply been emphasized) as a result of COVID-19. There is new data on “worship shifting” and some of the uncertain digital and physical realities facing churches. Here are some key findings learned during this unique period in our nation’s history and our worship gatherings.
“Things Will Never Be The Same.” How the Pandemic Has Changed Worship
Christian worship in the United States, long characterized by its adherence to tradition, appears to have been significantly altered by the coronavirus pandemic. NPR looks at some of the negative--and positive--ways church life has been impacted by the pandemic.
Digital Worship May Create America’s Next Spiritual Awakening
For decades, the church has been trying, seemingly in vain, to reach America’s youngest generations with the gospel. All the while, we’ve seen headline after headline and poll after poll reminding us that church attendance has been falling, and rapidly. Enter a global pandemic. Could it be that simply by responding as best and as quickly as we could to something no one saw coming, we’ve unwittingly stumbled into part of God’s answer to a generational riddle?
How Should Christians Act During a Pandemic?
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 is doing what wars, depressions and natural disasters have not: shutting down places of worship for Christians all over the world. This op-ed from the New York Times surveys how a number of theologians and ministers are processing this moment and continuing to be the church when the church building stands empty.
misunderstanding the small church
Recently, a small congregation in Minnesota found its way to national attention when a local newspaper reported that senior citizen members were being asked to leave while the congregation is restarted. (For more on this story, see also this article.) What stands out in this story is our culture’s deep confusion and unease about what to do with the large number of small-membership churches.
Houses of Worship Find New Life After Congregations Downsize
The percentage of Americans who belong to a church, mosque or synagogue has declined in the past 20 years, forcing some religious leaders to make a difficult decision: sell their houses of worship and downsize. Repurposing church buildings, or adaptive reuse, is becoming increasingly common. While some buildings may be sold to other congregations, others will become something entirely different — like a nun-themed coffee shop.