churches
Religion & Ethics Newsweekly VIDEO: Richard Cizik talks of losing his son to heroin
By Sally Morrow — September 8, 2014
(RNS) Richard Cizik, a prominent evangelical, lost his son, Richard Jr., to an overdose last year. Now he is pushing faith communities to get more involved by first acknowledging that heroin abuse is happening in their own churches.
Churches must provide a space where people are free to be themselves (COMMENTARY)
By Tom Ehrich — August 26, 2014
(RNS) People need safe places, and church has provided that safety to many.
After Ferguson, churches must confess the sin of abandonment (COMMENTARY)
By Carl W. Kenney — August 21, 2014
(RNS) As easy as it is to drive away, change happens when we stay.
A ban on new church construction angers Sudanese Christians
By Fredrick Nzwili — July 23, 2014
(RNS) A Sudanese minister argued there is no need to grant new plots of land for churches.
COMMENTARY: Failing to see God’s love
By Tom Ehrich — June 24, 2014
(RNS) Churches die for many reasons, from bad leadership decisions to bad luck to poor execution of programs and ideas. One reason they die is ingratitude.
Turnaround: How dying churches can find new life
By Bob Smietana — June 19, 2014
(RNS) Watching a church that you love shut down is hard. But a merger can get a church out of survival mode and focused on the future.
Charitable giving to religious groups is down as philanthropy improves from the Great Recession
By Lauren Markoe — June 17, 2014
WASHINGTON (RNS) The religious sector received 31 percent of all charitable dollars in 2013, a proportion twice as high as the second-largest U.S. sector, education.
Christian leaders urge dialogue with Nigeria’s violent Boko Haram
By Fredrick Nzwili — March 19, 2014
(RNS) While attacks on Christians ignite violent reprisals in the Central African Republic, Christian leaders in Nigeria continue to insist on a path of dialogue and nonviolence with Boko Haram, the Islamic militant group.
Bats in the belfry a serious matter for the Church of England
By Trevor Grundy — March 13, 2014
CANTERBURY, England (RNS) Bats are making life unbearable for congregations by defecating on church worshippers from roofs as well as bell towers, according to a report to the Church Buildings Council of the Church of England.
COMMENTARY: Making a difference in a world that’s falling apart
By Tom Ehrich — November 26, 2013
(RNS) The outside focus group changed the air. By simply describing the realities with which they deal every day, they put Sunday morning fussing into perspective. A world broken at its very core demands better of its churches.
Churches raised funds, encouraged crowds at ’63 march
By Deborah Barfield Berry — August 22, 2013
(RNS) Through passionate pulpit sermons, religious leaders helped bring busloads to Washington. Fifty years later, organizers are again turning to churches to help mark the anniversary of the march.
How Christians should respond to the Zimmerman verdict: An interview with Leroy Barber
By Jonathan Merritt — July 16, 2013
In the wake of the Zimmerman verdict, an African-American leader urges Christians to listen, learn, and lament.
Christians in Sudan face increased hostility
By Fredrick Nzwili — July 16, 2013
(RNS) South Sudan's independence is praised as good for political reasons. But Christians in the north say they are being persecuted. Several churches in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, have been destroyed and others closed down.
Lifetree Cafes offer space for tough topics
By Ann Marie Somma — June 7, 2013
(RNS) Lifetree Cafes are a fairly recent venture by Group Publishing, a Colorado-based Christian publishing company that is tapping into people's yearning for community and face-to face connection.
COMMENTARY: Mindless metrics
By Tom Ehrich — June 4, 2013
(RNS) Many congregations stick to counting people in the pews and shun the harder work of measuring outcomes and impact.
