Important Takeaways:
- Why is the church quiet? The revolutionary pastors fought and urged congregants to be involved. Why has the church lost its zeal today?
- Speaking of revolutionary pastors, back in 1776, a pastor in Woodstock, Virginia, John Peter Muhlenberg, stood up in front of his congregation and preached from Ecclesiastes chapter 3. When he got to verse 8, he talked about how there was a “time for war and a time for peace,” and he unzipped his black clerical robe to reveal an officer’s uniform in the Continental Army. He marched to the back of his church, and he called the men of his congregation to fight. They formed the 8th Virginia Brigade, which is still in active duty today.
- James Madison, one of the great founding fathers in Virginia, was running for the first Congress in 1789. While he was running for the fifth district to sit in Congress, he met with the Virginia Baptists in Richmond. They told him that he wouldn’t get their support unless he wrote a Bill of Rights for the First Amendment protecting religious Liberties. Madison did just that, and he won that seat in Congress.
- My point is that the church has always been involved in the past, so why be silent today? I think there are a few reasons.
- Some have misinterpreted the First Amendment—the idea of a separation of church and state. The First Amendment was intended to keep government out of the church, not the church out of government.
- When Thomas Jefferson wrote his letter in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut, he was interpreting the constitutional rights that churches had to be involved in politics. The separation of church and state was intended to help churches and Christians realize that the government can’t intrude, not the other way around.
- Then, in 1959, the Johnson Amendment came into law. It muzzled Pastors in the Pulpit from endorsing candidates.
- Today, you have pastors who just don’t want to be controversial. Let me tell you something: anytime you step into the arena of truth, it will sound controversial to some people. As pastors, we must continue to urge our congregations. And as Christians, you must be active, not silent, in the pews. Get out and make your voices heard and your values known.
- Be involved in the political process today. We’re called to be salt and light. Get out there, please, and be salt and light to this world.
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Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Important Takeaways:
- What Pastors Wish They’d Been Prepared For
- Broadly speaking, recent years may have amplified many pastors’ insecurities about what they have to offer their communities. Comparing data from 2015 and 2020, Barna found that pastors across the nation were facing a shocking surge in perceived gaps in their own training.
- In 2015, just 27 percent of pastors said they wished they’d been better prepared to handle conflict. In 2020, that number shot up to 40 percent.
- In 2015, 20 percent of pastors said they wished they were better prepared to delegate and train others. In 2020, 41 percent said the same.
- In 2015, 16 percent of pastors said they wished they were better prepared to navigate church politics. By 2020, 36 percent of pastors said the same.
- These jumps in common stressors are thrown into even sharper relief when controlled for age. Younger pastors more often than their older colleagues wish they’d had better preparation to handle issues like conflict (47% of pastors under 45 vs. 37% of pastors 45+), crisis management (32% vs. 15%) and leadership demands (29% vs. 17%).
- In short, the next generation of pastors says they feel unprepared for some of the biggest challenges facing the modern Church. Whether as a major contributor or a serious consequence, this sense of being unprepared is part of the growing epidemic of burnout.
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Revelation 2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
Important Takeaways:
- 38% of U.S. Pastors Have Thought About Quitting Full-Time Ministry in the Past Year
- With pastors’ well-being on the line, and many on the brink of burnout, 38 percent indicate they have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year. This percentage is up 9 full points (from 29%) since Barna asked church leaders this same question at the beginning of 2021.
- One of the more alarming findings is that 46 percent of pastors under the age of 45 say they are considering quitting full-time ministry, compared to 34 percent of pastors 45 and older. Keeping the right younger leaders encouraged and in their ministry roles will be crucial to the next decade of congregational vitality in the U.S.
- Specifically, roughly one-third of pastors who are considering resignation have been in ministry for about 20 years but have been at their current church for seven years.
- More recently, October 2021 data show that many pastors are not faring well in multiple categories of well-being, including spiritual, physical, emotional, vocational and financial.
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- Barna: Thousands Of Pastors Have Become Leaders Of A Movement Away From God, Toward Narcissism
- Parishioners in the United Kingdom were shocked and appalled in November to hear a University of Cambridge student pontificate during his chapel message that Jesus Christ is transgender.
- …what’s more alarming is an increasing unfaithfulness to the Scriptures by pastors of Christian congregations across the United States.
- A 2022 survey of 1,000 Christian pastors across seven major groupings of denominations revealed that only 37% of clergy have a Biblical worldview.
- Among evangelical pastors surveyed, 30% said they don’t believe that their salvation is based exclusively on confessing their sins through repentance and accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
- 39% of evangelical pastors reject that there is absolute moral truth and instead contend that each individual must determine their own truth.
- 37% said that having a faith matters more than which faith you have.
- [In Conclusion]…the prevailing worldview for 88% of Americans, Barna said, is syncretism, defined as a personalized or customized worldview dictated by an individual’s preferences, desires and subjective truth claims. “Worldview is important because you do what you believe,”
- “Because pastors teach what they believe, many churches are becoming centers of syncretism and secular thought,” Barna continued. “Perhaps without even realizing it, thousands of pastors have become leaders of a movement away from God, toward narcissism.”
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- Does a Divided Public Look to Pastors for Guidance?
- Who do Americans believe is responsible for creating meaningful change in our country?
