American Jews’ identity more cultural than religious. In the most comprehensive study of American Jews in 12 years, six out of 10 said being Jewish is mostly about ancestry or culture, not the religious practice of Judaism. “A Portrait of Jewish Americans,” released by the Pew Research Center, shows strong secularist trends most clearly seen in one finding: 62 percent of U.S. Jews said Jewishness is largely about culture or ancestry; just 15 percent said it’s about religious belief. In a related finding, more than one in five self-identified Jews—22 percent—told Pew researchers they had no religion, a proportion that mirrors the roughly one in five Americans who claim no religious affiliation. A strong majority of Jews—69 percent—call themselves very or somewhat emotionally attached to Israel—a proportion that has held fairly steady at least a decade. Pew interviewed 3,475 Jews in America to produce its 213-page report, which pins the number of adult American Jews who say Judaism is their religion at 4.2 million. That number rises to 5.3 million if cultural Jews are included. The survey, which cost more than $2 million and was funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Neubauer Family Foundation, was conducted between Feb. 20 and June 13, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Billy Graham’s grandson says evangelicals worse than Catholics on sex abuse. The Christian mission field is a “magnet” for sexual abusers, Boz Tchividjian, a Liberty University law professor who investigates abuse, told the Religion Newswriters Association conference. Boz TchividjianMission agencies, “where abuse is most prevalent,” often don’t report abuse because they fear being barred from working in foreign countries, said Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham. Abusers will get sent home and might join another agency, and of known data from abuse cases, 25 percent are repeat cases, he said. While comparing evangelicals to Catholics on abuse response, ”I think we are worse,” he said, insisting too many evangelicals had “sacrificed the souls” of young victims. “Protestants can be very arrogant when pointing to Catholics,” said Tchividjian, executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment—GRACE, which has investigated sex abuse allegations. Earlier this summer, GRACE spearheaded an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches.

Former popes due to be canonized in April. Popes John Paul II and John XXIII formally will be declared saints April 27. Pope Francis made the announcement during a meeting with cardinals gathered in Rome. John Paul, who was pope from 1978 to 2005, and John, who reigned from 1958 to 1963, are considered two of the most influential religious leaders in the world in the last century, and they represent two poles in Roman Catholicism—John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, is a hero to liberals, while John Paul II is hailed widely by conservatives. Francis said in July he planned to canonize them together, the first time two former popes will be declared saints at the same time.

It may not feel like it to number-crunchers huddled around a Sunday school classroom table, fine-tuning annual financial proposals for an upcoming church business meeting. But church budgets are moral statements that reflect ethical priorities—and may be key indicators of a congregation’s passions.

David Gushee“All budgets reflect embedded choices that are morally significant, whether that budget is personal, familial, ecclesial or governmental,” said David Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University. “Jesus says, ‘Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’ Budgets reflect what we treasure and therefore where our hearts are.”

“Everything has a moral and ethical dimension about it,” said Bill Tillman, director of theological education with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. “There are moral and ethical values both explicit and implicit in church budget operations.”

Money possesses power in itself, and it represents how power and influence are exercised, he added.

“Where we spend our money shows what we think about other people and what we think about ourselves,” said Tillman, who formerly held the T.B. Maston chair of Christian ethics at Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary.

Jason Edwards, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo., said a congregation’s priorities may reflect past choices—often important ones—about ministerial staff and commitments to a geographic location.

“Those items are a part of ministry-fixed expenses for a congregation,” said Edwards, a graduate of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. “And, by the way, providing health insurance for staff does reflect the ethics of the church in a positive way. These are needed ministry expenses.”

But he added, “Beyond these basic expenses, I think what a faith community does with its discretionary funds can be very telling in regard to their ethical and moral character.”

Roger Olson, theRoger Olson Foy Valentine professor of Christian theology and ethics at Truett Theological Seminary, agreed.

“For a Christian, everything is—or should be—a matter of ethics. Nothing’s neutral. Unfortunately, many churches have adopted a business model that tends to downplay issues of faith and morality,” Olson said.

Some observers find churches’ moral and ethical commitments in the balance their budgets achieve between administration and ministry. Others say that distinction isn’t always easy to make—and may be a false choice.

The average American congregation allocates about 80 percent to administration and facilities, according to a study this year by the Evangelical Christian Credit Union. Staff salaries represent about 58 percent of that amount, the ECCU found, although earlier studies by Christianity Today cited a figure just below 40 percent.

But those percentages tend to reduce a church’s mission engagement, said church consultant George Bullard, president of the Columbia Partnership.

“The total combined cost of staff and buildings should be no more that 70 percent of the congregational budget,” Bullard blogged last year. “When it is higher, funds available for missional formation and mission engagement are too small to creatively carry out these essential areas of ministry.”

When funding of personnel and facilities reaches 75 percent of a church’s budget, “the congregation is strangulated in its ability to do missional formation and missional engagement, and is making brick without straw,” he wrote. “At 80 percent for staff and buildings, the real work of a congregation—missional formation and missional engagement—must be altered, limited or funded from other sources.”

