Paul Random

Young Attend Church More Than Old — But Is It Enough?

Responding to news that he was either dying or dead, Mark Twain famously said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

According to a new report from Barna Research, the same might be said regarding the previous decline of young people’s faith and church attendance.

Released Tuesday as part of the group’s ongoing “State of the Church” initiative, “Gen Z” and “Millennials” attend church more regularly than their older counterparts.

Digging into the data, Gen Zers, those born between the mid to late 1990s and early 2010s, attend church 1.9 times per month. Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, average 1.8 times per month.

In contrast, Boomers (1946-1964) and Elders (those born before 1946) attend 1.4 times per month.

David Copeland, who serves as Barna’s vice president of research, acknowledged the surprise that accompanied the findings.

“It’s typically older adults who are the most loyal churchgoers,” he said. “This data represents good news for church leaders and adds to the picture that spiritual renewal is shaping Gen Z and Millennials today.”

But is it really good news that the typical Christian is attending church only two out of every five weekends?

Scripture makes clear the importance of regular corporate worship. The writer of Hebrews urged believers to “not [give] up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

The Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) may not specifically dictate weekly church attendance, but it does demand our attention and our obedience. As Christians, if we’re not a member of a church and regularly attending weekly services, how are we setting apart the day? How are we not neglecting the call to meet together with fellow followers of Christ?

While it’s a good thing that young people’s faith doesn’t appear as anemic as suspected, if the standard we’re comparing it to is already dangerously low, a sober-minded awareness seems in order.

We’d also be wise to ask some difficult and even uncomfortable questions.

Why are Christians going to church so infrequently? Are we allowing ourselves to be pulled away by very worldly priorities like youth sports, vacation travel, creature comforts like sleeping in and having a leisurely Sunday morning instead?

This has no bearing on a committed believer’s responsibility to participate in corporate worship, but churches themselves should be examining elements of their service and outreach. Are they doing everything they can to retain interest, especially from those who may dip in and out, who are on the fringes of Christianity? Are they challenging people enough? Are pastors prepared and interesting, addressing issues relevant to real lives in real time?

It’s always curious why sports stadiums can sell out week after week, yet rare is the church that suffers from not having enough seats for those wanting to join the worship service.

“Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man,” warned D.L. Moody.

Some Christians dismiss or diminish the importance of physical church attendance. Instead, they may talk of communing with God in nature, praying alone, or spending their quiet time with the Lord in personal reading of Scripture. Those disciplines are important and supplemental, but they cannot and must not replace corporate worship. The same goes for those able to attend in person but who instead opt out for church culture.

The famed evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” He was right. Inner transformation, repentance, and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life is what makes you a Christian.  But going to church provides us with community, connection, opportunities for service, and ideally, offers solid spiritual teaching that will help us grow in our faith and strengthen us in numerous ways that will then equip us to share the Good News with others.

Given all those personal and Kingdom benefits available at church, wouldn’t you want to attend more than 21 weeks out of a 52-week year?

Image from Getty.

Will Taylor Swift’s Engagement to Travis Kelce Ignite a Wedding Boom?

Can marriage be contagious?

The news of Taylor Swift’s engagement to Kansas City Chiefs’ star Travis Kelce on August 26 lit up the internet and various social media platforms. Within the first 24 hours of the announcement, the couple’s joint Instagram post generated 30 million likes. It’s currently north of 36 million, a distinction that makes it one of the site’s most popular posts of all time.

One can be forgiven or sometimes even encouraged to ignore celebrity relationship news or gossip. More than half the time it’s likely wrong, tawdry or downright unproductive. But the paparazzi nevertheless still chase and report – and the public often gobbles it up.

There’s no denying the fact that Taylor Swift is a cultural phenomenon. Born and raised on a Christmas tree farm in Reading, Pennsylvania, her first album debuted when she was in the 9th grade. Her latest “Eras Tour” grossed more than two billion dollars – an industry record.

Travis Kelce broke his silence about the engagement earlier this week on his brother Jason’s podcast, telling the retired NFL player that he’s enjoyed communicating the couple’s plans to marry to family and friends.

“It’s been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with,” he said. Beyond their initial statement, Taylor Swift hasn’t yet spoken publicly about the engagement.

Emily Rella is an editor for People Magazine. A day after the announcement, she published an essay on the site celebrating the news and included these thoughts:

“As a millennial, our current cultural examples of love — true, soulmate-level, real L love — aren’t exactly a dime a dozen. This notion of yearning and desire and all-or-nothing, consuming passion feels less realistic, with the fairy tale ending seemingly out of reach. It’s not so much that millennials stopped believing in love in some jaded, brooding way … I think it’s more so that we’ve become more comfortable with the idea that it might not happen for us in the way we once dreamed of when we were younger. “

Rella is openly expressing what many academics and counselors have been writing, speaking and sharing for years. Focus on the Family has long cautioned about the fanciful idea of finding one’s perfect “soulmate” and have suggested that fairy tale endings are just that – unrealistic and fictitious tales that are likely to lead to disillusionment, disenchantment and disappointment.

