Thom S. Rainer's Blog, page 5

9 Commitments Every Church Must Make to Stay Safe [Plus A Training Guide to Secure Your Campus]

Campus security means more than preparing for potential violence. Indeed, you are more likely to encounter a lost child on your campus than an armed threat. When you properly secure the church campus, you equip your volunteers to respond to a variety of incidents that may occur at any given time.

How can you prepare your church for the unpredictable? No plan is foolproof, but you can reduce risk dramatically with the right approach. The following nine commitments will go a long way toward establishing greater security on your church campus.

Commitment 1: We Are Consistent

Different churches will have different policies and procedures to ensure safety. A policy is a formal rule that undergirds comprehensive standards. Procedures are operational instructions used to implement policies. For example, your church will likely have a policy of performing background checks on any volunteer working with minors. The procedure is the process by

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Is Your Church as Volunteer-Friendly as You Think?

If you are leading in any capacity in a local church, you already recognize this truth: volunteers are invaluable. Your ministry can survive for a season without a full budget, sufficient space, or even adequate staff. But without volunteers? That’s when things come to a grinding halt. 

You also understand that we don’t invite people to serve because we want something from them; we invite them to serve because we want something for them. When people serve, they experience being part of something larger than themselves. They grow in community, discover their gifts, and live out their purpose. Serving is spiritual formation in action. 

So with all those benefits, why is it still so common for churches to struggle with a lack of volunteers? Maybe it’s because our churches aren’t as volunteer-friendly as we believe they are. 

Let’s examine three ways we can foster a more welcoming and effective volunteer culture.

Celebrate Your Volunteers Often

Everyone wants to feel seen, valued, and appreciated. When volunteers know they matter, they’re more likely to not only stay engaged but also to invite others to join them.

Here are some practical ways to celebrate your volunteers:

Highlight a volunteer you saw embodying a value of your church during a pre-service huddle or prayer time. Host a year-end volunteer celebration event that emphasizes fun and team building, not just training. Recognize volunteers from the stage during weekend services. Share photos, interviews, or short testimonies about why they serve. Conclude with an invitation for others to join a team.A simple handwritten thank you note with a coffee gift card can go a long way. Small gestures often have a greater impact than we realize.

Be Ready for People When People Are Ready

We need to engage with people on their schedule, not ours. It’s great that we organize big events to attract volunteers, but we also need systems that accommodate their timing.

Consider these readiness questions:

Is our volunteer onboarding process clear? Can someone easily find out how to get involved? Whether it’s a card in a seatback, a QR code in the lobby, or a link on the website, clarify the next step.Are we generous with our volunteers? I once heard a pastor say, “Serving isn’t a life sentence, it’s a season.” Help people find the right fit, even if that means they move from your area of ministry to another one.Do we allow space to explore? People may want more information before they commit. Offer opportunities to shadow, ask questions, or connect casually before integrating them into the team.

Speed Up Your Follow Up

When someone takes the courageous step of saying, “I’m interested,” we need to respond quickly. Every day that passes increases the chances that their excitement will fade.

What are some ways to enhance follow-up?

Establish a clear system and standardize the process. What happens the moment someone expresses interest? Who is responsible for following up with a clear next step for the potential volunteer? Do we have a checklist of steps we follow to ensure this process is as clear as possible?Create accountability. Who is responsible for each step of the process? Utilize the tools you have. Are you using church software or another system to track follow-ups? How often do you audit your response times?

Nothing is more discouraging than casting a vision for someone to volunteer, having someone catch that vision and give us their information, only to hear from that person weeks later, “I tried to volunteer, but nobody got in touch with me. I guess you don’t need me.”

Set a High Bar of Expectations 

How are we consistently casting vision for our people that serving on a volunteer team is a vital step in spiritual growth? Serving the church isn’t just beneficial; it’s a crucial part of the discipleship journey and should be a clear expectation for everyone who considers our church their home. When we present a compelling vision, we empower people to live out Galatians 6:10: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Here are some practical ways to set a high bar of expectations:

Help individuals recognize and utilize their unique gifts within the church community. Numerous free spiritual gifts assessments are available online. Combining these results with a comprehensive list of volunteer opportunities helps connect people to the roles where they can flourish and serve most effectively.  Emphasize how individuals who say “yes” to joining a volunteer team directly contribute to transformative experiences. Share stories that illustrate not only the work of staff or church programs but also how volunteers play a significant role in someone’s faith journey. We want individuals to understand that if they are not serving, we are essentially playing a game without fielding an entire team. This will lead to gaps in our ministry strategy and effectiveness. In the context of the church, it’s a full participation scenario, not something we can delegate solely to the “professionals.”  Integrate serving as a fundamental aspect of the discipleship pathway. The 10-week Rooted Experience (what I use) effectively models this by emphasizing serving in the local church as a crucial discipleship practice alongside prayer, daily devotion, generosity, and worship. Joining a volunteer team is one of the steps everyone is expected to undertake as they progress through Rooted.

