Sermon

My Easter message, “Living as Easter People” is based on Matthew 28:1-10.

You can watch the sermon below or read the manuscript.

Excerpt

Theologians have amazingly complex and largely unsatisfying answers to all of these questions and to others we might ask. There is not one right answer to any question in part because the biblical accounts don’t tell us this part of the story.

This morning our goal must not be to explain how the Resurrection happened, but to understand what Jesus’ Resurrection means for us. 

George Mason, the recently retired long-time senior minister of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, helps us begin moving in that direction when he writes:

“We are not here for a history lesson on what exactly happened that Sunday morning at the tomb. You will not believe in the resurrection of Jesus any more than Mary would have if the same thing does not happen to you that happened to her. Because Christ is free from the grave, he is free to free you from the grave and to meet you unexpectedly along the ordinary paths of your life.[1]

That kind of resurrection is not something we analyze from a distance. It is something we encounter.

[1] George Mason.  “Christ on the Loose.” Available from https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/5d9b820ef71918cdf20025eb/christ_on_the_loose

The post Living as Easter People (#2312) first appeared on So What Faith.

• (5.0) Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age  by Ibram X. Kendi (One World, 2026)
• (4.5) Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West by Bart D. Ehrman (Simon & Schuster, 2026)
• (4.5) Chosen Land: How Christianity Made America and America Remade Christianity by Matthew Avery Sutton (Basic Books, 2026)
• (4.5) Beyond the Stained Glass Ceiling: Women Clergy in a Still-Patriarchal Church by Alina Gayeuski (Chalice Press, 2026)
• (4.0) A Seat at The Table: Stories of Faith, Healing, and Rebirth by Dawn Bennett (Tehom Center Publishing, 2026)
• (4.0) Becoming Neighbors: The Common Good Made Local by Amar D. Peterman (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2026)
• (4.0) Distortions: How to Recognize and Refute False Christian Claims in American Culture by Michael Adam Beck (Abingdon Press, 2026)
• (3.5) Hints of Hope: Essays on Making Peace with the Proximate by Steven Garber (Paraclete Press, 2026)

Chain of Ideas

I was introduced to the work of Ibram X. Kendi when I read How to Be an Antiracist. Since I read it a couple of years after publication, I did not mention it on So What Faith. Based on what I learned then, I was quick to acquire a copy of Chain of Ideas, reading it only days after it was released. I soon realized it is a book everyone needs to read, especially if you would rather avoid learning more about the “great replacement.”

Kendi explores the lineage of ideas that animate today’s authoritarian movements, showing how fear-based narratives about identity and belonging have been deliberately constructed and sustained. By placing today’s rhetoric in historical context, he demonstrates that what feels new is often a reworking of much older arguments. Importantly, he not only explains how we arrived at this moment, but also proposes how these patterns can be challenged and changed.

Welcome Back

Two authors on this month’s list have been featured previously on So What Faith: Bart Ehrman and Michael Adam Beck.

I first learned about Bart D. Ehrman’s scholarship many years ago. Love Thy Stranger is his fourth book to be reviewed and/or rated on So What Faith. The first three all received ratings of 4.5 or 5.0:

• 2014: How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee  (rated 4.5)
• 2016: Jesus Before the Gospels: How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior  (rated 5.0)
• 2020: Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (rated 4.5)

Michael Adam Beck first appeared in 2022 when I rated a book he co-authored, Fresh Expressions of the Rural Church, 5.0. He returned in 2024 with another co-authored book, Doing Justice Together: Fresh Expressions Pathways to Heal Racism in Your Church, which I rated 4.0.

The post Great New Books for April 2026 (#2311) first appeared on So What Faith.

Sermon

My Palm Sunday message, “Joining the Parade” is based on Matthew 21:1-11.

You can watch the sermon below or read the manuscript.

Excerpt

. . . So those who chose to travel that day and be a part of this unique experience did so very intentionally.  It makes me wonder what might have inspired you to participate. Who would Jesus need to be to you? What would his ministry need to mean to you? How fully committed would you need to be to his message?

At this point, if you are honest with yourself, it is likely you are not sure how you would respond to the opportunity to be a part of the parade. So, rather than ask you to decide now, let me invite you to consider a framework for making your decision.  What we know of Jesus’ ministry to this point can be summarized using 4 Ps: priorities, parables, prayers, and proposal. 