Church budgets are not just about supporting the organization of the church, Bullard emphasized in an interview. “They are about serving as a vehicle for the generosity of the people connected with the congregation. There they need to honor the need for a high priority on spiritual formation and missional engagement,” he said.

Amy ButlerBut Pastor Amy Butler believes so-called “administrative functions” are in fact “frontline, on the ground, where-the-rubber-meets-the-road kind of ministry.” That assessment reflects a society shift, she wrote in a recent blog.

“In the past, we churches thought of ourselves as the backbones of society, places where good, moral and faithful people gather to pool resources so we can go out into the world and feed the homeless and convert people in order to save their souls,” said Butler, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. “Keeping administrative costs as low as possible would help us to help the needy.”

But that role has altered, Butler said.

“We are islands in a world full of increasingly adrift people. We are places of solace and hope, community and hospitality for people who are too smart to believe in God and pretty convinced they don’t need the church—until they do.”

That requires substantial investment of resources in administration, she said.

Churches need to consider their purpose as they consider how much money to spend on building maintenance and how much to devote to missions and ministry, Olson said. “The church exists to participate in the mission of God to the world and not perpetuate itself comfortably,” he said.

Tillman likewise emphasized the importance of churches understanding their reason for being.

“The primary focus is the Great Commission,” he said, citing Jesus’ command to go into all the world to make disciples. If a church recognizes the Great Commission as its purpose, then “Great Commission values should mark the means to that end,” he added.

At the same time, churches should recognize the missional and educational value of their facilities, Tillman insisted.

“Recognize there is theology in the architecture,” he said, noting the facility may communicate to the community and to church members messages about what the church believes and values.

Congregations need to seriously confront how much they spend on their own comfort.

“Churches should ask, ‘What is there about it that makes this conducive to worship and makes it teachable and educable space to learn about and become acquainted with God?’”

As churches make budget decisions, they should listen to voices both inside and outside the congregation to determine what people perceive. Tillman noted when he taught seminary classes, he advised ministers to keep in mind “the view from the pew.”

“It may be that the Spirit of God has found residence in the people of God more firmly than in you,” he recalled telling his classes.

Likewise, if a church wants to reach its community, leaders must ask people in the community to determine what draws people to church or drives them away. “And they must be ready to hear the answer,” he added.

Churches should pray for wisdom as they seek a reasonable balance between the amount spent on program and ministries for members and how much they dedicate to missions and ministries beyond the congregation, Olson said.

“I don’t think there’s any formula that fits every church,” he said.

“I don’t think lattes in the church foyer is a big issue. But spending millions on luxurious accouterments should be.”

Congregations need to seriously confront how much they spend on their own comfort, Edwards said.

“We should wrestle with this. If we’re not wrestling with the dichotomy between our American bent toward luxury, consumerism and entitlement, we’ve probably stopped taking Jesus too seriously,” he said. “However, I also think that coffee shared within community is a way of connecting and offering hospitality. I’d say that’s part of our mission, too.”

Finding balance

Finding a balance is key, Gushee said.

“I think that sometimes practical and missions-minded Baptists forget that the mission of the church does include worship, theological reflection, Bible study, moral formation of disciples and other ‘inner’ directed work,” he said. “It also includes mechanisms for pooling resources for care for the needs of those in the family of faith. So we should not feel guilty for spending money on these priorities, sometimes congregationally and sometimes through shared collective efforts.”

That said, essential components of congregational life need not be expensive, Gushee added.

“I am convinced that the most important work the church does costs very little money—gathering in community to proclaim gospel truth, study Scripture, worship, love and care for one another, and be equipped for living out Christ’s love in the world,” he said. “Budgeting should begin by asking whether we are doing this basic work well. Then we ask what resources might be needed, including paid professional staff, to help equip us more adequately for this work.”

How much a church spends on ministries beyond its doors is a fair indicator of a congregation’s “mission-mindedness,” but not the only one, Bullard said.

“The time and energy of volunteerism is also a characteristic,” he said. “The Christlikeness of congregational participants to all demographics of people is also a characteristic. The social actions and political philosophies and actions of congregational participants—in terms of Luke 4:18-19—is also a characteristic.”

Mission-mindedness

Edwards agreed indicators of a church’s “mission-mindedness” should be broad.

“A missional Christian community also is a worshipping community,” he said. “A missional Christian community must value discipleship. Our communal worship and discipleship are necessary not only for faithfulness and effectiveness, but they distinguish us over time from an NGO. As we go out to serve, we go as a people who follow and worship Jesus.”

That doesn’t diminish the importance of missions and ministries beyond the congregation, Gushee said.

“That’s why Baptists had—and have—it right when they saw the benefit of pooling their resources for well-considered collective social and evangelistic ministries which develop ‘best practices’ with proven track records,” he said. “These are worth funding, and every local congregation has its share in that funding responsibility.”

Houston-area residents know South Main Baptist Church for the beauty of its Romanesque sanctuary and for its reputation as a progressive congregation committed to meeting physical and spiritual needs, both locally and globally.