These are just a few starting points to help your church become more volunteer-friendly. A great next step? Conduct a quick audit with your team. Ask: If I were new here, how easy would it be for me to get involved? 

Remember, our volunteers are disciples, ministers, and culture-shapers for our church. Let’s honor their time, steward their gifts, and build churches where serving is both accessible and fulfilling.

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Smartphones Have Devastated the Mental Health of Our Young People

(Note: I am sharing four articles this month based on my upcoming book, The Anxious Generation Goes to Church . These articles focus specifically on the harm smartphones do to our young people. All data and statistics in these articles are supported in the book. In this second article, I summarize the devastation smartphones have inflicted on the mental health of our young people. My book will be released from Tyndale on August 19, 2025.)

When you hear that depression among teenage girls has increased by 145% and that suicide attempts have risen by 188%, it does more than catch your attention—it grips your soul. These aren’t dry statistics. These are lives. Sons and daughters. Grandchildren. Students. Members of our churches.

What happened?

The answer, in part, is as close as your pocket. The smartphone.

In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone. By 2010, selfies were a thing. And by 2013, the smartphone was in the majority of American homes. Around that same time, we started seeing an alarming spike in mental health issues among adolescents—particularly girls.

That timeline is not incidental.

Jonathan Haidt, in his sobering book The Anxious Generation, calls it “the great rewiring of childhood.” I believe he’s right. The very nature of growing up has changed. And the smartphone is a primary driver of that change.

Let’s be clear: correlation does not always equal causation. But when rates of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide all began to rise dramatically after the smartphone became mainstream, we are no longer dealing with coincidence—we are staring at causality in the face.

So what exactly are smartphones doing to our kids?

1. They’re Creating a Crisis of Comparison

Teenagers today are constantly connected—but chronically lonely. Through apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, they’re bombarded with curated, filtered versions of other people’s lives. They compare their unfiltered reality to everyone else’s highlight reel. And they always come up short.

Self-worth has become a numbers game: How many likes? How many followers? How many views? The phone becomes a mirror—and the reflection is never good enough.

This cycle is especially harmful for young girls, who are developmentally more vulnerable to appearance-based comparison. The pressure to look perfect online leads to anxiety, body image issues, and a haunting sense of inadequacy.

2. They’re Disrupting Sleep—and Health

Teenagers need sleep. A lot of it. But smartphones are stealing it.

The blue light emitted from screens suppresses melatonin, the hormone responsible for sleep. Add to that the dopamine-driven addiction of endless scrolling, and many teens are staying up well past midnight. They’re wired, exhausted, and emotionally raw.

Sleep deprivation doesn’t just make teens grumpy. It impairs memory, weakens emotional regulation, and fuels depression. It’s hard to fight anxiety when your body and brain are running on empty.

3. They’ve Made Bullying Inescapable

Years ago, bullying ended when the school bell rang. Not anymore.

Today, a child can be harassed 24/7 through their smartphone. The insults don’t stop when they get home. They follow them into their bedroom and into the night.

Cyberbullying is relentless, often anonymous, and deeply harmful. Victims are at a higher risk for depression, anxiety, and suicide. And parents are often unaware it’s happening—until the damage is done.

Let’s not sugarcoat this. The smartphone has turned many bedrooms into battlegrounds.

4. They’ve Contributed to a Youth Suicide Surge

It’s one of the most tragic realities of our time: suicide rates among children and teens are rising.

Among girls ages 10–14, suicide increased by 167% from 2010 to 2020. Among boys, it rose by 91%.

Yes, some of this could be attributed to better reporting and a decrease in stigma. But that doesn’t explain the rise in emergency room visits for self-harm—up 48% for boys and a staggering 188% for girls in that same decade.

Something real is happening. And something devastating.

5. They’ve Amplified Isolation

Despite their ability to “connect,” smartphones have made many young people feel more isolated than ever.

Real conversations have been replaced with emojis. Eye contact has been replaced with screen time. Teenagers are lonelier, more disconnected, and more anxious—even while being more “plugged in.”

Smartphones were supposed to unite us. But for many young people, they’ve become a prison with no walls and no curfew.

