Largest/Fastest Shift in U.S. History // Church Attendance on Rise // New ABC Could Be a Woman // Welby Wobbles Again // ACNA Archbishop Urges Fidelity to the Gospel // ACNA gets new Bishop //

Florida Diocese Tries 3rd time to elect Bishop // Nigeria Worst Christian Killing Field // 1 in 12 Christians Face Deportation

“No man preaches his sermon well to others if he does not first preach it to his own heart.” – John Stott

But this is not the purpose of the church. It is not meant to be the whole of life or to meet all our needs in life. The church is not a sugar daddy whose purpose is to meet all our personal, social and vocational needs. – Karen Swallow Prior

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”  -- Abraham Kuyper

We are now reaping the fruit of a Charismatic movement that has been so focused on subjective experience and encounter that it is void of some foundational and nonnegotiable doctrines of the faith. Have we idolized freedom from religion to the point of having no viable theological roots? --- Wanda Alger 

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” This is not the battle cry of a movement obsessed with winning. It is the confession of a faith willing to lose everything for the sake of Christ. --- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The gospel does not promise power, prestige, or dominance—it promises a cross. And that is precisely what makes it so scandalous — teer hardy

Therefore, every shepherd, insofar as he is a shepherd among the sheep of Christ, should stand forth against all those who persecute him for the sake of God and his true word and also for the loyalty he has to his sheep, unmindful as to whether he must speak against the great Alexander, Julius, pope, king, princes or authority. This he should also do, not only when they contradict the word of God, but even if they overload their good folk too much and unreasonably with temporal burdens. – Ulrich Zwingli

The family serves as a divinely commissioned institution for the transmission of faith. Families are not social constructs. They are essential vessels for passing down religious beliefs and practices. When family life weakens—due to declining birth rates, increased divorce rates, and cultural shifts away from ­honoring traditional family values—­religious belief also suffers. – Mary Eberstadt

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. -- Psalm 91:16

Dear Brothers and Sisters,                                                 www.virtueonline.org                                                                                       April 4, 2025

We’re living amid the largest and fastest shift in U.S. history, according to demographers.

Forty million Americans have left the church in the last 25 years. Many other Western countries have already seen similar declines, notably the UK, Canada and Western Europe. Furthermore, Islam is on the rise, and if things get out of control in the Middle East with Iran and Israel, we could see World War III.

But that’s not the only challenge, according to some. After the fall of Christendom, believers in Western countries now face a strange mixture of apathy and antagonism toward the gospel. Many of our neighbors’ view Christianity as yesterday’s news but also as the source of today’s problems.

There is much truth to this. Hypocrisy now figures large in peoples’ minds when they think of the church. The sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy of all ranks with young men, some of them ordinands, and talk of the Lavendar mafia in the Vatican only increases cynicism. Is it any wonder that the RCC is experiencing declining membership in historically Catholic strongholds like Europe and North America and robust growth in specific parts of the world, particularly Africa and parts of Asia.

The same could be said of the Anglican Communion. Western Anglicanism is rapidly declining, while the Global South is exploding with evangelistic zeal and church growth.

The conservative Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest protestant denomination, reported some 700 pastors caught up in sexual infidelity, mostly with women. A dozen or more mega church pastors have lost jobs, some are going to jail for sexual misbehavior with underage girls. The Episcopal Church has seen a rapid rise in unreported sexual abuse cases. You can read a very comprehensive piece by Anglican Watch on bishop failure here: https://www.anglicanwatch.com/episcopal-priest-richard-losch-goes-to-criminal-trial-on-april-8-while-national-church-continues-its-refusal-to-hold-bishops-accountable/  The list goes on.

Here in the West the church has tied itself to politics, left and right, so why bother with church if you can get it all from The New York Times or social media. Just lie in bed pick up your iPad and listen to some influencer while sipping coffee.

I am involved in a new church plant and it is hard work. People come and go and we never see them again. We write letters, visit, make phone calls, send emails and texts…nothing. I talk to our young Hispanic pastor and while he acknowledges the problem, he refuses to let it get him down. He is full of enthusiasm to make it work. He preaches up a storm each Sunday as though it was his last sermon. He will not be deterred. God bless him.

