The Weekly is a highlight of the work the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is doing to strengthen you and our churches for God’s glory.

What issues most concern U.S. pastors in 2020?

What issues are most concerning pastors in America? To answer that question, Barna Research conducted online interviews with 547 Protestant senior pastors, and asked them about possible challenges facing both their own congregations and the broader church in America. 

The most concerning challenge facing all churches, according to the pastors surveyed, is “watered down gospel teachings.” Overall, almost three-fourths of pastors (72%) consider this the largest issue, though non-mainline pastors (78%) were much more likely to agree with this statement than were mainline pastors (59%).

A majority of pastors (66%) also consider “culture’s shift to a secular age” to be a major concern for the church today, though it’s considered more of a problem by older pastors who have spent more years in ministry. Pastors under the age of 45 were much less likely than their older counterparts (50% compared to 73%) to consider this a pressing concern. Pastors who have been in ministry longer are also more likely than those just entering ministry to agree (71% of those who had 20+ years in ministry compared to 65% for those with 10-19 years, and 47% for those with 1-9 years).

This Week at the ERLC

• Russell Moore had an op-ed in National Review about the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act. He is also preaching at City Church in Tallahassee, Florida. 

• Jason Thacker was on The World and Everything in It talking about facial recognition, policing, and privacy.

What You Need to Know

• Chelsea Patterson Sobolik with "Study shows preborn babies feel pain as early as 12 weeks' gestation"

Previously, most scientists and medical professionals, including the two researchers of this study, believed that pain could be felt at 22 weeks' gestational age/20 weeks fetal age. This new study reconsiders that claim, and makes the case for pain being felt at an earlier gestational age. Stuart W.G. Derbyshire and John C. Bockmann state, "Overall, the evidence, and a balanced reading of the evidence, points towards an immediate and unreflective pain experience mediated by the developing function of the nervous system as early as 12 weeks."

• Jeff Pickering on “What should civility look like in politics? A conversation with two former White House staffers”

"Civility is what grace looks like in public. To refer to Scripture, I think of Peter’s admonition that we would want to keep our tongues from evil, our lips from deceitful speech, and civility is how we recognize the dignity of other human beings through the words and the actions that we interact with them in public." 
- Michael Wear

• Brent Leatherwood with “Why we should appreciate Presidents Day: Recommended resources about the executive office”

I consider these [resources] to be a good starting point for developing an appreciation for what it takes to be president and lessons learned from those who have served. I hope each of these will provide a small insight into the complex world that our chief executive operates in on a daily basis. As a Christian, they have helped me to be mindful of ways I can be praying for each person who has served in this loftiest, and oftentimes loneliest, of roles.

News From Capitol Hill

This week, both chambers of Congress were in recess with members back home in their districts for the federal holiday, Presidents Day. Many senators and representatives make the most of week-long recesses to engage their constituents by hosting town halls and meeting with businesses and other community leaders. For example, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa) conducts 99 county meetings annually, a tradition he’s held with Iowans each of his 40 years serving in the United States Senate.

Back in Washington, D.C., our team spent the week in preparation for two significant pro-life votes scheduled for next week in the Senate. The first bill we expect to receive a vote on the floor is the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the second is the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (links to ERLC’s policy briefs). Substantial medical research shows that an unborn child who is 20 weeks old in the womb can feel intense pain, with new research suggesting it is likely even earlier.

The Pain-Capable bill would protect children at that gestational age from the horror of abortion. The Born-Alive bill seeks to protect children who are already born, living and breathing outside the womb after surviving a failed abortion. As difficult as it is to believe, federal law does not adequately ensure proper medical provision is provided to these vulnerable newborns because the abortion industry has successfully carved out for themselves exemptions to proper medical standards.

“I’m thankful the Senate plans to vote on two critical bills that meet the basic responsibility of government—to protect human life. No nation can seriously call itself humane while its law leaves vulnerable children, both unborn and born, exposed to the neglectful cruelty of the abortion industry. It's well past time that our laws catch up and recognize the dignity of life in the womb. We will continue working and praying for the votes to end these abhorrent practices as well as to disrupt of the abortion lobby’s hold on too many of our nation’s elected officials.” - Russell Moore, president of the ERLC

While both bills in recent years failed to achieve the 60 votes needed to proceed, they have received tepid bipartisan support and there is an effort to build on that effort to increase the bills appeal and vote total.

Featured Podcasts

From The Public Square

The Best Practices—and Benefits—of Religious Parenting
David Dollahite, Loren D. Marks, and Hal Boyd, Public Discourse

Informed by the best practices from social science and the best of religious belief, parents can raise their children with the benefits of a meaningful faith, as part of a nurturing community, in a manner that honors children’s humanity, their growing autonomy, and their spiritual choices.

Despite Stigma, More Divorced Evangelicals Are Going to Church
Ryan Burge, Christianity Today

Their attendance outpaces other traditions, but still lags far behind married evangelicals.

Why Witchcraft Is on the Rise
Bianca Bosker, The Atlantic

Americans’ interest in spell-casting tends to wax as instability rises and trust in establishment ideas plummets.

The Church As Forged Family: A Reply to David Brooks
Andrew Walker, Institute for Family Studies

Brooks’ call for the “forged family” can already be found in an institution so familiar to us that its routineness makes us blind to its offerings—the local church.