Keeping the facility beautiful and the ministries vital costs money. Maintaining balance in budgeting for building maintenance and support of missions and ministries presents a continual challenge, Pastor Steve Wells said.

South Main Baptist Church in Houston.That’s a choice faced through the ages by Christians, who believe God is revealed both in beauty and in the impoverished. Is there money for both?

“Surely the God who created a world of indescribable beauty and created us with multiple senses values aesthetics,” said Michael Clingenpeel, senior pastor of River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, Va. “If we’re created in God’s likeness, then we will appreciate aesthetics as an avenue to the holy, to experience transcendence.”

River Road’s Georgian sanctuary is well-suited to the liturgical worship and commitment to high musical standards that characterize the church.

“If we spend all our resources in trying to achieve beauty, we may miss opportunities to be missional,” said Clngenpeel. “But I do think there are people who become more open to God through their senses, both visual and aural. You can reach people through those things.”

South Main values excellence in worship and devotes significant time and resources to that end, from “architecture that inspires awe” to music and liturgy that touch hearts and transform lives, Wells said.

Created to worship

“If my reading of the New Testament is correct, we are created to worship God with other believers,” he said. “If I read Revelation correctly, the day is coming when we no longer will have need for Sunday school or mission trips, but there never will be a time when we are not worshipping God. We are eternally destined and designed for worship.”

South Main invests in worship because “lives are changed there,” Wells added. At the same time, the church equips members for ministry beyond the church’s walls, “to manifest the kingdom and be the body of Christ in the world,” he said.

Allan Aunspaugh, minister of music at Second Baptist Church in Liberty, Mo., said the issue can be summed up in the title of a book by worship writer Marva Dawn—A Royal Waste of Time.

“There are also those among us who would question any use of precious resources given by the faithful on ourselves,” he said. “However, the Old Testament is full of examples of the lavish gifts given to build the tabernacle and the temple. To have the best artisans build the finest worship space and fill it with ornate furnishings as an offering to a holy God is a given.”

While Jesus commands his followers to “feed the hungry and clothe the naked,” he also reprimands the critics of a woman who anoints his feet with costly perfume, calling it a “beautiful thing,” Aunspaugh added.

River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, Va.“When we ‘waste’ our time and resources worshipping the one and only God, our eyes become clear to see the human need around us, and we are more fitted to meet those needs,” Aunspaugh said. “It’s a precious balance, but balance there must be, lest we become skewed one way or another.

Cameron Jorgenson, assistant professor of Christian theology and ethics at Campbell University Divinity School, said Christians have addressed the question of aesthetics and morality through the centuries.

In the 10th century, Russia is said to have embraced Eastern Orthodoxy after a ruler’s emissaries returned from Constantinople with reports of magnificent churches and rituals surpassing all others in beauty, Jorgenson said. Other Christian writers have cited the therapeutic and even salvific potential of the aesthetic in spiritual and religious life, he added.

“You can’t quantify it, but it is one of the many ways we encounter God,” Jorgenson said.

Baptist blogger Tripp Hudgins, who calls himself an anglo-Baptist, said the answer to the question depends on the motivation.

“If you are spending money because you believe offering something beautiful might … help people encounter the risen Christ, then do it,” said Hudgins, an American Baptist minister currently working on a doctorate in liturgics and musicology at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.

Churches also must have a clear sense of their theology of worship and their theology of money—and understand that the two are compatible, he said.

“The trick for Baptists is we have this habit of saying the poor need to be fed, but we don’t need beautiful worship,” he said.

The impact of beauty

But it’s wrong to overlook the impact aesthetic and beautiful worship can have on ministry, Hudgins added.

“Liturgy is never practical,” he said.

David Gushee, professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University, said aesthetics isn’t necessarily synonymous with extravagance.

“Aesthetic beauty is relevant because we were made by God as aesthetically sensitive creatures, but some of the most profound worship I have witnessed in the world is in purely functional space dressed up with a few very basic touches,” he said.

“We need some kind of space in which to conduct the life of the church,” he added. “It can be a home, storefront or borrowed school classroom. It certainly doesn’t need to be the Taj Mahal. It does need to be adequate to meet the needs of the congregation.”

While a church should strive for excellence in all it does, it also should seek a balance, said George Bullard, president of the Columbia Partnership, a church consultancy.

The line between quality and extravagance

“There is a line that each congregation must define for itself between quality and extravagance,” Bullard said. “The quality of worship sanctuaries (and other aesthetic components) must complement the economic values of the average leadership person in the congregation.”

Roger Olson, the Foy Valentine professor of Christian theology and ethics at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, takes exception to how some congregations justify exorbitant expenses in the name of providing “meaningful” worship.

“I once belonged to a church that paid non-Christian vocalists to ‘stack’ the choir,” he said. “To me, meaningful worship is not necessarily professionally perfect worship. It’s the people of God making a joyful noise to their Lord to the best of their ability. I doubt that God is offended if someone sings off key or can’t carry a tune.”