It is this writer’s belief that the real reason Christianity is dying in America and the West is because of the message. You can blame it on modernity, secularization, wokedom and more, but underneath it all is liberal Christianity and a neutered gospel that has totally failed. Watering down the gospel to fit the culture has not worked. Over time people walk away. One of the biggest mistakes was believing that if the church was gay friendly and theologically accommodating, homosexuals and lesbians would pour into the churches. It never happened. They never came. Churches just emptied faster. Waving flags, using inclusive language achieved nothing. It has shown to be the biggest con job played on the church this century. All the efforts to twist Scripture to make it appealing to a small group of pansexualists has not worked.

Of course, starting a church in upstate New York is not downtown Dallas. The north is not the south. Many do not understand that. The spiritual Mason-Dixon line which separates four U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia, stretches spiritually nationwide. There are dozens of evangelical churches in Dallas. Texas alone has 200 megachurches, there are less than a dozen in Philadelphia and some of those claims are dubious at best.

Efforts to start an ACNA parish to date have not been successful. An evangelical witness in Philadelphia, the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the second-largest city on the East Coast of the United States after New York City, is difficult to find.

Try starting a church in that environment and see how difficult it is. You need the patience of Job, the wisdom of Solomon and the tenacity and stickability of an Abraham.

This is a new challenge. A big challenge. And we don’t yet know what to do. It is profoundly ironic that we are living in the best of times with advances in medicine to keep us all living longer, but church wise we are dying on the vine.

One statistic that does come through is that evangelical churches that adhere to sound teaching and demand something of their attendees are stable and growing. That is good news. It is not uniform, but it says something about what a church can do in an age of skepticism if it sticks to the gospel.

*****

Brand new Barna data from their State of the Church initiative suggests that church attendance might be on the rise again in America.

Church attendance is rebounding, but don’t uncork the champagne yet. Small improvements amplify over time. But are we out of the woods, probably not.

Church attendance in the U.S. has increased to an estimated 32% in early 2025, marking an uptick after declining from 48% in 2009 to 28% in 2024. The average in-person attendance of churches that participated was 938 people. However, there are still challenges and declines in attendance.

We should let the data inform us, but don’t let it drive us. You want to look at the numbers and realize God is moving and that there is still ministry to do. Revival is possible, but it’s not inevitable.

Wise leaders learn how to manage the tension between naming reality and always holding hope.

*****

The big news coming from across the pond is the selection and election of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. For the moment it all seems pretty chaotic based on numerous reports.

The Church of England is one step closer to appointing its first female Archbishop of Canterbury now that the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher, has ruled himself out, said one report. 

“Despite speculation in recent months, I have felt no sense of inner calling to be Archbishop of Canterbury. What has remained constant is God’s continued faithful call to serve the people and parishes of the wonderful diocese of Norwich, as well as the national and international environmental roles I have, all of which bring me much joy,” said Usher.

The road to Canterbury is therefore now open for the female front-runner, the Iranian-born Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani. Her chances of being appointed to Canterbury this autumn got a significant boost in January when the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, ruled herself out in a television interview.

Bishop Francis-Dehqani became a diocesan bishop in 2021, seven years after the then new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, had managed to persuade General Synod to agree to women bishops.

But is she orthodox in faith and morals? In successive votes at General Synod since February 2023, she has consistently backed the introduction of services of same-sex blessings in parish churches.

Are the deep thinkers in the Church of England thinking what the impact this would have on the Global South if they elected a liberal woman archbishop? Probably not, and now you know why GAFCON and GSFA primates are distancing themselves from the Mother Church. This would be the final insult in their efforts to keep the door open to reconciliation.

*****

Welby wobbles again. He is gone but apparently not forgotten, though it is probably best if he had. The former Archbishop of Canterbury gave an interview and dug himself a hole that only confirmed to most of us that his resignation was a good and necessary thing.

In a BBC interview on 30 March, Welby apologised: “I am so sorry for what I failed to do [and] for what the Church did do with John Smyth… I am so sorry that I did not serve the victims and survivors… as I should have done, and that’s why I resigned.”