As a grandfather, I’m heartbroken. As a church leader, I’m burdened. And as a follower of Christ, I’m hopeful—but only if we act.

Parents, we cannot be passive. Pastors, we cannot be silent. Churches must step into this moment, not with condemnation, but with compassion and wisdom.

Let’s create smartphone-free zones. Let’s invite teenagers into real conversations, face-to-face community, and unfiltered love. Let’s preach the gospel to a generation whose screens have taught them they’re not enough—and remind them that in Christ, they are fully known and fully loved.

The mental health of our young people is at stake. And the church must not look away.

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Summer Rhythms: Intentional Ministry in a Disruptive Season

Summer in ministry can feel like a mixed bag. On one hand, it’s a welcome change of pace—families are traveling, schedules are lighter, and the natural rhythms of life shift. On the other hand, it can feel disjointed and even frustrating. Attendance drops. Regular gatherings stall. Teams are scattered. It’s easy to wonder, is it even worth trying to do anything this season?

But what if we looked at summer differently? What if, instead of surviving the disruptions, we embraced this season as an opportunity for intentionality, both personally and as a church community?

Ministry doesn’t stop when summer rolls around. It just looks different. And instead of pushing against the changes, we can lean in and let God use this season to recharge us, deepen relationships, and prepare us for what’s ahead.

The Challenges of Summer Ministry

Let’s name the challenges we all feel:

Lower attendance: Families are gone on vacations, kids are at camp, sports seasons are in full swing. It can feel discouraging to see fewer faces in the seats or around the table.Disjointed schedules: Ministry teams that normally flow together may find it hard to meet consistently. Volunteers are unavailable, and regular programming can lose steam.Loss of momentum: After the energy of spring—Easter, graduations, end-of-year events—summer can feel like a wall. The shift in pace can leave us feeling stuck or directionless.

And yet, these very disruptions offer an unexpected gift. Summer gives us space to slow down, reflect, and prepare for what’s ahead.

Three Stronger Steps for Intentional Summer Ministry

1. Recharge Your Soul and Strategy

Summer is the perfect time to hit pause—not just on programming, but on your own spiritual and leadership health. Instead of filling every open space, carve out intentional time to be with God.

Set aside a morning or an entire day for a personal retreat. Go somewhere quiet—whether it’s your backyard, a park, or a retreat center—and spend time reading Scripture, journaling, and listening. Ask yourself: What is God saying to me in this season? What needs to be recalibrated in my heart and leadership?

Don’t stop at personal reflection. Invite your team to do the same. Consider planning a mid-summer “vision and soul care” day for your staff or volunteers. Instead of meetings focused on logistics, create space for worship, prayer, and sharing. This intentional rhythm can reignite both personal passion and team unity for the months ahead.

2. Create Micro-Connections that Build Community

Instead of trying to maintain big events or programs, focus on small, personal, and creative ways to keep your community connected. Summer is the perfect time to think outside the box.

Consider organizing:

Neighborhood walks or prayer meetups where people gather for casual connection and intercession for their communities.
Pop-up backyard dinners or cookouts hosted by church families, where everyone brings a dish and conversation flows naturally.
Mini service projects that families or small groups can do together, like delivering care packages to shut-ins or blessing teachers preparing for fall.

Use technology creatively. Send short, encouraging video messages to your church family or create a “Summer Faith Challenge” with simple weekly practices (like a gratitude list or a scripture memory verse) that people can do on their own.

These micro-connections reinforce that church isn’t just a building or a schedule—it’s about showing up for one another in meaningful, tangible ways.

3. Start Preparing the Ground for a Stronger Fall

Summer is not just a pause—it’s a preparation season. Use this quieter time to get ahead on planning for the fall ministry launch.

Schedule a summer brainstorming session with your leadership team or key volunteers. Ask bold questions:

Where is God stirring new ideas?
What needs to change for us to reach people more effectively?
What rhythms will help our team thrive, not just survive, this next year?

Begin to map out fall events, small group launches, and new ministry ideas, but keep it prayer-centered and open-handed. This is also a great time to equip your leaders—offer a mini training, host a leadership book club, or start mentoring a younger leader who can step into more responsibility in the fall.

By the time August rolls around, you’ll be ready—not just with plans, but with a deep sense of purpose and a team that’s been refreshed and invested in.

Looking Ahead

Summer doesn’t have to feel like a season of lost momentum. It can be a time of intentional recalibration—a chance to rest, to reconnect, and to realign with God’s heart for our lives and ministry.

Let’s embrace the slower rhythms of this season. Let’s invest in relationships, both with God and with one another. And let’s use this time to prepare for what’s ahead, trusting that God is always at work—even in the in-between seasons.

