Poll: America Adults Claiming No Specific Religion At Record High

03:21 PM CST on Monday, February 25, 2008

By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News
jweiss@dallasnews.com

A major new measure of religious belief in the United States confirms trends shown in earlier polls: The percentage of adult Americans claiming no particular religion is at an all-time high. The percentage of Protestants is dropping. And the percentage of Catholics is stable — but only because the overwhelming majority of immigrants is Catholic.

Also Online: http://religions.pewforum.org/

Link:http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/02/highlights-from-the-new-pew-st.html

Religion blog: Highlights from the new Pew study on religion and America

The poll released Monday was taken last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. More than 35,000 adults were asked about their beliefs — an unusually large sample compared with most national polls.

According to the survey, Texas has a higher proportion of evangelical Protestants and a smaller percentage of the “unaffiliated” than the nation as a whole.

But the survey also indicates that many Americans aren’t all that focused on the particular variety of church they attend.

“A significant percentage of Americans have only a vague denominational identification (that is, they tell us they are “just a Baptist” or “just a Methodist”),” the report said. “In fact, many Americans are simply unclear about the religious group to which they belong, ensuring a degree of ambiguity in any survey-based measure of affiliation.”

According to the survey, 44 percent of Americans over 18 say they have changed religious affiliation. More than half of that total have either shifted to a significantly different faith or to no particular faith. The remainder say they have changed form one kind of Protestantism to another.



HIGHS AND LOWS BY STATE
Highest percentage of members of Evangelical Protestant churches: Oklahoma, 53 percent

Lowest percentage of members of Evangelical Protestant churches: Utah, 7 percent

Highest percentage of members of Catholic churches: tie, Connecticut/Rhode Island, Massachusetts, 43 percent

Lowest percentage of members of Catholic churches: Arkansas, 5 percent

Highest percentage of unaffiliated: Oregon, 27 percent

Lowest percentage of unaffiliated: Mississippi, 6 percent

Source: U.S. Religious Landscape Survey 2008, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed - The Movie

Ben Stein has a documentary movie due to be released in April. The title - "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" The subject - the scientific communities suppression of expression in the belief in intelligent design and questioning Darwinism.

It will be quite interesting to see what kind of reception this movie gets. From what I read about the movie, it is not a thesis for belief in intelligent design, but instead a look at the scientific community and why they try to silence those who believe in a God created universe. I'm looking forward to it's release and hope that it will be a good resource for those of us who work with a generation of kids that have been taught Darwinism as the truth and that if they believe otherwise, they are the unintelligent ones.

Everything Must Change Tour

My husband Steve and I were privileged to attend Brian McLaren's Everything Must Change Tour this past weekend in Dallas. Through conversation, presentation, art, music, and reflection, we explored how the way of Jesus can bring transformation in our contemporary world...locally, nationally, and globally.

In McLaren's new book "Everything Must Change" he says " 'We Are In Deep Shift'--A time of transition, rethinking, re-imagining, and re-envisioning. A time for asking new questions and seeking answers that are both new and old fresh and seasoned surprising and familiar."

The weekend attempted to answer these questions.
What does it mean, in today’s world, to be a follower of God in the way of Jesus?

What does it mean to be a faith community engaged in the holistic, integral mission of God in our world today?

How do we, as individuals and organizations, respond faithfully to the crises facing our world?

What is our duty to God, ourselves, our families, our neighbors, our enemies, and our planet in light of Jesus’ radical message of the kingdom of God?

How can we engage in personal formation and theological reformulation for global transformation?

Living in "deep shift" can be exhilarating and energizing, but it can also be disorienting and frightening.

Deep Shift was created to provide spiritual guidance for organizations. Deep Shift provides support as leaders make their own personal deep shift and guide their organizations through the transition and transformation necessary to ignite the loving energy of people to work for the good of the world: coaching, consulting, and resources for people leading in deep shift — faith community and church leaders, nonprofit leaders, ethical business leaders and others.