By sharing this I am also giving you a sneak peek at First Christian Church’s coming attractions. After Easter we will begin a sermon series called The Jesus’ Priorities. The idea for the series comes from a book by the same name.[1] While not written by someone in a Disciples of Christ congregation, the author, Christopher Maricle, utilizes as very Disciples-like approach to determining what Jesus truly prioritized.

After studying the Gospels, he embarked on a detailed line by line consideration of how the Gospel writers depicted Jesus. Every time Jesus said or did something, he wrote it down. Next, he grouped like items together. Finally, he counted up the number of occurrences. Using this methodology, he proposes that Jesus had eight priorities: heal, love, pray, seek God’s will, spread the word, treasure in heaven, children are precious, and live with humility.

I’m fascinated by this not because it tells me more about what Jesus prioritized, but because it suggests what we who consider ourselves disciples of Christ should prioritize. While his priorities are helpful, they are inadequate for making a decision about whether or not you would have chosen to attend the Palm Sunday affair.  So . . .

[1] Christopher Maricle.  The Jesus Priorities: Eight Essential Habits (Upper Room Books, 2007).

The post Will You Join the Parade? (#2310) first appeared on So What Faith.

Nearly two years ago, I gathered much of that work into a single place: My Religion is Dying: A Deep Dive into Mainline Decline. That post serves as a hub, linking to more than 50 additional posts that explore both broad Mainline trends and denomination-specific patterns of decline.

Decline in the ELCA

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), one of the seven historic Mainline denominations, offers a striking case study. Formed in 1988 through the merger of the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church in America, the ELCA has since lost nearly half its membership.

In 1988, the denomination reported 5,251,534 members. By 2023, that number had fallen to 2,793,899. This represents a loss of more than 2.4 million people over 35 years.

Over the last thirteen years I have written about this decline from multiple angles, including:

• ELCA Membership Cut in Half (2024)
• The ELCA is Missing 4 Million People! (2023)
• From 5 Million to 4 Million (2013)
• So Many Dwindling Congregations (2013)

Looking ahead, current projections extend the same trajectory. Ryan Burge, a scholar widely recognized as one of the most prolific and insightful commentators on the statistical shifts in American religion, predicts that just as the ELCA has shrunk by half since its founding, it may be half its current size again by 2050. (Burge is also the author of the only book published in 2026 to have been rated as 5+ by So What Faith.)

So What?

In recent years, decline in the ELCA and across the Mainline has followed a largely predictable pattern. Absent major disruption, there is little reason to expect that trajectory to change between now and 2050. The primary exception has been moments when denominational decisions prompt congregations and members to leave, as the ELCA experienced in 2009.

If membership falls to 1,280,000 by 2050, the ELCA will have declined by 75.6 percent in just 62 years.

The question I keep returning to is, “Based on what you see in the ELCA and in broader religious trends, will membership in 2050 be above or below 1,280,000?” What factors most shape your answer?

The post Will the ELCA Lose 75% of It’s Members? (#2309) first appeared on So What Faith.

ermon

My message, “The Story Isn’t Finished” is based on Ezekiel 37:1-14 and John 11:1-45.

You can watch the sermon below or read the manuscript.

Excerpt

I remember lying in the back of an ambulance, unable to see, uncertain about my injuries, and wondering if perhaps this was going to be the end of my story. In that moment, the future I had imagined for myself felt impossible.

Perhaps you’ve been there. Not in an abstract way. Not as part of an academic inquiry or a theological puzzle.  But, rather, in a deeply personal lived experience that arrived as an unexpected life challenge, bringing into question the future you had planned. Something so abrupt that you could only ask, “Is this where my story ends?”

This hard question is one we usually don’t seek out, but it is also one we all must confront. And, it is a question that we should ask of both of this morning’s texts.  In both Ezekiel and John, today’s stories begin with a situation that feels like it is the end.

Let’s start with Ezekiel. No matter how you look at it, this is a bizarre scene. It’s also one of the most unforgettable images in the Bible. The prophet is placed in the middle of a valley that is filled with bones. Dry bones. Long dead bones.

