The rise of the 'nones' slowing; Lifeway Worship to continue; Are you asking God for enough?

Good News for Today

The decades-long increase in the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans in surveys – sometimes called the rise of the “nones” – may be slacking off, according to a recent analysis, but the reasons for that remain unclear.

“The rise of the nones may be largely over now. At least it won’t be increasing in the same way it did in the prior 30 years,” Ryan Burge, an American Baptist pastor and data analyst on religion, wrote at graphsaboutreligion.com in May.

Burge’s best guess for why is that marginally attached people switched to “no religion” on surveys for so long that eventually very few marginally attached respondents remained.

“All you had left were the very committed religious people who likely won’t become nones for any reason,” Burge wrote. “The loose top soil has been scooped off and hauled away, leaving nothing but hard bedrock underneath.”

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After meeting with church music leaders, Lifeway Christian Resources announced its commitment to continue operating lifewayworship.com.

Lifeway President and CEO Ben Mandrell said he and the leadership team appreciated the feedback they received over the last several months. “We’ve held listening sessions with over 200 church leaders from across the country since last fall,” Mandrell said. “Worship leaders told us this is their curriculum for discipling the people they lead in their ministries, and they rely on Lifeway Worship for music that has been vetted theologically and that encourages congregational singing.”

Mandrell continued, “Lifeway has decided to continue offering this essential resource and provide new arrangements of music for worship teams.”

Last summer, Lifeway announced it would shut down the website that provides arrangements, charts, sheet music and other music resources for church worship.

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The founder of the Navigators, Dawson Trotman, thought Christians should pray for more. He once said, “Do you know why I often ask Christians, ‘What’s the biggest thing you’ve asked God for this week?’ I remind them that they are going to God, the Father, the Maker of the Universe. The One who holds the world in His hands. What did you ask for? Did you ask for peanuts, toys, trinkets, or did you ask for continents?” Trotman taught that we should pray for God-sized agendas. Was he right?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught us history’s most famous prayer. He advised us to pray like this, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt. 6:10) That is a God-sized prayer! It asks a lot. In regard to this prayer, Greg Laurie once said, “If His Kingdom is going to come, my kingdom has got to go.” In other words, praying for more will always bring our small, self-serving interests into conflict with His bigger, Kingdom plans.