Vibrant Congregations

03/12/2024

We're excited to announce that 10 "Gather" events will connect classes across the CRCNA with an emphasis on storytelling and church renewal. The first will be held next month!

Over the next 18 months, 10 events will be held in various locations with an emphasis on storytelling and church renewal.

03/12/2024

The Reformed Partnership for Church Renewal, a collaborative project between the Christian Reformed Church and the Reformed Church in America, gives thanks to the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation for supporting the five year pilot project known as Vibrant Congregations. Through the work of Vibrant Congregations, the CRC and RCA strengthened their ability to come alongside the local church to discern the best path to their God-given, hope-filled future.

Each denomination is committed to integrating our learnings into our church renewal pathways. Connect with us at Thrive (CRCNA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA).

03/11/2024

God's answer to the international blight of sin is a new community of international blessing. - Chris Wright

03/04/2024

03/03/2024

“It’s the exception that an organization stays true to its mission,” said Chris Crane, president and CEO of Edify. “The natural course—the unfortunate natural evolution of many originally Christ-centered missions—is to drift,” he said”

Excerpt From
Mission Drift
Peter Greer
https://books.apple.com/us/book/mission-drift/id674119556
This material may be protected by copyright.

‎Religion & Spirituality · 2014

01/23/2024

Insights into the U.S. world of faith and spirituality

Abigail: I want to. I want to believe that there's an afterlife. But the answer would be no. I think there's something. There's energy. What that is, I don't know, but it certainly is not that Mom is in heaven with Dad and our grandparents and they're having a dinner party. That logically doesn't make any sense to me. What about you?

After my parents died, it felt like I had been robbed. I sat down with my brother and sister to talk about how losing our mom and dad made us think about religion and our own spirituality.

01/05/2024

From researcher Ryan Burge — U.S. Continues to move further away from religion

In 2006, 65% of always nones said religion was not important at all compared to 59% of those who converted to being a none. That six point gap persists in the most recent data. Now, 80% of always nones say that religion is not important all compared to 74% of those who disaffiliated from their childhood religion.

But, I have to point out this bigger shift. Notice just how much less religious the nones are in 2022 compared to 2006? Like the baseline has shifted dramatically in just sixteen years. In 2006, nearly forty percent of converted nones said that they were at least slightly religious. In 2022, that share had dropped to only 26%.

In other words, the nones got a whole more none-y in just the last fifteen or so years. That represents what may be the bigger shift here - the median American is just a whole lot further away from religion today compared to 2006. That’s pretty staggering when you think about it.

11/27/2023

Updated resources including “You Can’t Spot a Fake Video,” “Silver Bullets Don’t Work for Churches,” “Impalas and Fandom,“ CS Lewis on War and Peace
https://churchleadershipcenter.org/resources/

11/21/2023

Fandom, stories, and religion…see also the book Strange Rites

According to Prothero, the common denominator that all religions share is not beliefs but stories. As he puts it, “All religions are ‘story systems.’” Outside of Christianity’s emphasis on creeds, most religious traditions emphasize practices, experiences and stories – exactly the things that drew fans to the Haunting of Impalas.

Since 2019, fans of the TV series ‘Supernatural’ have flocked to Austin, where their encounters with 1967 Impalas customized to mimic the one used in the show arouse elation, astonishment and tears.

11/14/2023

Herman Bavinck on the New Creation

11/07/2023

stats