One in five churches may shutter their doors in the next 18 months, according to Barna Group president David Kinnaman.

Kinnaman of the Christian research organization recently sat down with NPR to discuss the state of church giving in light of the pandemic. As churches slowly reopen under new restrictions across the country, Kinnaman believes some may not survive the economic downturn.

“The disruptions related to giving, and maybe even as important to all that, is that even for those churches that have reopened, they’re seeing much smaller numbers of people show up,” he said, as reported by The Christian Post. “So simply reopening a church doesn’t fix the underlying economic challenges that you might have.”

He also predicts that the “digital church is here to stay” as online attendance continues to climb.

Many pastors have expressed their discouragement in whether or not their churches will weather the storm. At the beginning of the pandemic, 70% of pastors responded that they were “very confident” they would make it. More recently, however, that number has dropped to 58%.

“We’ll look back at this pandemic as a fundamental change…” Kinnaman said. “I think also it’s really going to change the way people think about their donation relationship with local churches as well. There’ll have to be even greater demonstration of the value that a church…

A 32-year-old TikToK user says she prayed to God for the first time since becoming an atheist after she watched other videos about God on TikTok.

The user, identified as Felicia and under the username “inkydoeshair,” posted in her own now-viral video that she needed “help” learning how to be a Christian, Faithwire reports.

“If you’ve been on my page before, you know I’ve posted things about being an atheist and I took it down because now I’m really confused. Because all I see are videos about God and Jesus, and I actually prayed the other night, and I don’t know why,” she said in the video. “I guess I need help, because I just don’t know where to start. I just don’t get how, if you guys claim He loves me so much, I don’t understand why I have denied him so many times.”

@inkydoeshair

Hardest video I’ve made. Please don’t judge me. If you see this please help me on why I’m so confused right now ##jesus ##god ##askingforhelp

♬ empty crown – YAS

Felicia said in the video that she was raised as a Christian but became an atheist several years ago. Other TikTok users have asked her if she will now delete some of her past videos, in which she curses and asks the universe to manifest things in her life.

“I can see where I was when I felt lost, and you can see it in those videos, and now you can see where I am now,” she said in a

A majority of Americans and nearly a third of evangelicals say Jesus was a “good teacher” but was not God, according to a new survey for Ligonier Ministries that was conducted by LifeWay Research.

All total, 52 percent of Americans say they believe Jesus was a “good teacher, but he was not God,” according to the survey. Although the poll’s finding about the general population may not be shocking, Ligonier said it is surprising that nearly a third of evangelicals (30 percent) affirm the statement and believe Jesus was a good teacher and nothing more. Sixty-six percent of evangelicals disagree with the statement.

“The confusion illustrated in these results suggests a dire need for Christians to be taught Christology, the doctrine of the person and work of Jesus Christ,” Ligonier said in a news release.

The question was part of Ligonier’s biennial State of Theology survey.

Meanwhile, 65 percent of evangelicals believe “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God” – a statement that conflicts with the Bible.

Christ’s deity and eternality are taught in such passages as John 1:1, John 8:58, Romans 9:5 and Hebrews 1:1-4.

“Statistics like these from the State of Theology survey can give us quite a shock, but they also shed light on the concerns that many American Christians and churches have expressed for decades,” said Stephen Nichols,…

Last weekend, Christians from multiple churches alongside elected officials in Ashland, Ohio partook in an act of corporate repentance and prayer before God in calling for a national and global revival.

Hundreds of people from the community gathered at the special event held on Saturday at Ashland’s Freer Field, a 78-acre park near the city, Frontlines Ohio reports.

The gathering is considered to be the first-ever “Sacred Assembly” in the area, as it featured a time of worship, prayer, and remarks from church leaders and several officials.

“There is a sense that GOD is doing many great things. GOD is re-writing the history of Ashland. I believe with all my heart there will be a great harvest by what has been prayed for here tonight. We are beginning to see the activity and orchestration of GOD,” said Pastor David McNeely of New Life Community Church.

State Rep. Darrell Kick, an assembly speaker, acknowledged the spiritual uniqueness of Ashland as his represented district. He also noted how a Bible study is held by several state lawmakers prior to casting their vote at the Statehouse. 

“There is the perception Ashland is a GOD-fearing county. As an elected official, I have noticed over the past couple of years there has been spiritual renewal in this area. After what I saw today, I am not aware of another district where the Mayor commits the city to Jesus Christ…

Kristi Noem, the Republican governor of South Dakota, tackled a number of issues in an interview on CBN News on Wednesday, including religious freedom, cancel culture and the coronavirus pandemic.

Noem explained to CBN News Chief Political Analyst David Brody that she did not implement lockdown procedures during the pandemic because she felt that it would be government overreach.

“I know that when you have a leader overstep their authority in a time of crisis, that’s really when you lose this country, and I didn’t want to be guilty of doing that,” she explained. “I never issued a shelter in place, I never closed a business. I didn’t even define an essential business, what would be essential and what wouldn’t be because I don’t have the authority to do that,” she said.

