In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how when natural disasters strike (like the wildfires currently happening in California), it is fascinating to witness the spectrum of ways in which people claim God's involvement. There are some who express anger toward God, wondering how He could allow such things to happen. Some argue that God must have caused the natural disaster as an act of His judgment. Others praise God for helping them to cope with the losses and the rebuilding of their lives. So which is it? What role does God play, if any? Is He a destroyer? Is He a Savior? Or, put another way, where is God in the midst of pain and suffering?

The need to explain the fallout of natural disasters or other forms of pain and suffering that we all face, is something that every religion or philosophy needs to answer for - not just the Christian faith. Dr. White pulled from several sources that you may be interested in reading that will help you understand who God is in the midst of our pain and suffering, and inspirational stories to help you stay strong in your faith. These include:

Philip Yancey, Where is God When It Hurts?

Philip Yancey, Reaching for the Invisible God

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place

Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking

Dr. White also delivered a series at Mecklenburg Community Church that you might be interested in, to take a deeper dive on this topic. The series is simply called “Why?” with installments that explore: Why Is There Evil and Suffering? Why Me, Why This, Why Now? Why Isn't God Answering My Prayers? and Why Would God Send Good People to Hell? You can find this series at Church & Culture HERE.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a surprising (or not surprising?) shift in the Church in the U.S. At the inception of the early Church, Christianity's promotion of the value of women is what resulted in flocks of women joining the Church. In fact, throughout history, women have predominated the church in number. That appears to be changing. A recent survey conducted by the Survey Center on American Life found that women are leaving the church in unprecedented numbers.

The reasons that this shift should not surprise us, particularly when you do a careful study of both the rise of the “nones” - those who have no religious affiliation - and Generation Z. Dr. White has written books about both of these groups: The Rise of the Nones: Understanding and Reaching the Religiously Unaffiliated and Meet Generation Z. The vast majority of Gen Z women identify as feminists (whether liberal or conservative) and find the tendencies of some denominations within the Christian faith to be misogynistic. This has been a huge point of contention within the Southern Baptist Convention, who've made the decision to expel churches for allowing women to serve as pastors within the church. Dr. White referenced an article written by Jessica Grose for the New York Times titled “Young Women Are Fleeing Organized Religion. This Was Predictable.” We'd recommend taking the time to read it in full, as it provides a really helpful understanding of the causes for the recent decline. There was also a past podcast episode on the topic of women serving in leadership roles within the life of the church, including serving as pastors. We'd encourage you to listen to CCP7: On Women in Ministry if you haven't already.

The survey mentioned earlier also found that sadly, many of these young women are gone for good. As the article says, “Studies consistently show that people who leave religion rarely come back, even if they hold on to some of their formative beliefs and practices.” Churches must respond by shifting their focus, or else they risk losing both the strongest core of volunteers (traditionally always women) and the most consistent financial donors. Women need to see other women serving in leadership and teaching roles. Dr. White wrote a blog on this topic titled “Women as Pastors,” which you can find HERE.

Finally, they also discuss how the opposite shift is happening for men - they seem to be increasingly drawn to the church; and surprisingly, to the Orthodox Church. Dr. White mentioned the article titled “Young, single men are leaving traditional churches. They found a more ‘masculine' alternative” that you can read HERE. Men also tend to gravitate toward churches that teach men what it means to be a man in today's culture. Dr. White has delivered several series at Mecklenburg Community Church that you may be interested in checking out. These are Defining Manhood and Man Up

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.