Reaching, Retaining, and Releasing Post-College Emerging Adults: Profiles of Evangelical Congregations With Extraordinary Levels of Older Emerging Adult Participation

Reviewed by: Ever Ancient, Ever New by Winfield Bevins Rhoda Schuler Ever Ancient, Ever New. By Winfield Bevins. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2019. 219 pp. Correction: In this review, the name of the author of Ever Ancient, Ever New was transposed. It should read Winfield Bevins. The online version has been corrected. Research into the phenomenon of evangelical Millennials and Gen-Xers embracing liturgical communities of faith is driven by this author's own narrative of growing up in the free church tradition but of finding his way into the Anglican tradition. He addresses the research question, "What is the allure of liturgy for a new [End Page 113] generation?" in three main sections: "foundations, journeys, and practices" (18). The first asks why young evangelicals are attracted to liturgy; the second "examines various paths . . . leading them into embracing liturgy"; and the third focuses on "practices" for daily living (21). Each chapter concludes with "reflection questions and practices" (43), included to help the reader "find fresh ways of exploring and engaging with these historic practices in meaningful ways" (22). Thus, his primary audience is free church evangelicals who, like him, have grown tired of "a passive consumerist Christianity where the church is 'all about me' and my wants and needs"—a Christian spirituality and life formed by worship that is primarily "entertainment" (191). While written for a general audience, the lack of description of the author's research methodology is a weakness. Still, he defines "young adult"—a term used widely—as "those born from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s" (20). We get a clue to his sample size when he thanks "the dozens of young adults" interviewed (209). He states that his sample comes "from across the United States, all of them from radically different Christian traditions" (33). Nowhere does he provide any details supporting these claims. While I agree with his assertion that "Liturgy . . . is one of the best ways for us to make disciples in a postmodern context" (207), his evidence is anecdotal and supports his own experience. In the first section, interviews revealed eight reasons for the "allure of liturgy," many related to a post-modern context. The liturgy, as "embodied" and "tactile," is holistic (33) and sacramental (39–40); liturgy evokes "a sense of mystery" that "transcends any single culture" (34–35). Young people today are rootless and thus looking for "historical rootedness" and "an anchor" in the midst of "constant change" (41). They are seeking "a countercultural faith" (37) yet a "gracious orthodoxy," defined as "correct belief" that is held "in a way that is 'full of grace'" (40). He defines and describes liturgy. It "tells a story," "forms us," and, most powerfully, "is participatory" (48–54). A chapter covers the beauty of creeds and catechesis as he narrates his path to the ancient treasures of the church. He concludes that the certainty (of beliefs) and "identity within community" offered by historic Christianity create the allure of liturgy (69). [End Page 114] Section two narrates stories of evangelicals migrating to the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican faiths; of young people drawn to monastic writings, communities, and practices; and of "neo-liturgical churches," that is, evangelical congregations following aspects of the historic liturgy and celebrating the Lord's Supper weekly. More stories populate chapter seven, in which he attempts to show that the discovery of liturgy by charismatics and evangelicals may provide a path toward Christian unity (153). The final section begins by describing the value of such things as the daily office and lectio divina. More anecdotal evidence supports his claim that "this generation is reaching the world through mission rooted in liturgy" (176). In the final chapter, the author, with the zeal of a convert, discusses ways in which the liturgy can form families and support their faith development in the home. For those long-suffering lovers of liturgy, there are only old treasures in this book. Yet, criticisms of "contemporary" worship made for decades by serious liturgical scholars may be what is new, for the author critiques his tradition from the inside. Hence, a possible audience may be leaders in historic liturgical denominations who have sold their birthright of living baptismal waters...

This article explores fatherhood in evangelical Christianity in the United Kingdom, using a case study of the evangelical movement Newfrontiers, a network with nearly 200 U.K. churches that has been relatively successful against a backdrop of declining church attendance in Britain. Material from the movement’s public discourse and participant observation and interviews in a local congregation are examined to explore how these Christians understand and practice fatherhood. Like evangelicals in the United States, Newfrontiers combine older ideas about responsible, breadwinner fatherhood with new concepts of emotionally involved fathering. Like American evangelicals, they aim to maintain biblical values while embracing contemporary culture in order to be relevant to society. What is noticeable is that despite the more traditional ideals their leaders advocate, evangelical congregations’ fatherhood ideals and practices are very similar to those of mainstream U.K. society. Thus, the article concludes that mainstream culture is exercising a greater influence on British evangelicals than theology.