And, God gets things going with a question that seems inappropriate and goes well beyond what we have been taught is okay to ask when surrounded by so much death. God asks, “Can these bones live?”[1]

Ezekiel gives what might be the most honest answer in the Bible, “Lord God, only you know.”[2]

Dr. Brent Strawn, Professor of Old Testament at Duke Divinity School explains, “The second person independent pronoun “you” in this verse is unnecessary in Hebrew and may signal emphasis in some fashion. Perhaps a paraphrase that approaches the tone is: “You may know the answer to that question, Lord; I definitely don’t!”[3]

Let’s be real. From the human perspective, the answer is a hard “no.” A bunch of bones that have long been detached from one another and separated from bodies that once contained them cannot come back to life. That isn’t how gravesites work.

But in racing to offer this logical answer, we have missed something important. This story isn’t primarily about individuals. It is about a people. It is about a nation. Ezekiel is speaking to Israel in exile. . .

[1] Ezekiel 37:3, RSV

[2] Ezekiel 37:3, NCV

[3] Brent A. Strawn. Commentary on Ezekiel 37:1-14, Working Preacher, December 10, 2017, available from www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/ezekiel-valley-of-dry-bones/commentary-on-ezekiel-371-14-3

The post The Story Isn’t Finished (#2308) first appeared on So What Faith.

Reading as a mainline pastor, I found myself engaging the findings from within that particular context. Three statistics, in particular, stayed with me:

• First, mainline attrition (defined by Lifeway as “the percentage who leave the ministry for reasons other than retirement or death”) was significantly lower than in Black and evangelical traditions (0.8% compared to 1.2% for both).
• Second, mainline pastors reported substantially higher levels of conflict related to politics. Nearly one in three (31%) indicated they had experienced political conflict in their most recent congregation. By contrast, fewer than one in ten Black pastors (9%) and evangelical pastors (9%) reported the same.
• Third, among pastors with prior congregational experience, mainline clergy were more likely than their counterparts to say they left their previous church due to unrealistic expectations (29% compared to 17%).

Taken together, these findings offer a glimpse into both the resilience and the particular pressures shaping ministry in the mainline today.

So What?

Pastoring a local church has always been both challenging and rewarding. While the calling hasn’t changed, the most pressing challenges have shifted over time. Additionally, conflict has intensified in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic.

So what might these realities mean for your church? How might a clearer awareness of the patterns shaping the mainline pastoral experience help you name what you are experiencing locally? Perhaps this is an invitation to more honest conversation between pastors and parishioners and among lay leaders as you strive to create a shared vision for what faithful ministry looks like at this time in your context.

The post Pastoring in the Mainline: Conflicts and Challenges (#2307) first appeared on So What Faith.

Sermon

My message, “Open Hearts, Open Eyes, New Beginnings” is based on 1 Samuel 16:1-13 and John 9:1-41.

You can watch the sermon below or read the manuscript.

Excerpt

I have much to learn when it comes to all that happens here on our church campus. Every time I am here, I see new things.

When I arrived on Wednesday, Peck greeted me and asked if anyone had shown me the Community Eye Clinic yet. When I said, “no”, he walked me over and introduced me to the co-directors, Dr. Deakins and Dr. Terrell.

They showed me around. I saw how space within the walls of First Christian Church has been transformed into a welcoming, state-of-the-art eye clinic. I met many of the people who make the clinic possible and who provide care for those in need in our community. And I saw a few of the first patients arriving to get help with their vision.

It was a lot to take in all at once. As we finished the tour, it became clear to me that I was observing holy work.

Day in and day out, people come here seeking to see more clearly. Given our relationship with the Community Eye Clinic just steps away, today’s Gospel reading feels particularly relevant.

We encounter a lengthy story about a man born blind whose sight is restored. In many ways, this is a story about vision. It teaches us about what it means to see and gives us an opportunity to learn what it means to miss what is right in front of us.

The Old Testament reading from 1 Samuel, however, is a little tougher.  It feels like an entirely different kind of story.

The prophet Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint a new king. It is a subversive act since there is still a king on the throne. Even so, he carries out the mission.

Jesse lines up his sons, one by one, with each showing clear promise. Samuel knows the cultural norms and therefore assumes the eldest will be chosen by God.

