by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jul 5, 2022
Many factors contribute to gun violence including the deflection of personal responsibility, untreated mental health issues, lax gun policies, and easy access to firearms. Add to it one more critical factor that requires disarming: the culture of hate and violence.
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 29, 2022
Gun violence has increasingly impacted once safe spaces such as homes, churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, medical clinics, and stores. What is the answer? Historically, religious leaders have often served as the conscience of the nation in other wrenching...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 22, 2022
Why haven’t we solved the issue of mass shootings and gun violence? We have been living with escalating gun violence at least since Columbine, if not earlier. Yet, it’s not an intractable problem. Other countries like Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and the...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 14, 2022
In 1999, I was co-pastoring a church in Parker, Colorado when the Columbine shooting happened in the community next door. At that time, school shootings were relatively infrequent. It was wholly unbelievable that it had happened in our community. Even more unthinkable...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 8, 2022
Over the past month, I’ve written a series of blogs addressing the three post-pandemic questions every church leader wants answered. The first two questions I explored were “When do things go back to normal?” and “How do we get people (back) to church?” This week I am...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Jun 1, 2022
How do we get people back to church – or even get them there for the first time? This is the second of the top three questions most on people’s minds post-pandemic. Worshiping together is the heart of the church. Empty pews are a tough reality to face now that the...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | May 18, 2022
Given the events of 2020, 2021, and 2022 that have dramatically impacted and changed the landscape in which churches operate, it’s important to address three persistent questions I hear church leaders asking. In last week’s blog, I shared each of the three questions,...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | May 11, 2022
We are two years and two months out from the day the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Churches and other houses of worship have been profoundly affected by the pandemic. These places where people gathered in the tens, hundreds, and...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | May 3, 2022
According to Google, searches for prayer were at an all-time high during the height of the pandemic. Six out of ten people in the US and around the world prayed for an end to the pandemic. People were desperate for a solution. But now that COVID is receding, churches...
by Rebekah Simon-Peter | Apr 19, 2022
The pandemic hastened online adoption in nearly every area of our lives. However, as with any new technology, people and institutions adopt technology at different rates. While online tech is the answer for many congregations, not every church will be able to do all...