But given the volume and energy behind the “Swiftie” brigade, will this one engagement lead to others? Can romance and marriage be contagious?

Sociologists call this phenomenon a “behavioral contagion” – a tendency for someone to imitate what they observe and experience with others, sometimes even subconsciously. While the term may be relatively new, the trend isn’t. There’s a reason most people used to marry young, have lots of children and usually stay married the rest of their lives. They did so because most of the people in their circle lived like this and so deviating from the norm was, well, abnormal.

One could make the argument that simply getting married just because other people are getting married is a recipe for disaster and eventual divorce. To be sure, couples should prayerfully, deliberately, and thoughtfully pursue marriage. There are many things to consider, and none of them should include trying to copy Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

Yet it’s a very good thing when young people, especially, are excited about the prospect of marriage. It’s a good thing for them to see others happily married, to recognize that a stable and steady union is healthy and preferable to the chaos of what is often modeled in popular culture.

It’s unclear where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are spiritually or how they may view the institution of marriage in a faith context. But if the excitement they’re generating with young fans opens the opportunity for parents and pastors to talk about God’s beautiful gift of marriage with them, that conversation and trend will be time well spent.

Were John Lennon and the Beatles Accidentally Pro-Life?

Every now again you pick up a random factoid that raises an eyebrow and leaves you wondering why you’ve never heard it before – or why someone else hasn’t made more of it.

That occurred this morning while I was running and listening to a podcast. The host mentioned an album that was a joint effort by the Beatles’ John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions.” It was released in the United States on May 26, 1969. Critics describe this album as the “highest-selling Avant-Garde album in music history.”

I wasn’t born until 1972, but I grew up with four older siblings, three of whom were fans of the famed British band. My familiarity with Beatles’ music is limited to their classic hits, but the host made note of the fact that this 1969 album featured a five-minute loop of the heartbeat of Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s preborn baby.

Sadly, Yoko Ono suffered a miscarriage. The album contains a two-minute cut of silence to acknowledge and grieve the child’s death.

Were Lennon and Ono making a pro-life statement, acknowledging the obvious – that a child in the womb is a living baby and deserving of protection?

There is no evidence to suggest such a motivation, but something else happened six years later that is tangentially connected.

It’s now known that in 1975, Yoko Ono became pregnant again. It seems the couple had struggled through an extended separation and Ono was prepared to abort the baby unless John Lennon objected.

In an interview with the BBC in 2007, Ono, who is now 92, explained her tragic logic.

“I know it sounds strange now but I thought, ‘Well, I should let John decide whether to keep it or not,’” she said. “We’d just got back together and I became pregnant very soon, and I didn’t know if it was the right moment to have a child because maybe he didn’t want it. I just didn’t want to burden him with something he didn’t want.”

Thankfully, John Lennon did want to parent the baby boy, who was then named Sean. He was born on Lennon’s 35th birthday. John even stepped away from his music for years in order to be more present and involved. On the December night in 1980 that Lennon was murdered, he had reportedly been hustling home in order to see Sean before he went off to bed.

Sean turns 50 this October. Like his father, he’s a musician. “I never played music because I was good at it,” Sean told People Magazine. “I lost my father and I didn’t know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him.”

Sean then added:

“When you’ve lost a parent, things like that motivate you — because you’re trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better.”

Poignant and heartbreaking.

Learning about a cut on a vinyl record featuring a pre-born baby’s heartbeat, I couldn’t help but think of the profound moment back in 2019 when Focus on the Family hosted “ALIVE FROM NEW YORK!” – the largest pro-life rally in state history. Over 20,000 people packed Times Square to watch and listen to a live ultrasound of Abby Johnson’s preborn baby.

In a city that never sleeps or seems to settle down, the sound of the baby’s heartbeat bounced off the buildings and filled the air as the hushed crowd leaned in. It was a remarkable and sacred moment.

In the ongoing quest to protect and defend every life, the Lord continues to provide sacred moments of unquestionable and undeniable truth. Neither John Lennon nor Yoko Ono were likely making a pro-life statement when they published their unusual album in 1969 – but that’s exactly what they did.

As those in the pro-life trenches, we need to regularly look for opportunities to highlight God’s beautiful gift of life. The Lord is always at work, always ready to use us to influence and help change an abortion-minded couple’s mind. We’re on a rescue mission and we must leverage every opportunity to point out the sacredness of every innocent life – especially to those otherwise blinded by the evil and wickedness all around them.

Image from Getty.

Judge Frank Caprio Wasn’t Just Nice, He Was Kind

Judge Frank Caprio, who died on Wednesday at the age of 88, was called “America’s nicest judge.”

Only he was more than nice.

Most importantly, he was kind. There is a difference.