If the former prelate hoped his self-abnegation might salvage what was left of his reputation, he was wrong. The response to the interview has mostly been anger at what many victims see as an attempt to shift the blame. Some continue to believe Welby is obscuring the extent to which he knew about Smyth’s abuse before 2013, given he had attended camps with Smyth in the 1970s.

All in all, Welby’s reign was a disaster; from pushing women bishops onto the church, to the LLF report ratifying same-sex unions; groveling before ancient shrines and sins; pushing reparations while his own churches couldn’t pay a living wage to its own vicars and so much more, while hammering Global South Primates for their refusal to get on board with sodomy, only weakened both himself and the office he held. It is unlikely to recover. You can read more here:

*****

The Rev. Phil Ashey of the American Anglican Council was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of Western Anglicans on March 29, 2025. The service took place at the Presbyterian Church of the Master.

He was consecrated by three ACNA bishops: the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, Archbishop Emeritus of the ACNA; the Rt. Rev. Dr. Keith Andrews, now Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Western Anglicans; and the Rt. Rev. Eric Menees, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin.

Bishops from East Africa joined with ACNA bishops to celebrate the consecration and show the support that Bishop Phil has garnered from ministry partners across the globe.

Bishop Onesmus Asiimwe, Bishop of the Diocese of North Kigezi, Uganda, brought greetings from the Church of Uganda. “We are here not just to support Bishop Phil but to strengthen our partnership for the sake of the Gospel,” he said.

*****

The new Archbishop of the ACNA, Steve Wood, told clergy and laity at a mission’s conference that his top priority is an “ongoing, intentional, personal Gospel fidelity” in the clergy and laity of our province. Also critical to the long-term growth and health of the ACNA: personal evangelism and leadership development. The archbishop is passionate to build healthy organizational structures, said one report.

When asked about the growth of his own parish, St. Andrew’s in Mount Pleasant, SC, the Archbishop emphasized sticking to the basics: “We preach Scripture, irrespective of our experience.”

On cooperative ministry relationships with those who’ve rejected historic Christian teaching: “Cooperative relationship is impossible without shared commitment to the Biblical, historical witness of the Christian faith. And agreement on Biblical anthropology is absolutely necessary, said the archbishop.

Wood reminded his hearers that societal pressures to compromise the Gospel are nothing new. “It is precisely in those moments where we feel the tension that we are especially called to be faithful.”

*****

For those following the news on who is cancelling whom, it will come as no surprise that England is further down the turnpike in political correctness to cancelling and arresting people for views not sympathetic to the government, DEI and free speech.

Two cases in point. Six police offices in the county of Hertfordshire, England, approaching the front door of a house to arrest two parents. And what was their alleged crime?

Did they assault somebody? Did they steal something? Were they shoplifting? Did they ram their car into a crowded market? No. They complained about their local school in a parents’ WhatsApp group. Prior to being arrested by no less than six police officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary —which, like other police authorities across England, is struggling to solve burglaries, stop shoplifting and end a surge of violent crime—the parents had dared to question the process through which their local school was recruiting a headteacher and appeared critical of school governors in a WhatsApp group.

All this, apparently, “upset” a few teachers, governors and parents —all of whom, reflecting a much broader sickness that is now afflicting Western societies, chose to prioritize their ‘emotional safety’ and a few hurty words above the free speech and free expression that are the lifeblood of our supposed liberal democracy.

Allen and Rosalind Levine were then held by police officers in front of their scared and anxious young daughter before they were fingerprinted, searched and dumped in a police cell for eight hours.

They were then interrogated on suspicion of harassment, malicious communications and causing a nuisance on school property —although the police would later conclude no further action should be taken.

Britain, once the home of individual liberty and free speech, or is it some kind of authoritarian regime like North Korea? Because recently it’s become hard to tell the difference between the two.

Britain is losing its way. We can all see it. We can all feel it. And we can no longer tell others we are living in a truly free society.

Then there is the case of a dear friend of mine who was kicked out of his church after 36 years because he preached a sermon on the wedding at Cana in Galilee. He had been a regular member of the preaching team since 1989. In his sermon he affirmed what God created at the beginning - the union of Adam and Eve in the Garden as man and wife.