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31 Joyous Memories of Ministry

Some days, ministry’s hard. Some days, you at least briefly think about quitting. That’s when you need to run to memories like these that capture my thinking today – one for each day of the month:

Baptizing 17 people the first time I ever baptized someone. That happened because our church borrowed a sister church’s baptismal pool, and we had to schedule baptisms.Baptizing a 7-year-old who dove into the baptistry. Head first. It was wonderfully God-honoring.Officiating the wedding of a young lady who had led her soon-to-be fiancé to the Lord. She wouldn’t marry him unless he knew the Lord, so she prayed. And kept praying until the Lord grabbed him. Their wedding was worship.Dedicating the children of parents I had baptized when they themselves were children. Ministry to second and third generations is really special.Seeing a broken marriage restored. The husband had been mean, but the gospel changed him. Unbelievably so.Watching parents rejoice when their long-term prodigal comes home. I wasn’t sure their tears would ever dry up.Watching the eyes of believers light up as they hear and understand the Word. I’m not even sure I could put into words what that’s like. The Word really is powerful.Seeing young men I’ve invested in do greater things than I’ve ever done. It seems to me that’s what discipleship is all about.Preaching for the first time as the pastor of a congregation. There’s a weightiness to that responsibility that’s humbling.Genuinely celebrating the home-going of a brother who was a mentor to me. I doubt I would have met him otherwise were it not for my doing ministry.Celebrating with my church my own wedding. I had been their pastor for years before Pam and I married, and they rejoiced with us on that day.Sending out church members to be missionaries around the world. The gospel goes on because my congregation raised up and sent out others.Getting pictures from children who drew me preaching during the service. I usually put them on our refrigerator to this day.Becoming long-term best friends with church members. They’ve been more than church members; they’ve been family.Seeing believers trust God in the most difficult circumstances. Their faith put mine to shame most of the time.Hearing the voices of missionaries singing in their mother tongue. When they get together for worship, it’s quite amazing.Giving teens and college students opportunities to get their feet wet doing ministry. Young people are zealous. They’re eager. They’re fun.Simply being a spiritual shepherd for others. That’s a remarkable responsibility and privilege.Signing baptismal certificates and marriage licenses. Both mean I’ve been privileged to share significant events with others.Seeing folks like “Brother Glenn” get saved. They’re trophies of God’s grace—and God graciously allowed me to walk with them.Watching faithful believers serve God for decades as they live well and end even better. You know the gospel matters when you sit with them facing death with peace.Teaching the Word of God. Why God lets me do this work at all, I have no idea. I’m grateful.Praying with a hurting believer. Comforting someone with words of prayer is humbling and powerful at the same time.Hearing the words, “Pastor Chuck.” That title means more to me than “Dr. Lawless” any day.Meeting a believer that missionaries had led to the Lord years ago. It’s incredible to meet the fruit of a missionary’s labors decades ago.Hearing other believers pray for you and your family. All you can do is listen in gratitude.Fasting for God to do something mighty among your people. It’s just a special time when you long for God to move more than you want to eat.Teaching Vacation Bible School stories to kids who have never heard them. You almost forget kids like that exist in our country until events like VBS.Serving as a “bus captain” in the church’s Sunday morning bus ministry. I’m dating myself with this one, but it was fun greeting kids every week.Just knowing that the people of God love you. It’s sweet, even when the same people sometimes drive you crazy.Living out my calling. Every day might be challenging, but every day’s sweet, too.

If ministry’s tough for you today, I pray one of these memories brings something to mind for you. God bless!

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The Starting Point for Preaching Truth in an Opinion-Driven Culture

Beginning is often the hardest part of doing anything. We all want to be in better shape, but we never seem to get to the gym. We want to write our novel but never write the first sentence. We want to engage our neighbors and friends with the good news of Jesus, but we can never find a good place to start the conversation. We want to preach the gospel to our lost communities, but how do we start? What’s our opening line?

It’s no secret. A lot of us are struggling with how to reach our lost friends in our communities and neighborhoods. There are many reasons for our anxieties. Perhaps you remember the intense evangelism efforts of the seventies and eighties. Every church had a “visitation night” where members who had sat through an evangelism seminar were told to drop in on neighbors. I’ve heard stories of some communities where the neighbors learned not to be home on those nights. Most of us grew tired of, if not embarrassed by, this form of hard sell evangelism. We made a promise to ourselves that we would never do that. We didn’t, but instead of improving our evangelism, we stopped doing evangelism altogether.