First elected in Rhode Island to the Providence City Council in 1962, Caprio was involved in local politics until becoming a municipal court judge beginning in 1985. He’d serve on the bench there for the next four decades.

Over the years, he gained a reputation for his compassion and extending grace to those before him.

“Your case is dismissed,” became his favorite phrase and the hallmark of his work, which was featured on the television program, “Caught in Providence.” In the internet age, he became a social media star with millions following and reposting some of his moving verdicts and lectures.

It seems Judge Caprio was something of a reluctant star. It was his wife, Joyce, who suggested they televise his court proceeding on local cable television. She thought it would be educational and inspirational. 

“I didn’t like the idea actually, but of course, when my wife makes a suggestion, I usually don’t win that battle,” he said. “I agreed we would try it and see if it was something that worked. And there was an overwhelmingly positive response.”

Audiences were responding to the judge’s empathy, humanity and acts of mercy.

Unknowingly, they were also responding to his faith.

A man of deep Catholic faith, Judge Caprio said he was influenced by the grace God first extended to him.

Judge Caprio’s father was a milkman and fruit peddler who took his children on deliveries. Frank and his siblings saw up close when his father forgave a bill when a family was struggling to survive.

Simply nicknaming Frank Caprio the “nicest judge” belies his broader motivations.

By definition, to be “nice” is generally understood to be agreeable. By contrast, to be “kind” is to be friendly, generous and considerate.

Judge Caprio once reflected, “Every small act of kindness I give creates a better world, and a better me.”

Christians are mandated to be kind, not necessarily nice. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,” writes the apostle Paul, “compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Col. 3:12). Of course, “kindness” is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

Developing a spirit of kindness is not achieved by doing random acts, but it’s who we become when we’ve been transformed by Jesus Christ.

Judge Caprio warmly extended a hand of fellowship and friendship in grace and truth to those within his reach.

Thanks to a loving God, those who have confessed their sins, accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and put their faith in Him need not fear judgement. In fact, our faith makes clear that because of Jesus’ death on the cross, He looks at the sins of the saved and says, “Your case is dismissed.”

Sound familiar?

Steve Jobs’ Prescient Warnings About Schools

The more than 50 million American students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade spread across more than 115,000 schools, are headed back into classrooms this month and next.

In recent generations, schools have become a lightning rod and soft target for radicals determined to indoctrinate the rising generation. This abuse of the forum has prompted many parents to rethink and reconsider sending their children to public schools.

It’s estimated that more than 3.7 million children will be home schooled in the 2025-2026 academic year – more than double from before the COVID-19 pandemic.  

That’s not to say that all the children currently enrolled in public schools are happy and thriving. According to a 2024 survey by the Gallup organization, just 43% of parents are satisfied with their child’s educational environment – and it’s no wonder.

In recent years, radical ideological propogandists have executed a full-court press in the hope of shaping and winning the hearts of our young people. They’re promoting and championing abortion and spreading lies that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. They’re working overtime on a grand scale to wrest parental rights away from mothers and fathers.

Thankfully, we’re seeing a growing and strengthening resistance comprised of parents and even some school board members who are pushing back.

But the ideological revolution and warfare aren’t the only things that moms and dads should be monitoring. That’s because innate to public schooling can be a dangerous spirit of uniformity and “one-size-fits-all” philosophy. This approach leads to frustration and a whole lot of lost potential. 

The late Apple founder Steve Jobs was a complex person, but a pioneer in more fields than personal computing. Considered by many to be a rebel, Steve broke with the Silicon Valley crowd and came out strongly in favor of school choice largely for this very reason.

Back in 1995, Jobs told the Smithsonian, “Equal opportunity to me, more than anything, means a great education. I believe very strongly that if the country gave each parent a voucher for $4,400 that they could spend at any accredited school, several things would happen,” he later said. 

Jobs continued, “Number one, schools would start marketing themselves like crazy to get students. Secondly, I think you’d see a lot of new schools starting…. I believe that they would do far better than any of our public schools would. The third thing you’d see is… the quality of schools again, just in a competitive marketplace, start to rise.”

Jobs famously dropped out of college after a single semester. He said he felt guilty wasting his parents’ money on something that wasn’t clicking for him. School frustrated him on numerous levels. 

The Apple legend once told his daughter, “They [public schools] teach you how other people think during your most productive years. It kills creativity. Makes people into bozos.”

Steve seemed to save his strongest feelings for junior high school. 

“In general, I think middle school is so awful it would be better if kids just sailed around the world instead,” he quipped.

In addition to advocating for school choice, Steve Jobs stressed the importance of cultivating curiosity in children. When a young person chases their interests, they’re going to inevitably work harder, smarter and more enthusiastically. 

“I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did,” he said. “You’ve got to find what you love. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.”

Cultivating a strong spirit of curiosity in our children is an investment in their future. It’s an effort that pays dividends in both the short and long-term. Apple soared in popularity because they had the audacity to advocate for thinking differently. Moms and dads should press to do the same.

Image from Getty.