Background: Today the Dutch religious landscape is characterized by two opposite trends. On the one hand, there is a massive and dominant trend of religious disaffiliation which mostly affects the Roman Catholic Church and the mainline Protestant churches, while on the other hand the Netherlands also witnesses the emergence of several independent, evangelical congregations of near megachurch size. Purpose: Against the background of these opposite trends, this paper focuses on the second trend and tries to explain why some people join an evangelical congregation. Methods: For this purpose, quantitative data gathered among the audiences of six thriving evangelical congregations are analyzed in view of the following research questions: (1) What was the previous religious affiliation of the people who switched or converted to one of the six participating evangelical congregations? and (2) Which factors induced the switch or conversion to these congregations? Results: Results of bivariate and multivariate analyses show that these congregations attract both mainline and orthodox Protestant switchers as well as a significant number of secular converts, whose decision to join these evangelical congregations is induced by early socialization experiences, their intrinsic religious orientation and the switching of their partner. Closer scrutiny into the background of the apparent secular converts reveals, however, that several of these converts are probably re-affiliates. Although these secular converts indicated to be a religious none in their early teens, their conversion to evangelicalism is in part still induced by certain, early religious socialization experiences. Conclusions and Implications: This insight puts the alleged success of these evangelical congregations in more perspective. It shows that their success is more a matter of circulating, religious believers and not so much a matter of successfully reaching out to the unchurched. In all likelihood, then, thriving evangelical congregations will remain an exception in secular societies like the Netherlands and evangelical church growth in no way marks a break with the ongoing trend of religious disaffiliation.

In the United States, white evangelicalism has long been associated with both suburbanization and proselytization. However, the way that religious groups understand and engage broader culture may change based on time and context. Drawing on 158 interviews from attenders of 46 evangelical congregations in Grand Rapids, MI, we analyze how these congregations differentially engage their urban and suburban neighborhoods. The vast majority of white evangelical congregations offer some mode of local social engagement. We develop a typology of three white evangelical mission orientations—Benefactor, Recruiter, and Therapist—based on the primary resources that these congregations offer to attenders and their communities. Beyond that, we argue that evangelical social engagement is somewhat determined by geography (Embedded versus Disembedded presence), that there has been a routinized convergence of service types provided by churches from different strains of evangelicalism that is explained by isomorphism, and that many evangelical congregations now embrace an intentional urbanism. As religious and demographic trends have shifted in the U.S., white evangelicals have adapted in ways that both accommodate these larger social changes while also maintaining a type of engagement that resonates with their cultural tool kit. [Evangelicalism, cities, suburbs, religious presence, congregations, race, United States]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the conduct of clinic visits. We conducted a study to evaluate two academic laboratories' fingerstick capillary blood collection kits suitable for home use for laboratory measurement of HbA1c. Methods: Four clinical sites recruited 240 participants (aged 4-80 years, HbA1c 5.1%-13.5%). Capillary blood samples were obtained by the participant or parent using collection kits from two laboratories (University of Minnesota Advanced Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (ARDL) and Children's Mercy Hospital Laboratory (CMH)) and mailed under varying shipping conditions by United States Postal Service to the laboratories. Comparisons were made between HbA1c measurements from capillary samples and contemporaneously obtained venous samples. The primary outcome was percentage of capillary HbA1c values within 5% of the corresponding venous values. Results: HbA1c values were within 5% of venous values for 96% of ARDL kit specimens shipped with a cold pack and 98% without a cold pack and 99% and 99%, respectively, for the CMH kits. R2 values were 0.98, 0.99, 0.99, and 0.99, respectively. Results appeared similar across HbA1c levels and for pediatric and adult participants. Usability survey scores were high. Conclusions: Capillary blood collection kits, suitable for home use, from two academic laboratories, were demonstrated to be easy to use and provided results that are comparable with those obtained from venous specimens. Based on these results, there is strong evidence that HbA1c measurements from capillary specimens obtained with these specific kits can be used interchangeably with HbA1c measurements from venous specimens for clinical research and clinical care.

Cultivating a Constituency for Conservation

In the United States, white evangelicals are more economically conservative than other Americans. It is commonly assumed that white evangelicals oppose redistributive social policies because of their individualistic theology. Yet Canadian evangelicals are just as supportive of redistributive social policy as other Canadians, even though they share the same tools of conservative Protestant theology. To solve this puzzle, I use multi‐sited ethnography to compare how two evangelical congregations in the United States and Canada talked about poverty and the role of government. In both countries, evangelicals made sense of their religious responsibilities to “the poor” by reference to national identity. Evangelicals used their theological tools differently in the United States and Canada because different visions of national solidarity served as cultural anchors for religious discourse about poverty. To understand the political and civic effects of religion, scholars need to consider the varied ways that religious groups imagine national community within religious practice.