Determine your church identity

In a metropolitan area like Houston where residents can choose among more than 500 Baptist churches—not to mention nondenominational megachurches and hundreds of congregations representing scores of other denominations—some churches might be tempted to make budget decisions based on what would attract new members and young families.

“We try not to think of ourselves as being in competition with any other churches,” Wells said. Instead, the church has determined its identity in terms of values, beliefs and worship style.

If potential new members express interest in the congregation but want to see South Main change its identity significantly, Wells gently suggests churches where they might feel more comfortable.

At the same time, South Main recognizes young families who might find the church’s worship meaningful and the ministry opportunities fulfilling will not join if the congregation does not provide a safe, clean and secure environment for their children. So, the church devotes the necessary resources to maintaining and improving preschool, children’s and youth areas.

With additional reporting by Jeff Brumley, assistant editor at Associated Baptist Press.

AUSTIN (RNS)—Baptist businessman Steve Green unveiled what he called “the oldest Jewish prayer book ever found” and will add it to the collection of religious artifacts that will form the core of the Bible museum he is building in Washington, D.C.

Steve GreenThe artifact, dating from 840 A.D., is written in Hebrew on parchment and shows Babylonian vowel marks. Green purchased it less than a year ago from a private collection, but he declined to name the seller or how much he paid for it.

The seller likely knew the book—about the size of a large smartphone and 50 pages long—was special but did not realize its significance, said Jerry Pattengale, executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of The Green Collection.

The prayer book—a rare complete codex in its original tan-colored binding—includes a listing of the 100 benedictions, or blessings that some observant Jews say daily.

It may well be the “earliest connection today’s practicing Jews have to the roots of their modern-day rabbinic liturgy,” Green said.

Green, whose billionaire family owns the Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby chain of more then 550 craft stores—made the announcement at the annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association.

In 2009, he founded The Green Collection, which now includes more than 40,000 ancient artifacts. They will be housed in a Bible museum planned for a site just south of the U.S. Capitol, slated to open in 2017.

Green reiterated his belief that the Bible is a foundation of the nation’s success—94 percent of U.S. households have at least one Bible, he said, despite a tremendous “brain drain” of biblical knowledge.

“Our desire is to have a nonsectarian museum that tells this book’s story and let you decide what you do with it,” he said of his yet-to-be-named museum.

Interview with pope grabs headlines. Pope Francis’ wide-ranging interview with journalists from his own Jesuit order captured international attention, and analysts deemed it likely to cement his reputation as a leader more concerned with a pastoral approach than a doctrinal hard line. Among other things, the pope said while he has been reprimanded for not speaking much about abortion, contraception and homosexuality, he does not think it necessary to “talk about these issues all the time” and warned the church can become “obsessed” with a few doctrines. He mentioned the need to treat gays and lesbians with respect and without condemnation. “I have never been a right-winger,” he said. Sixteen Jesuit publications around the world published the interview simultaneously.

Transgender professor asked to leave Azusa Pacific. A California Christian university has asked a professor who was once its chair of theology and philosophy to leave after he came out as transgender. Heather Clements / H. Adam AckleyHeather Clements taught theology at Azusa Pacific University 15 years, but this past year began self-identifying as H. Adam Ackley. Ackley said he and APU have agreed to part ways, and the university said it will continue to pay him through the academic year, but the university wants other professors to take over his current classes. Ackley also said his insurance was denied when he sought hormone treatment and “top surgery” for his chest area. “They’re giving me privacy to transition but denying medical treatment to do that,” said Ackley, who is 47, has two children and is in the process of getting a divorce. APU is an interdenominational evangelical university of about 10,000 students and 1,200 faculty located northeast of Los Angeles. It is one the largest member schools in the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

Moody drops beer ban. The Chicago-based evangelical Moody Bible Institute dropped its ban on alcohol and tobacco consumption by its 600-some faculty and staff, including those who work in its radio and publishing arms. The change reflected a desire to create a “high trust environment that emphasizes values, not rules,” said spokeswoman Christine Gorz. Employees must adhere to all “biblical absolutes,” Gorz said, but on issues where the Bible is not clear, Moody leaves it to employees’ conscience. Employees may not drink on the job or with Moody students, who are not allowed to drink while in school. However, the conservative school still requires students to abstain from tobacco, alcohol, illegal drugs and “sexual promiscuity” for at least one year before they enroll and during their time at Moody. “In addition, students are to refrain from gambling, viewing obscene or pornographic literature, and patronizing pubs, bars, nightclubs, comedy clubs and similar establishments,” the catalog says. “There will be no on- or off-campus dances sponsored or organized by Moody Bible Institute students or personnel.”

Number of Catholic seminarians increases. After decades of glum trends—fewer priests, fewer parishes—the Catholic Church in the United States has a new statistic to cheer: More men now are enrolled in graduate-level seminaries, the main pipeline to the priesthood, than in nearly two decades. This year’s tally of 3,694 graduate theology students represents a 16 percent increase since 1995 and a 10 percent jump since 2005, according to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The center also noted annual ordinations have inched back up to the 1995 level of 511 new priests, still far below the peak of 994 in 1965.