But God disrupts Samuel’s assumptions with a line that echoes through the centuries: Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature . . . for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”[1]

And then, only then, the youngest son is called in from the fields. This shepherd boy was such an unlikely candidate that his own father hadn’t invited him to be part of the lineup.

Meet David. The unlikely one. The overlooked one. The youngest one.  And, the one whose heart God had already seen.

In both of today’s readings, something surprising happens around the theme of sight. In John’s Gospel, the one who cannot see ends up seeing most clearly while the religious authorities who think they see quite well end up being the ones who are blind. In 1 Samuel, the prophet who assumes he knows what a king should look like learns that God sees differently.

This reveals a simple but powerful truth: God sees our open hearts. God can open our eyes. And God knows what is possible.

Those truths matter for every congregation, but they are especially powerful for us here and now. During the initial weeks of this transitional time that we call interim ministry, they speak directly to us and our situation.

After all, interim seasons are, by their nature, times of new beginnings. Interim time begins with slowing down and reflecting. Interim time continues as folks struggle together with important questions that defy easy answers.

Questions like: What has God been doing among us? Who are we now? How is God preparing us for what comes next?

These are not the sort of questions you should try to answer on your own. Even together, answering will take time. To answer these and other interim questions we must explore them together with open hearts and open eyes.

This brings me back to the clinic and to Jenn and Jennifer . . . I should mention that I quickly came to know the clinic’s co-directors on a first name basis.  While they showed me around, we realized something interesting. We know many of the same people serving in charitable medicine and have even served some of the same patients.[2]

Maybe this is possible because we share a particular way of seeing the world. Our eyes have been trained to notice people living on the margins – the same people that many have trained their eyes not to see . . .

[1] I Samuel 16:7, RSV

[2] When I led the Mansfield Mission Center’s Linda Nix Clinic, my team referred multiple patients to the Community Eye Clinic.

The post Open Hearts, Open Eyes, New Beginnings (#2306) first appeared on So What Faith.

Importance of Faith

From 2000 to 2025 the percentage of Christians who reported that faith was central to their lives dropped by 20 percentage points, dipping from 74% to just 54%.

So What?

A closer examination of the 25-year period reveals relative stability during the first decade, followed by more than a decade of decline, and concluding with a modest increase. Today, just over half of American Christian adults (54%) strongly agree that “my religious faith is very important in my life.”

This substantial decline in the perceived importance of faith has significant implications for the American church. When fewer individuals view faith as central to their lives, fewer are likely to practice it in meaningful ways.

For more on changes over time in American Christianity — especially in Mainline Protestantism – check out My Religion is Dying: A Deep Dive Into Mainline Decline, which I wrote on June 10, 2024. This post includes links to 50 additional blog posts on shifts in religious belief, belonging, and behavior here on So What Faith.

The post 25 Years of Decline: Importance of Religious Faith in America (#2305) first appeared on So What Faith.

Sermon

My message, “Living Water is for Every Body” is based on John 4:1-42.

You can watch the sermon below or read the manuscript.

Excerpt

Jesus is taking a trip. He’s heading from Judea to Galilee.  For those of us who are accustomed to travel by car, this would be quite the walk. Depending on the route we choose, the journey will be somewhere between 70 and 90 miles. This makes for a long walk; it means several days of putting one foot in front of the other.

John tells us that Jesus had to go through Samaria. Well . . . that’s not literally true; Jesus had other options.  John wants us to know that Jesus did not select the shortest path because he wanted to get there as quickly as possible.  Instead, Jesus opted for this direct route because he wanted to go through Samaria.

In the world Jesus lived in, boundaries were everywhere: religious boundaries, cultural boundaries, gender boundaries, and moral boundaries. Everyone knew where the lines were drawn.

For those of us trying to make sense of it all two thousand years later, some historical context will help. In the first century, Jews and Samaritans didn’t get along. They had many reasons to dislike and even to distrust each other. 

So, as a faithful Jew, Jesus would have been expected to avoid Samaritans, to keep his distance from those seen as religious outsiders. And even if he did travel that way, since it was the most direct route people would expect him to pass through quickly and avoid any real contact.

Jesus, however, won’t be limited by the cultural expectations of his day. He often crosses boundaries. Sometimes he breaks them.