For more details, visit the website at: http://www.deepshift.org.

There is also a video of Brian McLaren explaining the tour available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3QpTQfENoY

Power of Testimonies

Last night we had a couple come and speak to our Life Group who are not part of our church family. Their friend Randi attends our Life Group and has had us praying for this couple for 3 years. They came last night to talk to us about the journey they have been on the past 15 years.
While they had some significant events test their faith earlier in their marriage, the past three years they have spent 361 days of their 3 year olds life in the hospital. She has a very rare eating disorder. They have been told that she is not the only child to have had this problem, she is the only one who has lived. Avery has not been able to ingest food or drink since birth. She is fed through a tube in her intestine. Listening to this couple share their walk of faith touched all of our hearts. They have learned so much about God that they would not have known if they had not endured this journey. They helped us all to see what surrender looks like in the flesh.

I am not sure why we don't share testimonies more often? Everyone has a God story to share. Testimonies help to authenticate faith. Testimonies are not meant to glorify the testifier but God. I pray more and more that churches will be open to creating an environment where testimonies are shared and God is glorified.

Psalms 145
I will exalt you, my God the King;
I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you
and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation will commend your works to another;
they will tell of your mighty acts.

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and I will meditate on your wonderful works. ^[b]

They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness
and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and rich in love.

The LORD is good to all;
he has compassion on all he has made.

All you have made will praise you, O LORD;
your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,

so that all men may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
and your dominion endures through all generations.
The LORD is faithful to all his promises
and loving toward all he has made.

The LORD upholds all those who fall
and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you,
and you give them their food at the proper time.

You open your hand
and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

The LORD is righteous in all his ways
and loving toward all he has made.

The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cry and saves them.

The LORD watches over all who love him,
but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
Let every creature praise his holy name
for ever and ever.

Reggie McNeal

My husband Steve and I are still talking about the impact that Reggie McNeal had on us at the CEC conference. He has really pushed our thinking outside of the box and has helped us reevaluate our own roles in the kingdom. After the conference we ordered a couple of Reggie's books. The one that has really shaken up our thinking is The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the CHURCH. We agree with George Cladis' evaluation of the book "Be prepared to be turned upside down and shaken loose of all your old notions of what church is and should be in today's world."

There are six chapter headings and in each of the six chapters Reggie poses and discusses the "wrong question" and the "tough question". Here are those titles and questions:
New Reality Number One: The Collapse of the Church Culture
Wrong Question: How do we do church better?
Tough Question: How do we deconvert from Churchianity to Christianity?
New Reality Number Two: The Shift From Church Growth to Kingdom Growth
Wrong Question: How do we grow the church (how do we get them to come to us?)
Tough Question: How do we transform our community? (how do we hit the streets with the
gospel?)
New Reality Number Three: A New Reformation: Releasing God's People
Wrong Question: How do we turn members into ministers?
Tough Question: How do we turn members into missionaries?
New Reality Number Four: The Return to Spiritual Formation
Wrong Question: How do we develop church members?
Tough Question: How do we develop followers of Jesus?
New Reality Number Five: The Shift From Planning to Preparation
Wrong Question: How do we plan for the future?
Tough Question: How do we prepare for the future?
New Reality Number Six: The Rise of Apostolic Leadership
Wrong Question: How do we develop leaders for church work?
Tough Question: How do we develop leaders for the Christian movement?

You can order this book and learn more about Reggie and the Leadership Network at www.leadnet.org.

CEA Regional Workshops

One of the great resources that the Christian Education Association has to offer is the Regional Workshop. Those of you who were able to attend the CEC know what a blessing it can be to attend a workshop. But not everyone can spend the time or money to go to a larger conference. Plus sometimes the topics just aren’t what you or your volunteers need at the time. That’s one of the wonderful things about Regional Workshops. They come to you and you pick the topics!

