Three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, churches have fewer people in the pews, more money in the collection plate and less conflict than they had in 2020. Despite their struggles, many congregations are optimistic about the future. Clergy dissatisfaction, on the other hand, remains on the rise. Those are among the findings Read more
Religious sisters all over the world are burning out. The International Union of Superiors General (UISG) in Rome has set up a three-year study to find ways to respond to religious sisters’ needs. Stress and burnout are major reasons many women abandon religious life. The UISGs initiative was highlighted in the monthly women’s supplement of Read more
But as a major new study raises concerns about a $630 million funding shortfall for social service providers, families face an increasingly complex landscape when it comes to fighting poverty. Trevor McGlinchey, the executive director at the NZ Council of Christian Social Services, said the typical Kiwi family seeking help was now often more at Read more
Stress, it seems, is everywhere. Terrible news about stabbings, shootings, and crashes. People agonising over healthcare, fretting about unemployment, troubled by tuition payments, mortgage payments, car payments or other costs. So many people, it seems, are labouring to be at peace, groping for stable ground, living for the weekends. So many people, even those with Read more
They are called “clergy-killers” – congregations where a small group of members are so disruptive that no pastor is able to maintain spiritual leadership for long. And yet ministers often endure the stresses of these dysfunctional relationships for months, or even years, before eventually being forced out or giving up. Adding to the strain is Read more
The laws regarding “keeping the Sabbath day holy” were intended to give workers a day off so that they could do what they wanted to do rather than what some one else, their bosses, wanted them to do. But there is a perverse human instinct to turn freedom into bondage. Thus down through the ages Read more