Abercrombie & Fitch to allow headscarves. Abercrombie & Fitch will change its “look policy” and allow employees to wear hijabs after a three-year legal battle with two Muslim women was settled out of court. The settlement requires Abercrombie to report religious accommodation requests and discrimination complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for three years and includes $71,000 in compensation for the two women. The settlement also averts a Sept. 30 trial. Abercrombie fired Umme-Hani Khan, a stockroom worker in its San Mateo, Calif., store, in 2010 for refusing to work without her religious headscarf. Khan, who had worked at the store for four months without incident, filed a religious discrimination complaint with the EEOC, which sued the retailer in 2011. In its defense, Abercrombie countered the headscarves violated its “look policy,” which was an important part of its marketing strategy. Abercrombie also defended the policy as “commercial free speech.”

England debates full-face veils in courtrooms. A senior judge in England, leading members of Parliament and human rights activists are calling for an urgent debate on the explosive issue of whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear veils when they testify in court. The call for national debate follows Judge Peter Murphy’s ruling that a 22-year-old Muslim woman standing trial on charges of intimidating a witness at a north London mosque must remove her facial veil, called a niqab, when testifying so the jury can better evaluate her facial expressions. If she refuses, the woman—known only as Defendant D—could face a prison sentence for contempt of court. The judge’s ruling came days after Birmingham Metropolitan College overturned its ruling that students, staff and visitors must remove face coverings. The ruling followed protests by Muslims who launched a petition against the college decision, attracting 8,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.

American remarriage rates plunge. A new analysis of federal data provided to USA Today shows the national remarriage rate has dropped 40 percent over the past 20 years. The analysis of data comparing 2011 with 1990 shows that in 2011, just 29 of every 1,000 divorced or widowed Americans remarried, down from 50 per 1,000 in 1990; 2011 was the most recent year available for the review. The remarriage rate has dipped for all ages, with the greatest drops among those younger than 35—a 54 percent decline among ages 20-24, and 40 percent for ages 25-34. Much of the drop is due to the rise of cohabitation and older ages for first marriage—almost age 27 for women and almost 29 for men.

Catholic school launches ecumenical institute for black pastors. A 110-year-old Catholic graduate school in San Antonio has launched an ecumenical interdisciplinary program for African-American church leaders—the first of its kind among Roman Catholic schools in the United States. The Sankofa Institute for African-American Pastoral Leadership at Oblate School of Theology welcomes students from all Christian denominations. J. Alfred Smith, professor at the American Baptist Seminary of the West in Oakland, Calif., chairs the institute’s council of elders.

Charles Chandler can joke about preachers suffering from “Superman syndrome” since he portrayed the “Man of Steel” when Metropolis, Ill., claimed the status as the superhero’s hometown.

The first “Superman” for the city’s annual celebration, Chandler, now director of the Ministering to Ministers Foundation, got to wear actor George Reeves’ costume from the hit 1950s television show, The Adventures of Superman. While the notoriety might have been a little heady, the appearance was not.

George Reeves in a scene from the hit 1950s television show, The Adventures of Superman.“You can’t imagine the humility it took … when I bounded upon the platform and saw half the congregation of First Baptist Church (where he served as pastor at the time). I was well aware that I wasn’t going to stop a bullet or a speeding locomotive or jump a building in a single bound,” he said.

Later, he received a note from a seminary student, suggesting Chandler might have an ego problem.

While most ministers likely won’t have Chandler’s opportunity to play the part, often they fall into the Superman syndrome or develop a messiah complex—the belief that they “can fix things” for everyone and don’t need anyone’s help.

‘Never let them see you sweat’

The requirement “to be strong in faith” develops almost from the beginning of ministry. “While it may never be explicitly communicated, ministers receive the message early on to ‘never let them see you sweat,’” explained David Hughes, recently retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., and now executive director of the Transforming Center in Wheaton, Ill.

Pastors learn they shouldn’t openly admit their needs. “Church members might question the depth of your relationship with God or the genuineness of your faith. Adversaries in the congregation might seize upon your ‘confessions’ as proof that you should be replaced,” Hughes said.

“Ministers conclude—sometimes correctly—that their churches are not ‘safe’ enough for sharing their needs with anyone.”

Hughes pointed to a recent Duke Divinity School study that claims ministerial “quiet desperation” has become epidemic.

Skilled at playacting

“So we project a sense of well-being we do not feel. We become so skilled at playacting and going through the ‘ministerial motions’ that we lose touch with our true selves, allowing our false selves to project piety or courage or confidence—whatever seems to be needed at the moment,” he said.

Missouri native Bob Dale, an author and leader coach based in Richmond, Va., faced the “soul-seeing Answer Man” tag.

A “barely religious family member” asked Dale a couple of questions when he was a college student in the 1950s: Are you going to be a minister? What are you majoring in? Dale responded: “Yes. Psychology.”