Development of a Patient Reported Outcome Daily Diary to Assess Symptom Burden in Sickle Cell Disease

e17586 Background: According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), approximately 3 percent of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials despite the NCCN guidelines frequently recommending clinical trials as standard of care in many circumstances (Mooney, 2010). In a large analysis of NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) trials, 40 percent of trials failed to achieve minimum enrollment, including 3 of 5 phase III trials (Cheng, 2010). Additionally, concerns about unequal access to clinical trials led Congress to enact the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act 20 years ago (June 10, 1993). Using data from Ipsos’ Tandem Oncology Monitor, a robust, nationwide system that collects actual prescriptions and clinical trial participation by indication from 500 oncologists and hematologists from the United States, we evaluated current participation and ethnic diversity in clinical trials. Methods: We assessed adult clinical trial participation from October 2011 to September 2012. Age, ethnicity and practice type were also collected to identify descriptive trends. Results: With regards to indication, clinical trial participation ranged from 1 percent (prostate, renal cell and head and neck) to 12 percent (thyroid) averaging between 2 and 3 percent. We observed a decline in first-line metastatic melanoma participation between pre- and post- vemurafenib/ipilimumab approval (9%-pre versus 2%-post). Patient diversity results are included in the Table. Conclusions: Despite efforts to increase oncology clinical trial participation, we have observed overall low clinical trial participation. Additionally, we observed better trial participation in the youngest age groups and minor differences between ethnic categories. Continued focus on increasing trial participation and patient diversity is still needed. [Table: see text]

In response to recent shifts in the global economy, there has been a growing academic interest in adult education and training (AET), enabling adults to meet the ever-changing demands of the workforce. However, empirical findings offer nuanced evidence on the most influential factors among various aspects. This study aims to reexamine the previously highlighted determinants of job-related AET participation using the random forest classifiers technique. The data is drawn from the 2017 U.S. Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, where we selected 1,334 respondents with work experience in the last 12 months. Our findings suggest that age and skills use at work were found to be the most important factors for formal AET, whereas skills use at work and organization size were the most significant factors for nonformal AET. Our results emphasize the critical role of skills utilization and organizational support in working adults’ participation in AET.

The evangelical congregations in Bačka and in Srem were visited for the first time in 1789. The later returns from the visitations in 1810 and 1818 are mostly not preserved in the Slovak church congregations in Vojvodina, while the visitation returns of the Slovak Evangelical congregations in Bačka, Srem and Banat in 1835 and 1836 are digitized and available. In this work, we deal with the research of the visitation records of the evangelical church congregation in Hajdušica, belonging to the Banat seniorate, which was part of the Banský dištrikt/superintendancy with its headquarters in Banská Bystrica. The first Slovak Evangelicals immigrated to Hajdušica in 1824 from the Nitra County. A significant number of Slovaks immigrated from Padina in 1826. Until 1829, Slovak evangelicals from Hajdušica belonged to the Padina church congregation and then became independent. The first canonical visitation in the Hajdušica church congregation was conducted by superintendent Ján Seberíni in 1836. The returnes of this visitation were written in Latin. The ecclesiastical visitation in 1887 was conducted by superintendent Gustáv Seberíni. These second examined returns were written in contemporary Slovak. Through these returns from ecclesiastical visitations made by church dignitaries, father and son, we follow the development of the evangelical congregation in Hajdušica over a span of 50 years. We also used other relevant literature to supplement some facts.

This paper focuses on the use of what I call popular-secular music in contemporary American evangelical church worship services. I explore why some of these American churches are using mainstream music in their worship service that is not identified with Christian religious culture and/or has no overt religious references. Evangelical congregations often employ popular-secular music to find and proclaim their identity as Christian communities. Given the role of music in identifying social location and preserving identity, it is curious that some congregations opt to adopt popular music and secular lyrics. The following research and interviews show that the ways in which the evangelical congregations are using music demonstrates their particular understandings of the line between the sacred world and the secular world—as well as how they negotiate the boundary between sacred and secular music.

ABSTRACTChristianity has been the inspiration for a variety of responses to economic inequality in the United States and beyond. However, evangelicalism has been associated in the literature with consistent justification of unequal economic circumstances. To investigate how evangelical leaders confront the conflict between inequality and egalitarian passages of the Bible, I conducted a sermon analysis study of New River, a Midwestern suburban megachurch, leveraging their sermon archive of 395 recorded messages spanning 10 years. New River's pastors justified economic inequality in several ways: proclaiming that God did not condemn ownership of vast wealth; minimizing domestic inequality in comparison to global inequality; selectively spiritualizing economic passages of the Bible; and saying that God owns everything and thus the status quo distribution is justified. My findings provide a detailed portrait of the process of evangelical clergy inequality justification and discussion of the social forces that incentivize justifying inequality.

21 - Religion and culture In psychiatry: Christian and secular psychiatric theory and practice in the United States

Quality of Life in Patients with Clinically Severe Von Willebrand Disease: Interim Analysis of Athn 9: A Natural History Study for People with Severe Von Willebrand Disease (VWD)