“At that point, before the sermon ended, three people got up and walked out. At the end of the sermon, the woman leading the service, a lay woman who was the vicar’s right hand lady, said that she wanted to make clear that everyone was welcome at the church - implying gay or straight.  Well, nothing I had said contradicted that - I was just setting out the biblical and Anglican position- that’s all I had said.

“After three days I received an email saying that in view of my sermon I would be paused from the preaching team.

“Well, I took the view that I was called to be a preacher and teacher of God’s word and ordained as such. Though we had been members of that church for over 30 years and both our daughters had been married there, we decided to leave. I transferred my Permission to Officiate as a retired minister to another parish where I have since then preached once a month.”

*****

Just to totally confuse the faithful, the Bishop of Leicester Martyn Snow calls for an intercultural approach to LLF divisions in his new book, 'Can we imagine a future together'? Intercultural lessons for Living in Love and Faith’.

Bishop Snow is the lead bishop for the Living in Love and Faith (LLF) process. Snow said: “Despite the great depths in our disagreements over Living in Love and Faith, I believe there is still a longing for unity among most of us in the Church of England.”

It should be noted that Martyn is an advocate for the LLF report being accepted in the church, even as the CEEC and other groups roundly repudiate any idea that the doctrine of marriage can be changed. This is a non-starter. The opening analysis is that the booklet ‘offers little hope’ for faithful Anglicans.

An analysis of this book and his report can be found at Anglican Futures here: https://acl.asn.au/bishop-martyn-snow-responds-to-what-kind-of-future-awaits-the-faithful/

*****

The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has a resource to guide Christian voters on prayer, political engagement, and the legal responsibilities of churches during the campaign period. The general election will be held on Monday, April 28, 2025,read the announcement in the parliamentary speaker’s press release.

Prime Minister Mark Carney assumed leadership following the resignation of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Jan. 6. Reports indicate the snap election was called to rally public support in response to trade tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In response, the EFC has published a brochure titled Faith, Voting and Political Engagement, which provides guidance to Canadian Christians in the lead-up to the election and emphasizes the importance of prayer.

“When Christians vote, we actively seek the good of those around us and our country (Jer. 29:5-6),” reminds the EFC brochure. “Voting is one way Christians can contribute to society and the public good. Our participation in discussions about public policy and politics, like our engagement in all of life and community, is part of our witness.”

The EFC encourages prayer for candidates, voters, elected officials, and the nation as a whole, referencing Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

*****

Almost 3 in 10 Americans identify as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.” That in itself isn’t news; the proportion has ticked up for decades, though it has leveled off in the past few years. But what has this shift meant for the country – especially its politics?

People often assume that fewer religious voters means more votes for liberal candidates. But that’s not necessarily the case: Nonreligious Americans are diverse, and so are their attitudes toward religion and politics.

David Campbell and Geoffrey Layman, political scientists at the University of Notre Dame, wanted to understand who these Americans really are. Their research found differences between three distinct groups that carry over to activities like volunteering, political giving and voting.

The group they call “Secularists,” for example, are disproportionately young, white and liberal. “Nonreligionists,” too, are often young and white – but more “up for grabs” at the ballot box.

*****

Third time lucky? Maybe. The Diocese of Florida Standing Committee is calling for the election of a diocesan bishop. It is nearly two years after the last election was negated amid divisions within the diocese under the former bishop and church wide concerns about the election process and the bishop-elect. This will be the third effort to elect a new bishop to succeed Bishop Samuel Johnson (John) Howard, who retired in October 2023.

Florida’s standing committee announced March 31 that it has scheduled a special meeting of the Florida Diocesan Convention for June 14 to adopt a nominating process, rules and procedures for seeking and electing the diocese’s ninth bishop. The standing committee’s tentative timeline would allow for an election in late summer or early fall 2026 and the bishop-elect’s consecration in early 2027, reports TLC.

The Rev. Charlie Holt failed twice to get elected as its bishop in 2022, because he failed to pass the smell test over homosexual marriage. Holt, who is conservative on the issue, offered to allow outside bishops to perform the unbiblical same-sex acts. He was deep-sixed both times.

After Holt’s first election in May 2022, objectors made 38 allegations of irregularities in the election, including the absence of a quorum of two-thirds of all canonically resident clergy. A Court of Review found merit in some of the objections three months later, and Holt withdrew his acceptance of the nomination shortly afterward, TLC reported.

