EPC leaders say the vision of the program is to see each of its 11 presbyteries build partnerships of five to eight churches that will launch church-planting teams that can in turn establish enough churches to form presbyteries in Muslim nations.

Think that’s scary? I recently talked to an active member in one of North Carolina’s most active, stalwart, healthy Baptist churches. An internal study there showed that 73 percent of the church budget was contributed by members who are 70 years old and up.  And funerals are conducted on a regular basis.   People who... Continue Reading

I’m not a great fan of shaking hands across the pews at the beginning of a service or acting out motions for children’s songs. My personal version of liturgical dance is limited to standing up and sitting down. I’m glad, however, when a service pushes me out of my introvert’s worship comfort zone.

"Clearly the congregation needs to be able to get to know its pastor, but setting a specific time limit is like a fixed-term presidency: It could impact the way the pastor behaves just to massage his popularity numbers when the key vote comes down in three or four years' time." Carl Trueman, professor, Westminster Theological Seminary

Maybe religion really is the opiate of the masses -- just not the way Karl Marx imagined. A University of Washington study posits that worship services at megachurches can trigger feelings of transcendence and changes in brain chemistry -- a spiritual "high" that keeps congregants coming back for more.

Barely 70 percent of the Welsh claim any Christian loyalty whatever, and only ten percent report regular attendance at church or chapel, a figure even smaller than in Godless England… The old core Dissenting churches – Independent, Presbyterian and Baptist – each claim around one percent of the population as members.

Churches such as Second Presbyterian and St. David’s are part of a new trend among liberal or progressive churches, said religion scholar Diana Butler Bass, author of “Christianity After Religion.” She said that starting in the 1980s, many liberal churches and theologians began to rediscover spirituality and the Bible. That makes them very different from liberal churches of the past.

“We have a totally separate group called Child Evangel Fellowship. We are going to be real careful -- our thrust is reading and math. Obviously, if there is an interest in just who and what First Presbyterian Church is we’ll respond to it but this is more about reaching out to help our community with a very pressing need.”

The church, which is legally bound to conduct marriages to all British citizens and currently conducts one quarter of all Britain's marriages, wondered how its beliefs long could survive, even with ostensible protections for religious freedom. It also asked why the government would continue to allow civil partnerships for same sex couples after legalizing same sex marriage. And it asked how the new law would define adultery and consummation.

But, the confusion that led to the sad spectacle of Anglicans "aspiring" to something they already possessed is a danger that still lurks beneath the surface. And, so it will until we have a firm and confident grasp of genuine theology, and can properly understand the Gospel and the Church