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[Episcopal News Service] According to the most recent Parochial Report published this week by The Episcopal Church, a full half of congregations had an average Sunday attendance of 50 or fewer in 2025. Yet those smaller congregations account for just 15% of worshipers; the remaining 85% attend churches with an average Sunday attendance of 51 or more. That kind of lopsided distribution, and the funding disparity that comes with it, makes it challenging for those smaller parishes and missions to recruit priests to serve their communities. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in St. Joseph, Michigan, which averages about 30 congregants on any given Sunday, is a case in point. After searching for a rector for two years, the parish in June 2024 announced the Rev. Erik Broeren was their choice — as did St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church 2.4 miles away in Benton Harbor. Broeren now alternates between the two: On the Sundays he’s there, he presides over the Eucharist, and on the Sundays he’s not, licensed lay preacher and longtime congregant Freya Gilbert oversees Morning Prayer, including a sermon. “In rural settings or small towns like we’re in, you’re going to see more priests who are called to multiple parishes at the same time,” Broeren told the Episcopal News Service. “We have to empower our laity to live into their ministry as worship leaders, as preachers, as educators. To me, there’s no other way forward.” Broeren isn’t the only one who sees lay leaders as the way forward. According to a survey of deputies and alternate deputies at the 79th and 80th General Conventions, published in 2022, lack of lay training ranked as the second-most-cited obstacle – behind funding – when asked about the barriers to ministry facing their congregations and dioceses. Since these lay leaders, like Gilbert, come from the communities they live and work in – and these are overwhelmingly non-stipendiary roles — the challenge is more logistical than liturgical: How do dioceses get them the training they need and their congregations deserve? The answer, for both future lay leaders as well as ordained priests, has increasingly been access to nonresidential programs. One such program, which focuses specifically on serving the needs of dioceses with rural congregations, is the Iona Collaborative at the Seminary of the Southwest. Taking its name from the island off the coast of Scotland where, in 563, St. Columba established a monastery to help spread Christianity east into modern-day continental Europe, the Iona Collaborative launched in 2012 and became part of the Austin, Texas-based Seminary of the Southwest in 2017. At first, the Iona Initiative, as it was originally known, offered curricula and other resources to diocesan schools of formation to train aspiring priests (a three-year program) and deacons (a two-year program) locally, rather than requiring them to relocate for a traditional residential seminary education. Over the last six years, however, training local lay leaders has become an increasingly important focus. “When I came on board in 2020, we did not train lay leaders at all,” Iona’s Director Nandra Perry told ENS. “And the dioceses we work with started coming to us and saying, ‘We would really like to use this curriculum to train lay preachers.’ And we looked at what we had and said, ‘We think we can help you build that!’” “Now, it’s Iona’s growing edge,” she added. “And more and more Iona schools are offering lay formation of some kind.” In fact, she said, the vast majority of the dioceses they work with — currently 32 across the U.S. and the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa — offer some type of lay certification program. For the one-year lay certificate programs, Iona provides the curriculum — reading materials and lectures — and a combination of Zoom-based and in-person weekend meetings, with the latter held in local partner dioceses lessening the burden of travel and days off work. Iona works closely with the deans of the diocesan schools of formation to provide tailor-made programs to serve the needs of each partner diocese, Perry said. While some of the modifications have to with things like what the courses cover and how often they meet in person, others have a more broad-reaching impact, such as providing an effective Spanish-language curricula. Perry explained that originally Iona simply translated or subtitled all of its materials into Spanish, but after working with the West Coast Collaborative Episcopal School for Ministry, which serves the dioceses of Northern California, El Camino Real and San Diego, “we learned that’s just a Band-Aid because Spanish-language preachers are coming from – and preaching in – a different cultural context,” she said. “What counts as effective preaching is quite different.” As a result, she said, readings and other aspects of the program within that school of formation were adjusted to reflect this reality. Instead of “bridging a gap,” Perry considers the lay certification program an investment in the future of those smaller congregations, one that gives aspiring lay leaders the tools and confidence they need to succeed without sending them far afield. Gilbert, of St. Paul’s in St. Joseph, is one of those lay leaders. In 2023, she enrolled in a lay preaching program offered through her diocese’s Academy for Vocational Leadership in partnership with Iona. She said that throughout the 10-month course, she attended three of the weekend sessions via Zoom and the rest at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan, a three-hour drive from her home. And even though she had been preaching for years, she said the coursework made her better at it. “To use an illustration from music,” she said, “it doesn’t matter how gifted you are musically, your teacher is still going to make you practice scales. Before the course I absolutely produced acceptable homilies. But [preaching class instructor the Rev. Tracie Little] basically made us practice scales by teaching us different methodologies and models and listening to each other identify and read different parts […]

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay conveyed heartfelt prayers, fraternal solidarity, and warmest wishes for the speedy and full recovery of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV. 

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay has called for a mission grounded in justice, reconciliation, humility, and mutual partnership in a message to the General Assembly of Evangelische Mission Weltweit (EMW), the Association of Protestant Churches and Mission Germany, on 15 October.

The United Methodist Church continued to see its U.S. membership slide in 2025. But data collected by the denomination’s administrative agency also shows signs of growth.

As November 3 approaches, the NCC calls upon all people of faith and goodwill to recommit themselves to the principles that sustain a just and inclusive society. We call upon our member communions to speak with moral clarity against political violence, voter suppression, racial hatred, and deliberate deception, whatever their source, and to embody that commitment through prayer, preaching, education, dialogue, and community engagement.

The post NCC Calls on People of Faith to Vote and Protect the Voting Rights of Others first appeared on National Council of Churches.

We call on our communities to engage in healthy patriotism: to disagree civilly, to uphold honesty, humility, and charity as ideals for public service, and to promote respect for others’ dignity in all aspects of our national life, especially in safeguarding religious freedom.

The post Recommitment to Religious Freedom first appeared on National Council of Churches.

The Governing Board of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) expresses its deep concern for the worsening humanitarian situation in Cuba and stands in […]

The post Humanitarian Situation in Cuba: A Call to Ecumenical Solidarity, Compassion, and Action first appeared on National Council of Churches.

National Council of Churches has opposed the death penalty since 1968, when our General Board called for its abolition by unanimous vote and warned that “institutionalized disregard for the sanctity of human life contributes to the brutalization of society.” Every execution wounds that sanctity, and an execution staged for an audience wounds it more gravely still, wearing away the moral ground on which any civilized people must stand.

The post A Call to Choose Mercy Over Spectacle: Opposing the Livestreamed Execution at Fort Hood first appeared on National Council of Churches.

The watchword for the week: Sing to the Lord, bless God’s name; tell of God’s salvation from day to day.   Psalm 96:2 We thank you, dear God; let the people shout their joy. We praise you for your freely given love and the gift of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. May we live our praise […]

The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) Governing Board convened for the 2026 Christian Unity Gathering (CUG), held here October 12–16 to discuss pressing concerns facing churches, communities, and public life in the United States and around the world. Following these deliberations, the Governing Board approved four statements affirming the NCC’s commitment to Christian unity, human dignity, religious liberty, and civic responsibility. 

The post National Council of Churches Governing Board Issues Statements on Religious Freedom, Public Execution, Cuba and Election Integrity During 2026 Christian Unity Gathering first appeared on National Council of Churches.