Another reason for our evangelistic anxiety is that many of our neighbors are likeable and good people. They may not profess to any particular creed, but they are friendly and helpful, and honestly, if we compare them to some people we know in our churches, we’d prefer to hang out with our neighbors. These friends seemed to have figured out life without the help of any kind of religion, and they didn’t understand how Jesus could help them. They weren’t opposed to Jesus. They just didn’t see the need for him in their lives. 

Add all of this and a few things to the current culture wars—where statements of truth can be seen as bigotry and oppressive—and most pastors are at a loss to find a place to begin. How do you preach the truth of God in a world that would consider such claims to be an opinion, not fact? How do you assert facts of good and evil if our culture—and yes, our congregations—don’t see an objective basis for morality? How does a pastor find a place to stand in a time when the whole world seems to be made of sand?

First, we need to relax and remember that the gospel was born in a time of religious, cultural, and moral confusion. The birthplace of Christianity was home to the emperor worship of Rome, the Greek pantheon of gods that had been appropriated by Rome, stoicism, and of course, Judaism. How does a new worldview and way of being get started in such a place?

The disciples—the early witnesses of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection—began to tell their stories. We met Christ. This is who we were before we met Him, and this is who we are after we met Him. This Jesus understands life in a way that no one else has. He has wisdom that gives life meaning and hope. Now that He’s been raised from the dead, He has the power and authority to bring healing, hope, and power to our living. 

The early sermons started with the man Jesus. This doesn’t mean the incarnation and dual nature of Christ were denied, not at all. The man Jesus became the first point of connection. As God intended in the incarnation, a carpenter from Nazareth was approachable and available. People felt free to ask questions and yes, debate with Him. Jesus taught us how to live life in a way that matters.

And the next question is, “So, what?” There have been a lot of people with good insights into how to live life well. The bookstores are full of books written by “experts” on how to live the good life. Everything from how to get up early and start your morning routine to how to deal with toxic people in your life, book after book after book, and they don’t work. How do we know? People keep writing self-help books. 

We need someone with more than good advice. We need someone with the power to enforce His word. With His resurrection, Jesus is shown to be that person. He is the conqueror of death, the giver of life. His word now has the weight of eternity behind it. This is not someone who gives us clever hacks on how to live our lives. This is the person whose words define reality—for now and all eternity. This is Jesus. The Savior with the power to heal our past and ensure our future. 

Jesus tells us the truth. Jesus is the truth, and that’s where we begin. We begin our sermons with Jesus, and we end with the Risen Christ. We preach the salvation story that begins with God coming to us in Christ and ends with Christ welcoming us into His kingdom. It’s the same sermon that Peter and Paul preached in the first century. 

That sermon worked then. It will work now.

 

Mike Glenn, Preaching in a Post-Truth World

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What Have Smartphones Done to Our Young People?

(Note: I am sharing four articles this month based on my upcoming book, The Anxious Generation Goes to Church . These articles focus specifically on the harm smartphones do to our young people. All data and statistics in these articles are supported in the book. In this first article, I provide an overview of the issue. My subsequent three articles will look at specific issues in greater detail. My book will be released from Tyndale on August 19, 2025.)

I love my grandchildren. I worry about them too.

They’re growing up in homes filled with love, stability, and the gospel. They have two parents who are committed to each other and to raising their children with purpose. They have grandparents who dote on them, cheer for them, and pray over them. In short, they are blessed.

But even with these blessings, my grandkids are not immune to the challenges facing their generation. Like nearly every other young person today, they carry something in their pocket that may be harming them more than they realize.

The smartphone.

The Appendage

This ubiquitous device has become a cultural appendage. For Generation Z and Gen Alpha, the smartphone isn’t just a tool—it’s a lifestyle. And that lifestyle is quietly rewiring their brains, stealing their sleep, shrinking their confidence, and fueling a mental health crisis that cannot be ignored.

Let me be blunt. Smartphones are hurting our kids.

We first noticed the shift around 2010. Apple had released the first iPhone a few years prior, but it wasn’t until the iPhone 4—with its front-facing camera and social media compatibility—that things began to change rapidly. By 2013, most American households had a smartphone, and the rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm among teenagers began to skyrocket.

Coincidence? Hardly.

The Turning Point

In his powerful book The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt lays out the disturbing trends with clarity and compassion. He points to the smartphone era as a major turning point in the mental health of our youth. And the data backs him up.

From 2010 to 2020, major depression among boys rose by 161%. Among girls, it increased by 145%. Even more sobering, suicide attempts among girls surged 188%. These aren’t just numbers. These are lives—precious, valuable lives—caught in a digital trap they don’t know how to escape.