I have been blessed to have my home congregation host three of these workshops. We have had quality speakers cover a variety of topics for age groups from cradle roll through adults. It would be hard for me to contact the speakers we needed for specific topics. That’s one of the real blessings to hosting a workshop through the CEA. The leg work of contacting speakers and getting them lined up is done for you. The speakers donate their time for these workshops. You are responsible for their travel expenses. We charged participants a small fee to help cover some of the expenses.

So, what responsibilities do you have as host? You determine the topics what format to follow. We offered 4 sessions with each track and allowed our participants to have the option of attending all sessions within one track or switching between them. We also provided brunch foods and a lunch. Our workshops have been from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. You can have more or less sessions for a longer or shorter period of time. You determine what is best for your region.

You are responsible for advertisement. This involves contacting the area congregations and informing them of this wonderful opportunity - letters, calls, bulletin articles, newspaper, etc. You know the routine. You are responsible for the registration and the finances. Then of course, you are responsible for the actual physical running of the conference. You determine where to have it, when to have it, you’re responsible for setting up, providing resources that may be needed by the presenters such as AV equipment, arranging a place for the presenters to stay and other little things such as that. For the quality workshop that is put on, it is a small price to pay.

I can’t express how great these workshops have been for us. In Louisiana, there is not the number of congregations as there are in other areas that many of you are from. (Read Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, etc.) These have been a way for us to connect to other congregations while growing in ways to minister. They have been such a blessing to other congregations that I have had them contact me asking when we are hosting another one.

If you are interested in hosting a regional workshop or would like to learn more about them you can contact Pat Malone, Mike Malone or Charles Wilson. I would also be happy for you to contact me if you have any questions about our past workshops. Please consider taking advantage of this wonderful resource.

Prayer Resources

Steve and I subscribe to a magazine entitled "Pray" that has really blessed our lives and deepened our prayer lives. When I was a children's minister there was a section in it each month called "Pray Kids" that helped me teach children how to have a deeper prayer life. If you haven't checked out their website www.navpress.com/Magazines/Pray! you are missing out on a great resource. One of the things Steve and I particularly like are the prayer cards. They give us great ideas for guided prayers with several areas that we may not think of praying on our own. Here are some of the available titles.

• Bookmark Prayer Card Sampler Pack
• Bookmark Prayer Card Sampler Pack II
• 18 Prayers for Higher Education
• 21 Redemptive Prayers for Hollywood
• 30 Ways to Pray for People in Authority
• 31 Biblical Virtues to Pray for Your Kids
• 31 Ways to Praise
• A Month of Prayers for Your Wife from Psalm 119
• Life-Giving Prayers for Your Church
• Partnering with God in the Struggle over Sin
• Personal Prayers from Colossians
• Power-Packed Prayers for Public Schools
• Powerful Prayers for Your Husband
• Prayers for a Strong & Loving Marriage
• Prayers for Healing Broken Relationships
• Prayers for Missionaries and Their Families
• Prayers for Our Military and Their Families
• Prayers for Prodigals
• Prayers for When You Feel Lonely
• Prayers of Hope and Wholeness for the Seriously Ill
• Prayers of Hope in Times of Calamity
• Prayers That Birth Revival—2 Chronicles 7:14
• Prayers to Pray When Loving Is Tough
• Praying for the Lost
• Praying for Your Family
• Scriptural Blessings to Pray for Your Children
• Scriptural Prayers for the Next Generation
• Scriptural Prayers for Your Finances
• Scripture-Based Prayers to Pray for Your Pastor
• Strategic Prayers for Marketplace Influencers
• 12 Prayers for Christmas
• Blessings for Your New Year
• Christ in Christmas Advent Devotionals
• Worship the King

Interesting Website

Someone forwarded me an article entitled "Christianity vs. Jesusanity -- The Postmodern Temptation" I found the article interesting and then in exploring the website that it came from discovered several more articles of interest, so thought I would post the site in case anyone would be interested. www.albertmohler.com. The article I mentioned is the January 18th post.

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., serves as the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary-the flagship school of the Southern Baptist Convention and one of the largest seminaries in the world.