“Then he stopped me in my tracks with four words: ‘What am I thinking?’ I was stunned, but he sat quietly and waited from me to read his mind,” Dale said.

“He had cast me as the religious equivalent of the self-reliant, all-powerful frontier lawman. It was both a scary and a heady moment. No wonder so many ministers evolve into the church boss or a Lone Ranger or a congregational know-it-all.”

Dale warned of viewing the ministry as “an individualized and isolated calling” because “that view … makes giving and receiving help extremely difficult.”

Self-esteem issues

Self-esteem issues also can cause pastors to draw back from receiving ministry from others. “They believe that faith in God will solve all problems. If they admit their faults or needs, they feel it destroys the religious ideal,” Chandler explained.

Sometimes congregations contribute to the feeling of invincibility when they set their pastor on a pedestal, he added.

Pride in position at the church and within the community can contribute to ministers isolating themselves. Robert Creech, director of pastoral ministries studies at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, noted that, especially in the past, ministers often expected certain perks such as discounts or other considerations from businesses and individuals.

“The refusal to allow others to minister to the minister is more likely to be an act of pride than of humility, and is a denial of the congregation’s identity as the body of Christ,” Creech added.

The biblical call to live in community can help ministers open up—at least a little more freely—to receive from congregants, peers and others. Realistically, most ministers still face some limitations.

“I have come to believe that in some instances it is best for the minister to seek help and support outside the congregation,” Creech said. “There is a level of vulnerability that increases the anxiety of the congregation, who depend on the leader’s well-being.”

Better to seek help elsewhere

He added pastors can be more vulnerable and transparent through their testimonies about issues and events God has helped them survive. But “dumping present-tense struggles on the congregation as a whole or even upon its leadership may not be the wisest thing to do. Help should be sought, but elsewhere,”

Chandler, too, advocates seeking assistance outside the church. Ministerial support groups can be particularly effective as long as individual members make a commitment to trust one another. “It makes the difference between sanity and insanity,” he said. “It helps you stay in touch with reality … and provides a balance between affirmation and accountability.”

The key is the combination of reliance on God and the interdependence of community. “Most of God’s provisions are in the faces of people we know, not ravens miraculously feeding us on the side of a creek bed,” Creech said.

“The inauthentic ‘holy face’ is probably the result of trying to handle one’s struggles and trials alone. Even when one seeks help outside the congregation, an authenticity remains present in the minister’s life. The ‘stiff upper-lip’ is not necessary.”

The Bible offers the key ingredient Christians—laypeople, ministers and church leaders alike —need to help them learn to lean upon one another. Each believer is a necessary and vital part of the body of Christ.

Robert Creech, director of pastoral studies at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, pointed to Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12-14. Romans 12 emphasizes each part of the body has a use, and God has given each believer a different gift to use as part of the church.

Christians are to use their gifts to foster unity in the body of Christ, according to Ephesians 4. Unity comes when Christ’s followers recognize they are bound through one Spirit, one faith and one baptism. God lives in followers and works through all of them.

Functions in the body of Christ

First Corinthians 12 is more specific in its call for each part to remember its function and that the body relies on it to fulfill its special place. Chapter 13 reminds believers their role in the body must be wrapped in love, and chapter 14 focuses on using special gifts appropriately.

Second Corinthians 1:3-4 guides Charles Chandler’s work through his Ministering to Ministers Foundation. In his mercy, God comforts his followers, who, in turn, are to comfort others in the same way.

Jesus’ life

Jesus’ life is the model, noted Bob Dale, an author and leader coach based in Richmond, Va. “Jesus modeled how to welcome others’ gifts and blessings when he allowed his feet to be washed and perfumed,” he said.

“Churches are webs of blessing. We need others to bless us and to be blessed by us. And the flow of blessing is multi-directional,” he added, citing Acts 2:43-47.

Charles Chandler, founder of the Ministering to Ministers Foundation, gives five suggestions of pastoral self-care.

Charles Chandler• Develop an informal feedback group within the congregation. Pastors should choose just a few people they can trust and whom other members talk to. Pastors should sit down with each individually to ask what each one thinks and what others are thinking. “You can’t be defensive, and you can’t share your guts with this group,” Chandler said.

• Become part of a ministers’ support group. “It helps you stay in touch with reality,” he said.

• Find a therapist. Chandler was quick to point out that, while a pastor likely would not need to talk to a therapist often, a professional can help the minister walk through a difficult time.

• Choose an attorney. Again, having an attorney available doesn’t insinuate or predict trouble. “But an attorney can be objective and provide some coaching,” he said.

• Develop friendships outside the church. “This especially provides an outlet for spouses,” he noted.

—Vicki Brown, Word & Way

The old hymn “Learning to Lean” encourages Christians to learn to lean on Jesus when they face life’s difficulties. Believers today emphasize being God’s hands and feet to minister to the world.

But how many believers allow brothers and sisters in Christ to serve that role in their own lives? How many have learned to allow God to minister to them through the hands and feet of other Christians?