One reason the smartphone is so damaging is its ability to keep young people constantly connected—and constantly comparing. Social media platforms, turbocharged by smartphone access, have created a culture where worth is measured in likes, followers, and filtered images. For many teens, especially girls, their phone becomes a mirror that always whispers, “You’re not enough.”

The pressure to curate a perfect online persona leads to exhaustion, low self-esteem, and a fear of missing out. When their worth is tethered to digital affirmation, every missed like can feel like a rejection. Every scroll becomes a silent judgment.

But the damage isn’t just emotional. It’s physical too.

Smartphones are robbing our young people of sleep. The blue light from screens disrupts melatonin production, the hormone that regulates sleep. And since teens are already prone to irregular sleep patterns, the effect is amplified. Chronic sleep deprivation impairs memory, concentration, and decision-making. It also fuels mood disorders and increases the risk of depression.

Cyberbullying

And then there’s cyberbullying.

The smartphone has made bullying a 24/7 reality. Home is no longer a safe refuge. The mean words and cruel taunts follow kids into their bedrooms and through the night. Unlike schoolyard bullying, which ends with the final bell, cyberbullying is relentless—and often anonymous.

We now know that victims of cyberbullying are at significantly higher risk for anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. And yet, many parents remain unaware of just how deeply their child’s smartphone use is affecting their well-being.

Addiction and Privacy Lost

We haven’t even mentioned the addictive nature of smartphones. The never-ending stream of notifications, the dopamine hit from a new message or like, the endless scroll of content—these features aren’t accidental. They’re engineered for addiction.

As a result, physical activity among young people has declined. Screen time has replaced outdoor play. Face-to-face conversations have been traded for emojis and memes. Relationships are thinner. Attention spans are shorter. And bodies are paying the price.

Finally, there’s the issue of privacy. Our young people are growing up in a world where everything is shared—and nothing is truly forgotten. What they post today could resurface years later, shaping job opportunities, relationships, and reputations. They’re building a digital footprint they don’t yet understand, but one they will live with for the rest of their lives.

First Steps

So what do we do?

We must start by acknowledging the problem. Denial only delays healing. Then, we must educate parents, pastors, and church leaders to understand what’s really happening. This isn’t about being anti-technology. It’s about being pro-child.

We also need to help churches become part of the solution. What if the local church became the one place in a teenager’s life that wasn’t tethered to a screen? What if it became a refuge of real conversation, real connection, and real hope?

I still believe in the next generation. And I still believe in the local church. But both need help. And it starts by asking the hard question:

What have smartphones done to our young people?

The answer may be painful. But the response must be pastoral—and it must begin now.

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What Gen Z Really Believes: New Data Unpacks the Faith and Habits of a Shifting Generation

One of the most consequential surveys of American religion has recently released its latest raw data from 2024. The General Social Survey (GSS) is considered the gold standard among academics who study long-term trends in the United States. It includes robust sets of questions on a wide range of topics, including religion. This initial release doesn’t include all the variables I want to analyze (specifically, religious affiliation). Still, there’s more than enough here to give us a good sense of where we stand on other measures of religiosity.

Let’s start with how belief in God has changed over the last 36 years. Beginning in 1988, the GSS asked respondents to “choose which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God.” They are then given six possible options:

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How the Decline of Denominations Is Reshaping American Christianity: Lessons from the Southern Baptist Convention

For decades, denominations have experienced a slow-motion deterioration. The declines in any one year are subtle, but each year’s cumulative effects have become a serious problem. Why should we care? 

Some look at denominations like the folding divider walls in a large room—unnecessarily compartmentalizing believers into theological camps and keeping them from uniting for the mission of God. There is some truth to this perspective. However, there are far more benefits to denominations than detriments. While denominations can become too insular, they provide an institutional foundation that no single organization or network can.

Theological consistency and clarityAccountability for both pastors and churchesClergy benefits, such as health insurance and retirementTraining, development, ordination, and licensingFinancial resources for church revitalization and cross-cultural mission workSupport networks and fellowship groups

In short, both pastors and churches have a trusted contact to call for solutions to a wide range of questions and problems. Are denominations necessary for the kingdom of God to grow? No. Can they be good for the kingdom of God? Yes. 

Across the theological spectrum—from mainline to evangelical—denominations are shrinking. In this article, we look closely at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, as a case study in what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what comes next.

