March 28th, 2024

Andrea Matthews

19 POSTS
Andrea is a passionate storyteller and aspiring author. As a young wife and mother, Andrea's desire is to encourage other millennials to live for Christ. Follow her journey at andreaspaige.com

Exclusive articles:

4 Stages of Preparation for God’s Call on Your Life

Embrace the Process God is all knowing and all powerful, but He created man to have free will. We make our own decisions and reap...

The Benediction of Kanye West: Free Thought with the Mind of Christ

Kanye West has been trending all over social media this past week after making disturbing comments about American slavery in an interview with TMZ. In...

Don’t Let the Storm Stop Your “Yes”

Peace in the Midst of the Storm The eye of a storm has always fascinated me. It’s a region of calm weather at the center...

Prayer Still Works: One People Humbled Before God

If My People, Called by My Name... I was driving north on the freeway. It was one of those hour-long drives - not long enough...

Why We Must Study God’s Word with a Lifelong Learner’s Mentality

Enlighten Me Again, Lord I love to study God’s Word. It’s alive, it’s active, and it speaks to my specific situation without fail. I’ve found that...

Breaking

Trolls Band Together in Theaters November 17th

Nothing's Stronger Than Family Harmony About This holiday season, get ready...

Are State Laws the Solution to Kids’ Access to Porn?

As data continues to show the harms of viewing porn, particularly for children, support for stricter legal limits on pornographers has grown.

The Burial: A Glimpse Into the Life of William Gary

The Burial: Based on a True Events About Inspired by true...

Pandemic Restrictions Had No Lasting Effect on Churches, Study Finds

Even in states where regulations were severe, most congregations moved on quickly. Jeff Schoch was ready to be done with COVID-19 health safety regulations. Like most ministers in the US, the pastor of Crossroads Bible Church in San Jose, California, did his best to comply with the many pandemic rules imposed by state and local governments. But as soon as they were lifted, he wanted to put them all behind him. He quickly tore down the state-mandated signs about social distancing, hand washing, and masks. “I got rid of every visual reminder in the church,” Schoch told CT. “I was anxious, personally, to make that a memory.” Across the country, Protestant congregations are dealing with the long-term impacts of the pandemic. A new, extensive study by Arbor Research Group and ChurchSalary, a ministry of Christianity Today, found that a lot of pastors are still in crisis. Some furloughed staff members haven’t gone back to work. And even when attendance numbers have rebounded, there are still people missing from many congregations. Christian leaders will likely be grappling with the fallout from COVID-19 for years to come. But, surprisingly, state-level pandemic restrictions had no measurable, lasting impact on American churches. Even in places like San Jose—where the county government imposed some of the strictest rules in the country, the restrictions changed frequently, and authorities aggressively went after churches they said failed to comply—pastors like Schoch were able to just move on. The data doesn’t show any adverse effects from the government regulations. Eric Shieh, a research consultant for Arbor Research, said that surprised him. “You would think that the restrictions made things tougher for churches. They didn’t meet as much, and so you’d ...Continue reading...
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