Noem noted that she believes other leaders, particularly governors in Democrat-run cities, have politicized the pandemic.

“At the beginning of this crisis back in March and April, I don’t think it was really politically motivated because these same Democrat governors that are on TV, tearing apart the president today, months ago, were singing his praises,” she said, adding how they were thanking Trump during conference calls for his assistance during the pandemic.

“What I am saying, though, is that what I heard on those conference calls was fear. I was shocked and amazed by how fear controlled people,…

The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky is transporting visitors to the time of Noah’s Ark with a new virtual simulation attraction.

The $3 million virtual reality experience, “The Truth Traveler,” takes visitors on a tour called “A Flood of Reality,” Faithwire reports.

Guests wear VR headsets with headphones and sit in special effects motion seats that vibrate, move and interact with them.

Visitors are able to see Noah and his crew build the ark, watch as animals board the ship and see the flood begin. Then visitors “ride” the Ark as it floats in the floodwaters and finally land and rest on the mountains of Ararat.

“I’m excited about this fantastic high-tech VR addition. As people have come to expect at the Ark Encounter, the bar of excellence is set extremely high, as it is again with this experience,” said Ken Ham, CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis, the organization behind the Ark Encounter.

“This 4K VR experience is like no other. While its quality of production and immersive feel are what you would expect from Walt Disney World or Universal Studios, the message is different. ‘A Flood of Reality’ presents Noah’s Ark and the Flood as factual history and reinforces the truth of the Bible.”

More than a million people have visited the Ark Encounter since it opened in 2016. The ark replica has three decks of exhibits and is built to the dimensions…

China’s government forcibly removed crosses from more than 900 churches in a single province the first half of this year, warning church members that opposition would lead to dire consequences, according to a new report.

Bitter Winter, which monitors religious liberty violations within China, says 906 crosses were pulled down by cranes and other machines in the province of Anhui from January through July. Anhui has the second-largest Christian population in China, Bitter Winter said.

All 906 cross removals involved churches within the legal but heavily restricted Three-Self Patriotic Movement.

One church member said government officials warned Christians: “Protesting cross demolitions means protesting against the government.”

“I feel sad thinking that all crosses in our church have been demolished,” the church member told Bitter Winter. “Even though it is a symbol of our faith, who dares to disobey the central government order?”

Further, government officials said “all crosses taller than government buildings must be demolished because they overshadow state institutions,” the church member told Bitter Winter.

Chinese President Xi Jinping “does not allow churches to have Western crosses,” the church member said.

Churches who oppose the government’s action can lose their social benefits, such as “pensions and poverty-alleviation subsidies,” a church…

Vice President Mike Pence touted the administration’s achievements Wednesday and painted a gloomy picture of an America led by Joe Biden, saying the Democratic nominee would lead the country toward socialism and be a “Trojan horse for the radical left.”

Speaking in front of an audience at Fort McHenry on the third night of the Republican National Convention, Pence addressed several hot-button issues, including abortion, school choice and immigration. 

He also quoted former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who said Biden could be the “most progressive president” since Franklin Delano Roosevelt and that ideas once “perceived to be radical and extreme” are now “mainstream” within the Democratic Party.

“In this election it’s not so much whether America will be more conservative or more liberal, more Republican or more Democrat. The choice in this election is whether America remains America,” Pence said. “It’s whether we will leave to our children and our grandchildren a country grounded in our highest ideals of freedom, free markets and the unalienable right to life and liberty, or whether we will leave them a country that’s fundamentally transformed into something else.”

Trump “appointed more than 200 conservative judges” to federal courts and “supported the right to life,” Pence said. Trump and Biden, he said, have dramatically…

NAIROBI, Kenya, August 27, 2020 (Morning Star News) – One young Christian man in eastern Uganda has died after family members beat him for leaving Islam while his cousin, also beaten, clings to life, sources said.

The Muslim fathers and other relatives of the two men in Budaka Town beat them with sticks and other blunt objects in late July before leaving them semi-conscious in a heap of banana plantation leaves, said the critically injured survivor, 23-year-old Ahmad Waisana. His 20-year-old cousin, Jalilu Kamutono, succumbed to his injuries on Aug. 5.

“I have been spending sleepless nights thinking of my [cousin and] best friend, Jalilu,” Waisana told Morning Star News by phone from his sick-bed at an undisclosed place of refuge. “The whole of my body is aching. I am not sure whether I will get well or die and go to be with Christ.”

Waisana said he suffered injuries to his head and a kidney.

He and Kamutono, whose fathers are brothers, last year began listening to radio broadcasts of a former Muslim sheikh (teacher) who made comparisons between the Bible and Koran in defense of Christianity, Waisana said. In October, after hearing preaching at an open-air evangelistic event in Budaka Town, the two men made a public confession of faith in Christ.

Word of their conversion immediately reached their parents, who angrily chased them away from the house where both families were living…