Denominations Reflect Their Churches

Denominations don’t exist apart from their churches. They reflect the churches within them. When there are more healthy churches than unhealthy churches in a denomination, it’s healthy. It’s unhealthy when there are more unhealthy churches than healthy churches in a denomination. The problem most denominational executives face is that there are typically far more unhealthy churches than healthy ones. They are forced into triage leadership rather than strategic leadership. 

When churches thrive, so do the networks that support them. When churches decline, those networks falter. For the SBC, the signs of struggle are everywhere: institutional downsizing, sex abuse scandals, weakening financial support systems, heated theological battles, and a shift away from evangelism as the central mission. But how big is the problem really?

The Scale of the Decline in the SBC

The first signs of trouble emerged in the early 2000s. I wrote in 2004 about the “striking plateau” of baptisms and the “inefficiencies” of our evangelism compared to previous eras. My father followed with another similar and more detailed report in 2005. These initial warnings were largely ignored, but the data and statistics were there. And the plateau we both saw became a precipitous decline.

According to research by Dr. Ryan Burge, the SBC has lost membership for 18 consecutive years. Membership peaked in the 2000s and has been on a steep slide ever since.

Some have commented, “we’re just cleaning up bloated membership roles,” but that’s not the case. It’s not a decline on paper. People are actually leaving. If “inactive” members are being removed from rolls, then the percentage of people who are “active” (attending weekly) should go up relative to the 2000s. Unfortunately, the opposite has occurred. 

Percent of SBC weekly attenders in 2024: 34%Percent of SBC weekly attenders in 2004: 37%

This decline isn’t from cleaning up inactive rolls. These are real people leaving the pews—and not coming back. Even though average weekly attendance has increased slightly since the pandemic low, it’s still over 30% below the peak and hasn’t recovered to 1980s levels.

SBC weekly worship attendance in 1991: 4.6 millionSBC weekly worship attendance peak (2009): 6.2 millionSBC weekly worship attendance in 2024: 4.3 million 

Perhaps the most sobering comparison is this: the membership losses the SBC has experienced in recent years are equivalent in size to entire mid-sized denominations. It’s not just a few churches closing; it’s a structural hemorrhage.

Evangelism: A Glimmer of Hope for the SBC

Baptisms are often seen as a marker of a church’s evangelistic health. In 2024, the SBC reported more baptisms than in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is a reason for optimism, it doesn’t erase the fact that the denomination still loses more members annually than it baptizes. Baptism numbers have dropped by more than 40% since the late 1990s and are 44% below the peak of the 1970s.

Is this recent growth in the last four years a genuine inflection point or merely a post-pandemic rebound? The answer remains unclear. One could surmise that a portion of the uptick in the previous few years was pent-up demand from pandemic church closures. What is clear is that the evangelistic engine that once fueled denominational growth is no longer firing on all cylinders. We have more churches and more money, but far less evangelistic energy. 

Aging and Generational Disconnect

Another challenge the SBC faces is its age profile. While not the oldest Protestant group, the SBC lags behind in reaching younger generations. Even denominations like the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), which has an older average membership, report more engagement from young adults. Again, consider this research by Dr. Ryan Burge.

The SBC has one of the smallest representations of the two youngest age categories (18-35 and 36-44). Now, let’s consider a few facts here.

The SBC grew in worship attendance from the 1980s to the early 2000s.At the same time, baptisms were declining rapidly. During this same period, the SBC was beginning to age quickly. 

What do we make of these data points? The SBC expanded in the 1980s and 1990s primarily through Baby Boomer transfers from other denominations, not new conversions, and it never truly captured the hearts of the generations that followed, including our own children. 

The Diagnosis of Decline

I’ve been surprised by the recent conclusion of some SBC leaders and commentators. Some of them claim that denominational decline is a kind of spiritual refinement, a purification process filtering out those who are not aligned. But that narrative sounds eerily similar to what mainline denominations said a generation ago as they experienced their own steep declines. When the desire to purify is greater than the desire to reach others, we’ve reached the point where the inward pull is greater than the outward call. 

I believe more is happening than a simple purification process. A convergence of factors is creating a downward pull on the SBC. 

Worship attendance frequency: People fade before they leave entirely. When weekly attenders start coming every other week, your attendance declines by half. Though it’s difficult to know the precise impact of declining attendance frequency in the SBC, I believe it has dramatically affected recent years’ declines.Scandals and theological infighting: What makes the headlines does influence the broader public. Some will claim the recent negative headlines are unfair. Others will say it’s been a long time coming, and the SBC is getting exactly what it deserves. Whatever your position, the benefits of staying no longer outweigh the costs of leaving. So, people are walking away.Large churches and future trends: Some of the largest SBC churches have either been kicked out (e.g., Saddleback) or disaffiliated (e.g., Elevation). While the SBC is a denomination of smaller churches, more people go to the largest churches. When the largest churches leave the SBC, their statistics go with them. These churches account for a substantial portion of overall worship attendance and baptism figures. 