Other objectors said there was evidence of “a pattern and practice of discrimination” against LGBT clergy and those who opposed Bishop Howard’s views in the granting of canonical residency. Florida’s Standing Committee pushed back hard against the decision, claiming that the Court of Review misunderstood the canons and did not carefully investigate the claims of alleged discrimination. All to no avail. Now they will try again. As I have said repeatedly nothing will stop the pansexual steamroller and if the laity truly object and don’t roll over, they will have to try again. Usually, the laity grow tried of the fight and cave. Better to have a pro-gay bishop than none at all. We shall see.

*****

PERSECUTION is a global problem.  Jeff King, president of International Christian Concern (ICC), who has spent more than two decades fighting for religious freedom, says the crisis is worsening.

“The main killing ground for Christians isn’t North Korea — it’s Nigeria. Radical Islamists have driven Christians out of the north, pushing them further into the middle belt, which is the agricultural heartland. Militants raid villages, killing and displacing entire communities. It’s a stealth jihad, a massive land grab.”

Despite international condemnation, the Nigerian government’s response has been, at best, lackluster, he said. “They claim they can’t find the attackers, but it’s a deep-state issue,” King explained. “The security apparatus is controlled by radical elements, and the military often turns a blind eye — or worse, intervenes against Christian self-defense efforts.”

Beyond Nigeria, King warned of a broader crisis sweeping across Africa’s Sahel region. Islamist militancy has taken root in the area, rendering entire swaths of territory ungovernable.

“It’s like ISIS has taken over a whole region,” King said. “And because these areas are so remote, there’s little that can be done to stop it.”

Beyond Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has also seen horrific violence against Christians, he said. Recently, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist extremist group linked to the Islamic State, beheaded 70 Christians after days of captivity and terror.

*****

Peirong Lin, a deputy secretary at the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), likes to joke that evangelical is the most polarizing word in the world.

“Yet that is exactly what we are trying to unite around,” she told Christianity Today, “the euangelion, the Good News, the gospel, and what it looks like in different countries and contexts.”

Now the global organization of national and regional alliances representing 600 million evangelicals is looking for one person to help bring everybody together. The international council that oversees the WEA is stressing the need for unity as the search for a new secretary general gets underway.

*****

Roughly 1 in 12 Christians in the US are at risk of deportation or live with someone who is, according to a new study by the Center for the Study at Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. More than 1 in 18 of the country’s evangelicals could be impacted by mass deportations.

Among the president’s many executive orders on the first day of his second term, he signed a border-security measure directing agencies to focus on “removing promptly all aliens who enter or remain in violation of Federal law.” The language echoed Trump’s earlier pledges to deport all undocumented immigrants.

Taken to its full extent, that would entail rounding up and shipping off an estimated 14 million people—a population the size of Pennsylvania. – H/T CT

*****

Harvard Divinity School announced it was pausing its Religion, Conflict and Peace Initiative, a program that focused on Israel-Palestine as a case study. On Wednesday (April 2), it cut the last remaining position in the initiative.

Hilary Rantisi, the associate director of the program, said she was told her position will not be renewed. She is also the sole Palestinian American staff member at the divinity school. Her last day is at the end of June. She did not comment further.

*****

We end on a high note with a first-class story on the retiring Bishop of the Arctic, David Parsons. It is written by a long-time journalist and friend Julia Duin. She traces the personal and ministerial life of Parsons over several decades. It is a heartfelt tribute to a good and godly man who not only preached the gospel in a very difficult situation but constantly and consistently resisted the liberal and progressive siren call of the Anglican Church of Canada into his diocese. You can read it here: https://www.virtueonline.org/post/a-bishop-of-the-arctic-says-goodbye

*****

I have been given an opportunity to attend the consecration of the new Bishop of North Africa in Tunisia. There will be many archbishops, bishops and clergy attending. I could use some financial support to make this trip possible and to assist the new bishop.

Please consider a tax-deductible donation. A PayPal donation link can be found here: here: http://www.virtueonline.org/support.html

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Warmly in Christ,

David

My Substack on the Middle East continues to grow. It is drawing a lot of attention across the globe. You can access my Substack here: https://davidvirtue2.substack.com/