2022 was a year that a lot of church leaders started to see hope again. Despite all the challenges, the fall of 2022 saw more people returning to church than at any time in the last few years.
We covered a wide range of topics on the blog this year and had some fascinating conversations. I can’t thank you enough for the encouragement, the interaction, the ideas and the friendships we made online. As has been the case for years, I want this space to be a place where the good people on the internet can hang out.
It’s always fascinating to look back at the numbers and see which topics resonated with readers the most in the previous year. In 2022, it appears that many church leaders were drawn to articles highlighting why people do or don’t attend church and what it will take to bring people back to church services.
Each snippet below is just a brief introduction to the overall article. You can click on the links to read the full piece and maybe bookmark this post as a short guide to this year’s best pieces.
You can share it with your team for discussion to see how you’re handling the top challenges church leaders are facing, or keep it for personal study.
Starting with #5, here are the top 5 blog posts written in 2022.
5. The Great Reset: 7 Real Reasons People Still Aren’t Coming Back to Church
If you’re a pastor, you’ve been waiting for people to come back to church for a while now—a long while.
The initial assumption was that as soon as churches could reopen after the COVID shutdown, people would come racing back.
That didn’t happen. Even in churches that were closed for weeks rather than months or years, people didn’t rush back to in-person attendance.
So, the real question is, “Why?”
Understanding why can help you finally move on emotionally from the deep loss and then focus on positioning your church to reach more people in the future.
Here are 7 real reasons people still aren’t coming back to church.
Read more by clicking the link below!
4. It’s 2032. Here’s What’s Left of the Church
Imagine it’s 2032.
While it’s impossible to predict what will happen to the future church, the last few years have left us with more than a few clues.
Admittedly, there are some pretty bold claims/predictions/thoughts here. I’ll be the first to admit that some may be completely wrong. Others might be somewhat off course.
But the patterns shaping the next decade are emerging, and perhaps a few extrapolations might be accurate.
So, why speculate, you ask?
Simple. Isn’t it better to anticipate a world that’s changing and try to reach it than it is to stick your head in the sand and ignore it?
So, with some apprehension, hopefully a spirit of humility, and the willingness to be corrected a decade from now when we really see what happened, here are seven things that might indeed happen to the church by 2032.
Read more by clicking the link below!
3. The Evil That Passes for Good in Christian Leadership
As you’ve noticed—as everyone’s noticed—there seems to be something rotten in the Denmark of Christian leadership.
Every time you think there can’t be another megachurch pastor who fails, well, there’s another megachurch pastor who fails.
And those are the stories that make the news. For every story that makes the headlines, though, dozens never do simply because the church wasn’t large enough or prominent enough to make the news. And yet, dozens (or even hundreds) of people are left devastated, and may often lose faith as a result.
So, what gives? What’s wrong with the church? Why is this so widespread?
In a conflicted, divided, cynical world, the evils that pass for good are qualities that Christians sometimes celebrate in leaders. And qualities that get celebrated also get emulated.
And when we tolerate or celebrate evil that passes for good in the church, we shoot Christian leadership in the foot and perhaps sometimes in the head.
Here are four evils that pass too often for good in Christian leadership. There are nuances to each, so the best lens through which to read this post is not to start judging other leaders but to look inside and wonder if you’ve been guilty of some of it too.
Read more by clicking the link below!
2. 12 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2022 and the Post-Pandemic Era
Some of the pressing matters that have characterized the last two years are now morphing into the culture as a whole. The hybrid-church model is emerging as a norm, as is leading in a polarized culture, and some of the battle lines drawn are emerging as semi-permanent cultural fixtures.
Even without the emergence of another global crisis or virus variant (both of which are plausible), 2022 will be a year where the new ‘normalized’ world will further emerge. It won’t exactly be what we used to know as normal, nor will it be entirely stable, but the year will likely give us a chance to see where the dust is settling and to move on.
While no one can say exactly what the future holds, here are 12 trends I’m watching and would encourage you and your team to consider and process as well.
Read more by clicking the link below!
1. Five Real Reasons Young People Are Deconstructing Their Faith
“The Five Real Reasons Young People Are Deconstructing Their Faith” was written by Joe Terrell, my content manager, who uses his experience as a “skeptical millennial” to offer a fresh perspective on a critical issue.
If you’re involved in ministry, you’ve probably heard a lot about “deconstruction” recently.
Framed as the new trendy threat to Christianity, deconstruction has become a “catch-all” term for a wide range of spiritual experiences. Depending on who’s using the word, deconstruction can be a complete demolition of Christian belief, a critical re-appraisal of one’s faith tradition, or an honest acknowledgment of doubt and questions.
So, before they start hurling rocks at people with legitimate grievances and struggles, church leaders owe it to themselves (and their congregations) to honestly evaluate the institutional reasons that could catalyze or accelerate someone’s deconstruction.
Here are five real reasons young people are deconstructing their faith.
Read more by clicking the link below!
