The Rev. Derek Miller plays guitar and leads worship at Cornerstone Church of Spring Green, Nov. 7, 2021, in Spring Green, Wisconsin. RNS photo by Bob Smietana November 16, 2021 By Bob Smietana SPRING GREEN, Wis. (RNS) — The Rev. Derek Miller has seen the future of the church in America. And it is small.

April 22, 2021 By Bob Smietana (RNS) — In the 1984 film “Mass Appeal,” Father Tim Farley, played by Jack Lemmon, gives a young, aspiring priest a lesson in church finances. Give a good sermon, and church coffers will fill up. But a bad sermon comes with a cost. ”It is no accident that the collection comes

A new study from the Lake Institute on faith and giving found that congregations’ giving was holding up during the pandemic, but barely half had met in person.

‘The evangelical pastors that we interviewed, ultimately chose racial reconciliation as their primary frame,’ a scholar said of study of multiracial church leaders.

A national study finds prayer, worship and a strong spiritual life have a significant association with a
satisfying sex life. That ageless staple of male comics – that women lose interest in sex after the
wedding ceremony – also doesn’t seem to apply to married couples of strong faith.

Organized religion may be going to the dogs. A study finds a major divide in worship attendance among owners of outgoing canines and more aloof cats.

Clergy with a mix of members with “red” and “blue” political views in the pews tend to tread lightly when it comes to preaching on controversial topics in sermons. Abortion, fossil fuels, a critique of capitalism, and LGBTQ issues were more often avoided in the pulpit, a new study found.

Religious attendance and congregational involvement may reduce loneliness among millennials, a new study suggests.

Does longstanding evidence that people become more religious as they age indicate that secularization trends may reverse in rapidly aging societies of high-income countries? The findings of a new study indicate faith may be more compelling as individuals face their own mortality.

Making difficult parenting decisions – on issues ranging from fathers being open to parental leave to parents embracing family faith activities – may enrich a child’s life in multiple ways into young adulthood and beyond, some new studies suggest. “Religious firmness integrated with religious flexibility is more likely to result in a balanced, healthy style of religious parenting,” one study concluded.,