It is a profound irony that as these denominations sink into the sunset through loss and numerical decline and their public influence wanes, so too difference is lost in favor of inclusion, the death knell for their churches.

The survival of the Jewish people has always been on the basis of their difference. They have lived through the slaughter of the Holocaust out of which Israel was borne. Israel will never be defeated. Not now, not ever.

"As people of faith who are distressed by the pain of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza -- and who long for security and a just peace for both Palestine and Israel -- we can no longer ignore the realities on the ground. We are opposed not to the Jewish people, but to the policies of Israelis' governments, which are becoming ever more extreme," Archbishop Thabo Makgoba wrote.

Sex abuse and corruption scandals that have rocked the evangelical community -- also well-documented by the media -- have played a role in growing disillusionment with the church. It is not just about COVID. The Gospel Coalition research team found that the dechurching phenomenon is far more complex. They drew their conclusions from an in-depth analysis of data drawn from a trio of surveys of 1,000 individuals, with100 data points per person surveyed.

After a day of digging through the New Testament together, what they came up with is: The Church is a group of baptized Believers committed to obeying Jesus, committed to one another, and committed to doing everything they see the church do in Acts 2:37-47. Not bad.

VOL: You are quite critical of Western church structures. Explain?