- U.S. Adults Largely Point to the Government to Make Things Right
- None religious say National Gov. by 52%
- Practicing Christians say National Gov. by 49%
- Also Practicing Christians say the Church by 48%
- When thinking specifically about who can enact change, Americans are most likely to say this is up to individuals (48%)
- In fact, the majority of U.S. adults (70%) says yes, Christian pastors are still seen—either somewhat or entirely—as a good resource to consult when thinking about the topics that matter most to them.
- Political division is one of the main reasons pastors say they’ve considered quitting ministry in the past year. Learn more here.
- One in five U.S. adults says the 2020 election had a negative impact on a close relationship.
- While pastors have named political division as a main stressor over the past year—even leading some pastors to consider quitting full-time ministry—those in the pews are looking to their church leaders right now, not only to help them learn how to better dialogue about political issues, but also to advocate for those same issues to elected officials.
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Hebrews 10:25 encourages believers to stir up one another and to not forsake meeting together.
Important Takeaways:
- There’s A Time to Preach & A Time To Fight: Pastors Warn They Won’t Comply Next Time The Gov’t Tries to Control, Shut Down Services
- Some pastors are recruiting other church leaders to sign a document promising to keep their churches open the next time government tries controlling worship or shutting down services. It’s called the Acts 5:29 Statement. “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
- To provide more context, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states:
- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble…”
- Stephen Mannion said this movement of American pastors is a warning to a secular government to not try closing the Church again. “It won’t go so well next time.’”
- In 2020 when government(s) closed or severely limited churches, it affected charities, in-person Bible studies,…
- We saw dramatic increases in fear, isolation, and anger, alcohol and drug use including deaths associated with these factors. Depression skyrocketed and suicide rates spiked to record highs, claiming more than 186,000 lives in America alone.
- Part of the Acts 5:29 Statement reads:
- “…we reject any Presidential or gubernatorial decree requiring us to disobey the word of God. We will resist any attempt by a Federal, state or local official to restrict or prohibit the free exercise of our Religion or place restrictions thereon.
- …we affirm our submission to lawful civil authority as instituted by God himself; but when rulers exceed the scope of their Constitutional and God-given authority, they act contrary to their office and the public good and effect the ruin and misery of society.”
- Their goal is to get 5,000 signers and to then send the document to local, state, and federal government officials.
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Matthew 7:15-20 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire
Important Takeaways:
- Pastors and Churches Face Historic Lack of Trust
- Gallup’s most recent annual surveys on Americans’ institutional confidence and honesty ratings for professionals found trust in both the church and pastors reaching their lowest points in the history of the surveys.
- After dropping 5 points last year, the church suffered another 6-point fall in 2022. Currently, only 31% of Americans say they have quite a lot or a great deal of confidence in the church or organized religion, with just 14% expressing a great deal of confidence.
- In 1975, a high mark of 68% expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the church.
- In addition to small businesses and the military, the church currently ranks behind the police (45%) and the medical system (38%), both of which also saw their confidence levels fall 6 points this year.
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Romans 1:18 “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Important Takeaways:
- Local Pastors, Hundreds of Citizens Protest ‘Pornographic Books’ Located Near Ohio Library’s Children’s Section
- The public outcry in Ashland, Ohio has escalated since two parents discovered what they considered to be “pornographic” books near the children’s section of the library.
- 200 to 300 people, including 15 local pastors, showed up last week to the July meeting of the Ashland Public Library Board of Trustees to voice their concerns
- John Bouquet, the senior pastor of Savannah, Ohio’s Bethel Baptist Church, told Frontlines Ohio he didn’t think the board was listening to the concerned citizens.
- “It appears our taxpayer-funded library has a campaign to end the innocence of our children,”
- Dave McNeely, the lead pastor of Ashland’s New Life Community Church and the president of the AMA, told the board the book’s intended age range of children aged 5 to 8 was misleading, according to Frontlines Ohio.
- “This book is grooming children for transgenderism and pedophilia,” McNeely said. “A child’s mind is not prepared at these young ages to process in a healthy way such graphic content.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Mario Murillo Issues New Prophetic Warnings About 2022
- Now I am issuing new warnings about 2022 and I am going against the grain again
- The deception that I see hitting American pastors is their yearning for the good old days. What these preachers do not want to face is that there is no going back. Once again, they are dusting off the therapeutic sermons and the smiley face talking points that fooled them at the end of 2019.
- To understand the danger, we must look at Samson.
- “And (Delilah) said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ So, he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20, NKJV).
- God’s approval had lifted off of him, even though power still operated in him. His attitude was, “I will go out as before, at other times.” He believed he could just do what he had always done, and that brought destruction on him.
- If you want to be ready for 2022, then heed my warning. We do not need to sit around and listen to all the soothing words coming from the pulpit describing how good things are going to be. We need to make something happen. God wants us to rise up in faith against evil. The last thing we need to do is to go back to a lukewarm fantasy world.
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Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.
Important Takeaways:
- 1,000-Plus UK Church Leaders Prepared for Imprisonment Over Controversial Issue
- According to Christian Concern, 1,400 pastors have signed a petition asking the government to strike down a proposal that would ban so-called conversion therapy.
- If passed, the measure could prevent ministers from helping those with unwanted same-sex attraction and could even prevent them from sharing the gospel.
- “Those who are campaigning for the law, their stated aim is that prayers or any kind of encouragement to do what we would say the Bible is teaching in terms of sexual ethics, should be prohibited,” said Rev. Graham Nicholls, director of Affinity, a coalition of U.K. churches
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