It isn’t lost on me that this morning’s Gospel reading went on and on. Its length is part of its beauty. Of all the people Jesus talked with in Scripture, his longest recorded conversation is with the woman at the well. This starts with a shocking scene. . .

The post Living Water is for Every Body (#2304) first appeared on So What Faith.

• (5+) The Vanishing Church: How the Hollowing Out of Moderate Congregations is Hurting Democracy, Faith, and Us by Ryan P. Burge (Brazos Press, 2026)
• (5.0) Hope for the Mission: Getting it Right in the Call to End Homelessness by Kevin Nye (Herald Press, 2026)
• (4.5) Serial Fixer: Break Free From the Habit of Solving Other People’s Problems by Leah Marone (Broadleaf Books, 2026)
• (4.5) Serving Up Scripture: How to Interpret the Bible for Yourself and Others by Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Aaron Higashi (Broadleaf Books, 2026)
• (4.0) Taking Good Care: Administration as Christian Formation by Jana Holiday (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2026)
• (4.0) The Death and Life of Gentrification: A New Map of a Persistent Idea by Japonica Brown-Saracino (Princeton University Press, 2026)
• (4.0) Bivocational Ministry: Field Notes for Congregations and Ministers by Kristen Plinke Bentley (Chalice Press, 2024)
• (4.0) Uncomplicate It: Permission to Enjoy God in Your Unique Way by Hosanna Wong (William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2026)

5+ Rating

The Vanishing Church is the first book published in 2025 to receive a 5+ rating here on So What Faith.

This distinction has been awarded to just three to five books a year in recent years, including volumes by Jennifer Garcia Bashaw and Ryan P. Burge:

• 2025: Why Religion Went Obsolete by Christian Smith, Miracles and Wonders: The Historical Mystery of Jesus by Elaine Pagels, The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future by Ryan P. Burge
• 2024: Everything Good About God is True: Choosing Faith  by Bruce Reyes Chow, Funding Forward: A Pathway to More Sustainable Models for Ministry by Grace Duddy Pomroy, and Baptizing America How Mainline Protestants Helped Build Christian Nationalism by Brian Kaylor and Beau Underwood,
• 2023:  Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond, Beautiful and Terrible Things: Faith, Doubt, and Discovering a Way Back to Each Other by Amy Butler, and Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents – and What That Means for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge 
• 2022: Reorganized Religion: The Reshaping of the American Church and Why It Matters by Bob Smietana, Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims by Jennifer Garcia Bashaw, Between the Listening and the Telling: How Stories Can Save Us by Mark Yaconelli, The Flag + The Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy by Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, 20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America by Ryan P. Burge

Vanishing Church

Ryan Burge is widely recognized as one of the most prolific and insightful commentators on the statistical shifts in American religion. Trained as a political scientist, Ryan Burge is also an ordained American Baptist pastor, professor, and author whose research consistently explores ways religious shifts impact individuals and congregations. Burge is one of only 19 writers ever named a Top All-Time Author by So What Faith. Two of his previous books were also honored among So What Faith’s Top 10 Books of the Year: The American Religious Landscape: Facts, Trends, and the Future in 2025 and 20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America in 2022.

The Vanishing Church builds on Burge’s impressive body of work by exploring an understudied dimension of the continued decline of religion in the United States: the disappearance of congregations made up of politically diverse members. Over the last half century, American religious life has increasingly mirrored the nation’s broader political polarization. Burge argues that as churches have become more ideologically homogeneous, they have lost an important source of institutional strength and public relevance. Timely, data driven, and written with a pastoral voice, Vanishing Church is essential reading for anyone concerned about the health and future of both the American church and American democracy.

Welcome Back

In addition to Ryan Burge, two authors on this month’s list have previously been mentioned on So What Faith:

• Jennifer Garcia Bashaw first appeared in 2022 when her then new book, Scapegoats: The Gospel through the Eyes of Victims, was rated 5+. It was later named one of So What Faith’s top two books of 2022.
• Kevin Nye was previously featured in 2023 when his 2022 book, Grace Can Lead Us Home: A Christian Call to End Homelessness, was rated 4.5.

The post Great New Books for March 2026 (#2303) first appeared on So What Faith.