Party affiliations again reveal differences in opinion on this issue. Among pastors who call themselves Republican, only 9 percent believe the election cycle has been too religious, as compared to 20 percent of Independents and 39 percent of Democrats.   Nearly 90 percent of pastors believe they should not endorse candidates for public office from... Continue Reading

"When it comes to benefits for senior pastors," McConnell said, "it appears churches are doing the best they can. On average, the more people a church has attending worship, the more insurance benefits they provide for the pastor." More than half of churches with weekly attendances above 250 people provide insurance for the pastor and his family. Nearly half (47 percent) of churches that average 50-99 people in weekly attendance do not provide any medical coverage

The time has come to select a new Most Reverend Father in God, by Divine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England and Metropolitan. The CVs have been sifted, references requested, candidates shortlisted, and Google consulted (just in case... skeletons... cupboard...)

The Archbishop of Canterbury must fulfill a number of roles including that of bishop of the Canterbury diocese and head of the Church of England as well as acting as a ''focus of unity'' for the worldwide Anglican Communion.

I recall watching Richard John Neuhaus address the National Association of Evangelicals when still a Lutheran pastor. He intoned in his sonorous voice at the start of his talk, “We evangelicals . . .” all the time smiling like a Cheshire cat.

Drawing on the Book of Joshua, the presiding pastor, a former Bristol GP named Nic Harding, advises his audience to fix their sights on metaphorical mountains, parts of society where their beliefs might be brought to bear. The examples he offers might chill any non-believer to the bone: "Education, healthcare, politics, government – these are all areas where God says, 'Who will claim that mountain?'"

What might we do instead? The opposite of giving people what they want is to give them what they need. The beauty is that Christianity already knows how to do this. Once upon a time our faith thrived in a non-Christian empire. It took less than 300 years for 11 scared dudes to take over the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. How did they do it? Where we have opted for a relevant, homogenously grouped, segregated, attractional professionalized model; the early church did it with a multi-ethnic, multi-social class, seeker INsensitive church

The latest edition provides a new subsection on “electronic meetings,” with substantially expanded treatment of the topic. The new edition devotes three pages to “electronic meetings,” up from one paragraph in the 10th edition.

"This amendment clarifies what the BCO and our Standards already assume is the Biblical practice, and there is no good argument not to ask our churches to conform to this simple instruction in order to obey the plain Scriptural accounts and to help preserve our liturgical unity together as a denomination. Therefore, we should approve this amendment to our Constitution."

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) in late August informed churches renting public school space that, beginning Sept. 1, faith-based organizations no longer qualified for reduced rates available to other charitable non-religious organizations, such as the Girl Guides. With only a couple of days’ notice these churches saw their rent doubled, quadrupled, or worse, with... Continue Reading