Noteworthy

Social media for the persecuted Church

A Chinese ministry has created Dingdash, a social media platform that protects users’ information from being used in a growing government crackdown. While Dingdash was created as a tool for Christians in closed countries, it is not overtly Christian and is available worldwide. The site’s only reference to the faith is its logo, a speech bubble with the Morse code spelling for Jesus. BLOGS.TIMESOFISRAEL.COM

Government support weakens the Church

State support for Christianity is the greatest threat to the growth of the Church according to a new study published in Sociology of Religion. The study evaluated the growth or decline of Christianity in 166 countries between 2010 and 2020, noting government opposition to Christianity forces believers to take their faith more seriously. Even in countries indifferent to the faith, Christians must compete with opposing world views whereas state support allows churches to become apathetic and less committed to the gospel. WWW.NATIONALREVIEW.COM

Bible trauma therapy has remarkable results

A Bible-based trauma therapy program proved successful at treating PTSD, depression, anger, grief and suicidal thoughts among inmates in Riverside Regional Jail in Virginia. Facilitators led groups of inmates through a five-day program designed by the American Bible Society. The program combines Scripture and biblical truths with proven mental health practices. Baylor University evaluated 210 participants alongside a control group of 139 inmates before and for three months after the program. A study author claims that “No other known intervention accomplishes so much good for highly traumatized inmates in such a short period of time.” WWW. BAYLORPRISONSTUDY.RESEARCH.BIBLE

Protestant church closures accelerating

More Protestant churches closed than opened in 2019, according to a Lifeway Research study. The study looked at 34 major American Protestant denominations and found 4,500 churches had closed while only 3,000 had opened. That loss was happening before Covid-19 put a substantial strain on church budgets. The study also found church closures are increasing, with 700 more churches closing per year than five years earlier. Total church closures accounted for 1.5 per cent of all Protestant churches in the U.S. WWW.RELIGIONNEWS.COM

Evaluating the state of the Church in 2020

Fatigue from Covid-19 restrictions weighs heavily on ministries and Christian leaders in Canada. Waybase, an organization that helps Canadian ministries connect, surveyed 2,700 leaders and 3,100 ministries in Canada during the first quarter of 2021. Their findings suggest almost half of leaders have significant struggles in one area of their life. Overall about a quarter of leaders were doing really well, while 20 per cent were significantly struggling. For ministries declining revenues continue to pose serious challenges. More than a fifth of ministries reported their revenues dropped by at least 25 per cent. The report estimates Canadian ministry revenues dropped by 7 per cent, overall, in 2020. Despite this three-quarters of churches maintained or increased their giving, both globally and locally. WWW.NOTES.WAYBASE.COM —CRAIG MACARTNEY