An interesting twist to church-state separation occurred July 20, 1969 when  Buzz Aldrin, an astronaut but also an elder in the Presbyterian Church, served himself communion in space. But NASA asked him not to broadcast the service, due to an atheist lawsuit “after Apollo 8 astronauts read from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas.” [...]

From The Washington Times: mainline Protestant denominations adopt Madison Avenue techniques in effort to stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat.
The United Methodist Church recently released a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant sect. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination’s “Rethink [...]

Continuing our discussion of Joseph and the financial lessons in his story: the Divine plan behind Joseph’s sale to the Ishmaelites and his ultimately landing in Pharaoh’s court is stated clearly in Genesis 50 as was foreshadowed a few chapters earlier.
After their father, Jacob-Israel dies, Joseph tells his brothers, “you meant evil against me (in [...]

Advertising Age looks at ”American’s increasingly fickle relationship with religion”, as churches “scramble” for  consumers’ attention.
With more labeling themselves as having no religion or unaffiliated, the publication looks at recruitment efforts:
Look at the parallels between religion and marketing, and it’s almost identical. People become attached to a religion in the same way someone takes on a [...]

We’ve seen it in the U.S. Now, New Zealand reports increased church attendance pegged to economic downturn.

Here’s a discussion on the pros of diversifying your portfolio, a concept that finds its roots in the Bible.
“But divide your investments among many places, for you do not know what risks might lie ahead” (Ecclesiastes 11:2, NLT). Risks are really part of everything we do, and we should not be crippled by the fear [...]

One North Carolina church  is worried about reaching those who work on Sundays. “We know that people don’t have Sundays off like they used to,” said the Rev. Anna Mandelstamm, so they came up with the idea “Work on Sunday? Worship with us on Monday!”
Mandelstamm said she initially worried there would be some backlash from outsiders [...]

Apparently not. The Christian Post reports megachurches are faring slightly better in the recession than smaller churches, findings from a new study shows.
A Leadership Network survey of 555 mostly megachurch pastors found that only 7 percent of the executive church leaders said the economic downturn has had a “very negative” impact on their church.Forty-nine percent said [...]

Christianity Today’s cover story is calling it “The Not-for-Profit Surge” reporting that even in tough times, some religious charities are thriving.

Nearly half of American adults change faiths at least once in their lives, usually before the age of 24, according to a new study:
“Americans change religious affiliation early and often,” says the survey, released Monday by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Called Faith in Flux, the report finds that 44 [...]