“Unfortunately, our culture has historically defined ‘strength’ as handling things ourselves,” noted Paula Batts, director of the Christian Counseling Center in Dalton, Ga. “I often tell clients that it takes more strength to walk through the doors of our counseling center and allow someone else into our personal lives than to keep our struggles zipped up and pretend all is well.”

Batts suggests the first step, particularly for Christians, is “to redefine ‘strength.’”

Christians often find it difficult to admit when a problem arises and tend to present a false front, especially to fellow believers.

David Hughes“Regrettably, many churches are communities consisting of ‘familiar strangers’ more than ‘brothers and sisters in Christ,’” David Hughes explained.

Hughes recently retired as pastor of First Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., to become executive director of the Transforming Center in Wheaton, Ill. Its website describes the center as a community, rather than an organization, that assists ministers and church leaders with spiritual formation.

“A high premium is placed upon presenting a life far more solid and put together than it actually is,” he added. “This deception is a function of what Thomas Merton and others have labeled the ‘false self,’ or that part of us devoted to gaining the approval of others at all cost.”

That desire for approval often masks needs others might be able to help address.

“Week after week, Christians file into churches, acting as though all is well, when in fact they may be dying on the inside because of marriage and family conflict, financial challenges, job stress, health issues, addictive behaviors and/or spiritual doubt,” he said. “The false self insists on putting up a brave front, a facade that insists that life is perfectly fine.”

Believers who always present a stiff upper-lip risk losing the face they are trying to save and the help to deal with the need they are hiding.

“I have noticed that people will wait until they are financially bereft before asking for help from our benevolence fund. And spouses will delay marriage counseling until so much damage has been done that their marriage is beyond repair,” Hughes explained.

Removing the mask of the appearance of total self-reliance allows Christians to develop deeper relationships with one another, Batts said.

“Most of us are far better at giving than receiving. We want to support each other with food, financial help, a listening ear,” she explained. “It makes our relationships so much more balanced when we are able to receive ministry from others.”

Christians also might hurt their witness for Christ before others by their refusal to accept help, some believe.

That reluctance to allow others to minister fails to follow Jesus’ example and could be construed as disobedience, Hughes said. He pointed out Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, recruited disciples to help him accomplish his ministry and called on them to pray for him as he struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Robert CreechRobert Creech, director of pastoral ministries studies at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary, sees pride and ingratitude.

“It probably is a poor witness to refuse ministry at the hands of Christ’s servants. It is in a way a denial of ministry from Christ himself and a kind of ingratitude toward God,” he explained.

“At best, it is prideful. At worst, it is a kind of theology that refuses to recognize the presence of Christ in one’s brother or sister. It can be manifested by a refusal to admit one’s needs, a lack of transparency about one’s life and a prideful dismissal of offers to help.”

Batts acknowledged refusal might reflect on an individual’s witness, but actions toward others might counteract it.

“Perhaps those who don’t accept ministry are excellent at giving to others, so it is difficult to say they are a poor witness,” she said.

Hughes added Christians must follow Jesus example: “The Light of the World did not hide his needs or fears from those round him, and yet he changed the world. Why should those of us who follow him think our witness will be more powerful and effective if all that people around us see is our ‘holy face’?”

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—A third of Americans and nearly half of evangelical, fundamentalist or born-again Christians believe prayer and Bible study alone can overcome serious mental illness, according to a recent survey by Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

The survey also found more than two-thirds of Americans—68 percent—would feel welcome in church if they were mentally ill.

Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, said Christians care about people affected by mental illness. He’s glad churches are seen as a welcome place for those with depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

But he worries some Christians see mental illness as a character flaw rather than a medical condition. Christians will go to the doctor if they break their leg, he said. But some may try to pray away serious mental illness.

“They forget that the key part of mental illness is the word ‘illness,’” he said. “In a typical evangelical church, half the people believe mental illness can be solved by prayer and Bible study alone.”

Four questions

LifeWay Research asked four questions about mental illness as part of a telephone survey of 1,001 Americans conducted Sept. 6-10.

Thirty-five percent agree with the statement, “With just Bible study and prayer alone, people with serious mental illness like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia could overcome mental illness.”

Responses are split by both faith and age.

Fifty percent of those 18-29 years old said prayer and Bible study could overcome mental illness. That number falls to less than 30 percent for those 55-64.

Half of evangelical, fundamentalist or born-again Christians—48 percent—agree prayer can overcome mental illness. Only 27 percent of other Americans agree.

Among other findings:

• Just over half—51 percent—say someone close to them has experienced mental illness. That number drops to 37 percent for those over 65.

• Fifty-four percent of Americans say churches should do more to prevent suicide. That number jumps to 64 percent among evangelical, fundamentalist or born-again Christians.

• Americans who never attend church services are the least likely to agree churches welcome those with mental illness. Those who attend weekly see churches as welcoming.

Tim Clinton, president of the Forest, Va.-based American Association of Christians Counselors, said spirituality can play a crucial role in treating mental illness. He calls it “soul care.”

Clinton hopes more churches will become open to talking about mental illness. That means taking a holistic approach that deals with spiritual, emotional and physical concerns.

