Nashville
A search committee nominated a man to become the single most powerful executive in the Southern Baptist Convention; the Executive Committee voted down the nomination by a 2-1 margin. Among the reasons is the search committee by-passed the current interim executive, a black man, who would have become the first black man to run a Southern Baptist agency. Ever. A new search committee was elected.
Boston
Rabbi Harold Kushner has died at the age of 88. He served for 24 years as the rabbi at the synagogue in Canton, Massachusetts, in greater Boston. He was most well-known for his 1981 book, When Bad things Happen to Good People. The book sold more than 4 million copies, was a New York Times bestseller for many months and was translated into at least 12 languages. One admirer described him this way: “He was a source of simple, humanistic, God-centered wisdom that spoke to people of all faiths.”
Washington DC
The annual, online survey of Roman Catholic men scheduled to be ordained into the priesthood was completed by 334 of the 458 total ordinands from 116 U.S. dioceses and 24 religious institutes. The average age is 33 with one third reporting they first began thinking about the priesthood in elementary school, a quarter while in high school, and almost 20% in college. Almost 2/3 are white, with Hispanic (16%), Asian (10%), and Black (6%). One quarter were born abroad.
Los Angeles
The Barna Group reports that almost one quarter of American pastors are planning to retire by 2030. The average age of a pastor is 52. In 2022, just 16 percent of Protestant senior pastors were 40 years old or younger. Thirty years ago, 33 percent of US pastors were under 40 years old, and the median age was 44. Seventy-five percent of pastors agree that “it is becoming harder to find mature young Christians who want to become pastors.” That’s up from 69% in 2015.
Washington DC
Episcopalians in the United States are watching what their Anglican brothers and sisters around the world are doing. In England, they voted to allow ministers to bless same-sex marriages. But in Africa, things are different. A conference of leaders drew 1,302 delegates from 52 nations. They represent about 75% of world wide Anglicans, and they are not happy with Episcopal accommodation of gay people and priests. In Nigeria alone, 22 million people worship in Anglican/Episcopal churches; in Britain, it is 600,000, and in the United States 300,000. The African conference took steps to create distance from the English-speaking brothers and sisters.