In truth, declining worship attendance frequency, a string of sex abuse scandals, theological infighting, and the exit of prominent megachurches have converged and created an atmosphere not conducive to growth. So, what’s next?

The Continued Slow Deflation of the SBC

The SBC isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. And that’s the problem. Consider where you put your energy. You can work hard with good intentions on the wrong things. You can exhaust yourself in misdirected endeavors. The SBC expends a lot of energy (and financial resources) every year. Much of this work is done with good intentions by hard-working people. Perhaps the latest uptick in baptisms indicates that some of this work is beginning to pay off. I certainly hope so. The next three or four years will be revealing as to whether we’re seeing a true return to the focus of evangelism. 

What the statistics demonstrate right now is that the SBC is still in a multi-decade decline. The metaphor is apt: the SBC is not imploding—it’s deflating, like a balloon slowly losing air. I don’t expect an explosion. Just a slow fade as the air continues to leak. 

What’s happening in the SBC is not unique. Other denominations are experiencing similar trajectories. As institutional influence wanes, informal networks and local associations may offer some relational support, but they often lack the resources for widespread revitalization. The future may belong to regional bodies that can reassert denominational identity with strategic focus and missionary passion. Watch as state conventions in the SBC become more like mid-size and small denominations. If nothing changes, I expect more Cooperative Program funds will remain in the states and less will go to national entities. The funding pie is shrinking, and the fight over proportional pieces will only intensify. Meanwhile, non-denominational churches will continue to rise, and many existing SBC churches will quietly de-emphasize their denominational ties. 

The story of denominational decline is not just about numbers—it’s about mission drift, generational gaps, and misaligned priorities. If the SBC and other denominations are to experience renewal, it won’t come through institutional preservation but through a grassroots return to evangelism and discipleship. The question is not whether denominations will survive, but whether they will still matter. And that depends entirely on whether they can reclaim their purpose and passion for reaching people with the gospel. The decline of denominations is reshaping American Christianity. Whether that reshaping leads to renewal or continued erosion depends on how local churches respond.

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5 Reasons Many Church Leaders are Workaholics – and a First Step toward Addressing the Issue

I write this post as a confession and a request for prayer.

I’m a workaholic. I work in some capacity for three different organizations, and I preach or teach almost weekly in different places around North America. I’m busy.

At the age of 64, though, I’m evaluating my life. I want to serve well until the Lord calls me home, but I don’t want to wear out early. I need the Lord’s wisdom. My first step, though, is to be honest about why I—and perhaps you, too—lean toward workaholism.

I’m an idolater. Okay, so I’m getting the tough reason out of the way at the start. Separating “I’m working hard because I love God” from “I’m working hard because work is my God” isn’t always easy for me. When I find my value in my work (see the next point below), I’ve distanced my reason for being away from simply loving and honoring God. That’s idolatry.I sometimes find my value in what I accomplish. I suspect that tendency goes all the way back to kindergarten where I learned I would get affirmation if I did well in school. Having grown up in a chaotic home where such affirmation was unintentionally scarce, I looked for it elsewhere. Today, I sometimes find it in ministry.Ministry is about eternal matters. Frankly, the issue of workaholism has become more of an issue for me as I get older—simply because of the urgent nature of the gospel. What we do has eternal ramifications as we share the gospel with non-believers, disciple new believers, shepherd other believers, and plant healthy churches. It’s tough to take a break when so much is at stake.Ministry is itself non-ending. I admit that I could do a better job at scheduling and saying “no,” but the nature of ministry is that there is no stopping point. Always there are more people to reach, more sermons to prepare, more church members to guide, more weddings and funerals to come. To take a break seems (although it’s not the case) almost ungodly.I’m still learning to rest in God with silence and solitude. These combined disciplines are difficult for me, even though I’m a heavy-duty introvert. I have to be intentional about scheduling these times to simply sit still and be with God. In fact, I’ve written about my personal commitment this week regarding silence and solitude, and I invite you to join me.

Here’s my first step in tackling my workaholism at this point in my life: ask prayer warriors to pray intentionally for me that I will (1) work hard out of love for God and people; (2) work hard while also letting go of my need for achievement and recognition; and (3) hear again the Lord’s clear command that I must get physical rest to best experience spiritual rest in Him. Would you whisper that prayer for me today?

And, let us know if you’d like our Church Answers family to pray for you.

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