A Few Good Reads

“Stephen Curry and the Culture of Mistrust”
Bethany Jenkins writes about the evident humility of Stephen Curry compared to the “The gospel transforms our notion of self-worth and identity because it invites us to embrace a sense of meaning and purpose that’s bigger than ourselves. In Christ, we we’re not demoralized by failure or overly impressed by narrow ideas of success, like football tackles or MVP awards or prestigious scholarships and degrees.”

“Is Christianity Dying?”
A new Pew Center study on religious affiliation received lots of attention this week. The talking points seem to center around the increasing number of unaffiliated and the decreasing number of Christians. Russell Moore analyzes the report and offers some important reflections about what they mean. “Bible Belt near-Christianity is teetering. I say let it fall. For much of the twentieth century, especially in the South and parts of the Midwest, one had to at least claim to be a Christian to be “normal.” During the Cold War, that meant distinguishing oneself from atheistic Communism. At other times, it has meant seeing churchgoing as a way to be seen as a good parent, a good neighbor, and a regular person. It took courage to be an atheist, because explicit unbelief meant social marginalization. Rising rates of secularization, along with individualism, means that those days are over—and good riddance to them.”

“Why Plant a New Church in the Bible Belt?”
I often hear people say we don’t need more churches in the South. In this post Jeff Lawrence answers this objection by showing the great need for new churches in the Bible Belt. “A recent article in The Oklahoman claims that Oklahoma City area, where I pastor, is growing by 1729 people per month. Yes, per month. How will the church keep up with population growth? Numerically, we need to add nearly a new megachurch per month just to keep up with all the new people moving into the area. Add into the equation the hundreds of thousands already here who do not know Jesus, and you start to get a sense of the burden we should feel for planting new churches.”