Due to economic pressures and declining attendance, more and more church buildings in Germany will have to be closed or sold. However, the conversion of church buildings into alternative use sometimes leads to reactions even among secular-minded Germans, Joachim Guntner reports in the Swiss daily Neue Zurcher Zeitung (April 24). The number of Roman Catholics going to […]

A listing of Britain’s top 100 lay Catholics by The Tablet magazine (March 18) shows the high degree of acceptance and prominence reached by Catholics in recent years. Among those heading the list of influential largely practicing Catholics (or “cultural Catholics” whose work and lives are still shaped by the faith) include: Mark Thompson, director of the […]

Defying the dire predictions made above, Anglican and Methodist churches in England have joined forces to draw in the unchurched and reverse declines by diversifying their worship offerings. The Tablet (April 8) reports that an official movement called Fresh Expressions, sponsored by the Methodist Church and the Church of England, has drawn approximately 400 churches to offer […]

Healthcare ministries are increasing, with the fastest growing creating partnerships between congregations and established clinics and medical personnel, reports Advance, the online newsletter of Leadership Network (April 11). There are four models of healthcare ministries that churches have embraced: the traditional clinic, which uses the church structure or separate building to house an actual health clinic; […]

Although the covenant-marriage movement has gained wide support among conservative churches, the national effort to safeguard marriages against easy or no-fault divorce has stalled, according to Chronicles magazine (May). The covenant-marriage movement began in the late 1990s under the leadership of Southern Baptist pastor Phil Waugh. The movement sought to encourage churches to promote extralegal covenant-marriages in […]

Far from winding down, the controversy over evolution and intelligent design appears to be intensifying and spreading into new areas of American society, according to recent reports. The intelligent design movement suffered a significant loss after a court in Pennsylvania ruled against the public school’s curriculum citing the theory. But the movement is still alive […]

The fact that Hong Kong’s bishop Joseph Zen was chosen as one of the new cardinals made by Benedict XVI in March is widely seen as one more indication of the Pope’s desire to reach out to China. Choosing a bishop either from Taiwan or from mainland China as a new Chinese cardinal would have […]