That can involve counseling and medication, as well as prayer and Bible study.

“Churches need to be biblical communities of healing,” he said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—A third of Americans believe recent conflict with Syria fulfills Bible prophecy about the end of the world, according to a telephone survey conducted in early September by LifeWay Research.

With the threat of U.S. airstrikes against Syria dominating the news cycle, 32 percent of the 1,001 survey participants agreed with the statement: “I believe the battles in Syria are all part of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation.”

One in four—26 percent—said they believe U.S. military intervention in Syria might lead to the Battle of Armageddon prophesied in the Book of Revelation just prior to the Second Coming of Christ. One in five—18 percent—said they believe the world will end in their lifetime.

Those results surprised Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research.“We weren’t talking about Armageddon during the air strikes on Bosnia,” Stetzer said in a news release.

The fact that Syria is mentioned in the Bible and its close proximity to Israel, however, have prompted considerable end-times speculation about international reaction to news that forces of President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons on civilians.

Carl Gallups“Many students of the word of God see a major alignment of ancient prophecies regarding the end times being fulfilled right before our eyes,” end-times author Carl Gallups told WorldNetDaily. “More importantly, we are the first generation in history to see such dramatic and striking alignments.”

Gallups, a graduate of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and former Southern Baptist youth evangelist who since 1987 has been pastor of Hickory Hammock Baptist Church in Milton, Fla., isn’t alone in that assessment.

Most cite Isaiah 17:1, which proclaims: “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.”

“Now, when Isaiah wrote these words, the sword was probably the most advanced weapon that men wielded,” Hal Lindsey, author of the 1970 bestseller The Late, Great Planet Earth, observed in May. “The weaponry capable of laying waste to a massive city in the course of a few hours was uninvented—even unimagined.”

Hal LindseyEvents described by the prophet could be accomplished only by nuclear weapons, Lindsey asserted.

“A few weeks ago, I went into some detail about the Bible’s prophecy concerning the destruction of Damascus,” the dispensationalist and Christian Zionist preacher and teacher said in the Sept. 6 “Hal Lindsey Report” video broadcast.

“We discussed scenarios in which Bashar al-Assad, in his desperation, might intentionally provoke a war with Israel by hitting them with repeated waves of chemical attacks—his weapon of mass destruction,” Lindsey said. “Israel might be forced to stop such attacks using its weapon of mass destruction—nuclear missiles.”

That would both fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 17 and set up the events of Ezekiel 38, a cataclysmic battle with a northern foe identified as Gog and Magog, Lindsey said.

Dispensationalism is a method of Bible interpretation that forecasts a literal 1,000-year reign of Jesus on earth following a Rapture of Christians and a seven-year Great Tribulation, a notion affirmed by Christian Zionists, who believe prophecies about biblical Israel are unfolding today in the modern Israeli state.

“If one Israeli dies from chemicals coming from Syria, Israel is going to take the issue into her own hands,” Jan Markell, founder and director of Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, told OneNewsNow. “She would do some real destruction to the city of Damascus. Israel will send a huge message to the rest of the Islamic world this is what happens when you mess with us.”

Walid Shoebat, a Palestinian-American Christian who converted from Islam, regards the “Shia-Crescent”—which includes Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Azerbaijan—as the “Persian bear” described alongside the Babylonian Empire, modern-day Iraq, portrayed as a lion in Daniel 7-8.

“Our primary concern should be that one day our own nation will work with NATO to militarily strike the Assad regime and allow the revolutionaries to prevail,” Shoebat warned in March. “Such an act will not only enable Islamic fundamentalism to further expand, but empower Turkey to commence its much aspired empire—that is—a revived Ottoman empire.”

John HageeSuch views are outside the mainstream of theology taught at most seminaries, but they remain popular in cultural expressions like the 16 bestselling Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, which have exceeded 63 million in sales since the initial launch in 1995.

They also wield political clout. Started in 2006 by Texas pastor John Hagee, Christians United for Israel now claims 1.3 million members poised to lobby members of Congress on matters of public policy.

“Is it a novel or today’s headlines?” is a marketing slogan for end-times author Joel Rosenberg’s newest book, Damascus Countdown. Rosenberg has met with politicians, including former presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and is quoted by media as an expert on the Middle East.

“It’s a very sobering thought to think that a judgment of a city or a country could happen in which an entire city could be wiped out, but that is in fact what the Bible is predicting,” Rosenberg said recently discussing Damascus on Fox News.

It’s too early to know if Syria’s current actions are the same as those foretold by Isaiah, Rosenberg said, and he thinks it’s wrong for people who teach Bible prophecy to “try to say for certain that it’s going to happen now.”

But he sees parallels between the nation’s current 7 million refugees and the situation described in the oracle against Damascus in Jeremiah 49.

“Prophecy says that people will flee, but there will still be people in Damascus when the prophecy happens,” Rosenberg said. “The bottom line is we don’t know whether these two prophecies—Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49—will happen in our lifetime or soon, but they could, because they haven’t happened yet.”