It all started with a tweet. It was March 2019, and the General Social Survey had just released its raw data, collected the previous year, on American political and religious life. For social scientists like myself, the survey is the most important instrument for analyzing changes in American society. That’s because it’s been asking the same questions on religion since its creation in 1972. If a researcher wants to know what share of Americans never attended church in the 1980s,... Read more
By Carly Berna Remember last year when we thought the pandemic might pass in a few months and we would be going to church on Easter just like every other year? Here we are a year later and most of us are still at home practicing social distancing and watching church in our sweatpants. Can you believe we have been watching church online for over a year now? At first, it was convenient, but you may have quickly realized it is... Read more
It will be nearly a year now of living in times of a pandemic, living in times of unimaginable grief and stress on families, couples, and individuals. While we celebrate the rollout of vaccines, we know our lives will not be going back to the way things were. We find ourselves now figuring out how to sustain relationships during this ongoing time of crisis, beyond the first wave of panic and beyond the first few months of hunkering down. It’s... Read more
When my wife and I were asked recently to co-write a liturgy entitled “Asking God for New Vision in the New Year,” my mind jumped straight to Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The take-away was obvious: If believers want to stave off catastrophe in the new year, we’d better be asking God for vision. Perfect. This thing would write itself. But a quick word study proved otherwise. The word for vision here has been translated... Read more
by, Christian Lingner As this holiday season came to maturity within me over the last couple weeks, and I finally began to return to those traditions which remind me of my spiritual continuity since childhood, I fell once again, fast and fully, under the spell of “Auld Lang Syne.” It has always seemed to me a perfect song, whose musings and melody are bound together so tight as to be inextricable, like soul and body. Yet, because I have developed the... Read more
Are we really being the church? As the church, we are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We are tasked with fulfilling the Great Commission to preach the Gospel, love, and serve the broken, hurting, and hopeless in the world. We have a responsibility to share the Word of God and ourselves with those around us. Jesus never said this would be an easy task or that it was for the faint at heart. God is deeply... Read more
“Do not cause others to stumble.” This verse is usually pulled out and dusted off whenever youth ministers want to convince teen girls not to wear crop tops and short shorts. “Others” is often switched out for “your brother,” as in your brother in Christ who would be ignited by lust with such dress. But these days, it’s come to mean something very different to me, personally… a lowly seeking agnostic. During this tumultuous election season, a week doesn’t pass... Read more
Written by Pastor Kelly Do you remember the first time in your life that someone you looked up to as a spiritual leader had a moral failure? I do. I was a freshman in college at Liberty University studying for the pastorate. I had gone to chapel to hear a great preacher/teacher expound upon the Word of God. The speaker was such a passionate speaker who knew the Word of God so well, that it inspired me to memorize Scripture... Read more
SALT LAKE CITY — With religious services taking place online, this might seem like a moment for digital natives like Gen Z to step into the stream of faith. But new data suggests that the opposite is happening. Pew Research Center reports that those under 30 are the least likely to tune in to virtual worship. Similarly, new data show prior to the pandemic, 13- to 17-year-olds attended in-person religious services at rates similar to their parents — but they... Read more
Recently I was asked, “Who would Jesus vote for?” That’s a great, challenging, and yes, controversial question. Whenever we speak of Jesus as followers of Jesus, we incur greater judgment on our words. When we wield political influence in the name of Jesus, we have to be oh so careful. Jesus lived in a time when democracies didn’t exist in the world. Jesus was never allowed to vote for a political leader. He was subject to the Emperor of Rome... Read more
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