Saturday religious news link farm

• Tampa Bay Online: Thousands of Churches celebrate this 'International Day of Climate Action':

  Saturday is International Day of Climate Action. [The Rev. Sue] Sherwood's church [Good Samaritan Church in Pinellas Park, Fla.] is among thousands of religious congregations and other groups worldwide that will take part in the 350.org initiative to draw attention to climate change.

• Christian Science Monitor: Where is the dog in the Obama family portrait?

  This image [Made by Annie Leibovitz] provided by the White House shows President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters, Malia, second from left, and Sasha, sitting for a family portrait in the Green Room of the White House, on Sept. 1, 2009.

• Orange County Register: When did USSR-born former swimsuit model Orly Taitz become a citizen? No lawsuit filed.
• Baptist Press: Gay hate-crimes bill could punish Christians, foes say : This story is not quite a Family Research Council news release. Using an inflammatory headline and once more surveying Christian Right opponents, BP ultimately provides a relatively balanced story, correctly concluding:

  According to the hate-crimes language in the bill, it "applies to violent acts motivated by actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of a victim."

  Christian Post gives almost the same survey of opponents a slightly different twist.

• USAToday: Celibacy a deal-breaker for some Anglicans: "I find the lack of a permanent provision for a married priesthood to be a serious obstacle to unity," said Anglican Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth, who has considered joining the Catholic church in the past.
• Christian Science Monitor: University blasts in Pakistan and the future of Islam:

  Lund, Sweden - When the Taliban attacked the International Islamic University in Pakistan this week, many were shocked that militants were targeting an Islamic school. In fact, the double suicide bombers were going after a university that is at the forefront of changing the way Islamic and Western knowledge are brought together in the Muslim world.

• Associated Baptist Press: Next two CBF assemblies to celebrate 20 years of 'Fellowship movement'

Economic trouble has come to churches & their congregations

A rapidly growing percent of churches may be sliding into economic difficulty, judging from the results of a February survey by the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA).

Church mission activity cutbacks have more than doubled in the past six months, keeping pace with other economy-related financial difficulties, found the NACBA survey of 800 churches in the U.S. and Canada.

The percent curtailing mission activities more than doubled from 10% in August, 2008, to 24% in February, 2009. So did the percent who said "their church was definitely having economy-related financial difficulties," which more than doubled from 14% in August to 32% in February.

Fully 47% said staff benefits had been frozen or cut at their church, which was more than double the 18% reported in August.

Similarly, "20 percent said they had staff layoffs, and 26 percent reported postponing a major capital project."

Despite those cautionary numbers, most churches are apparently still is good shape. In response to questions on the same survey, 63 percent "said their church saw giving stay the same or climb in 2008 over the previous year. "

“I think we are starting to see more pain felt -- although nothing like in the private sector,” NACBA deputy chief executive and a veteran Baptist church administrator Phil Martin told the Associated Baptist Press. He noted that regional economic differences are having an impact on how churches fare from region to region.

The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship announced last week that starting March 1, it would cut spending by 20 percent, cut partner funding by 30 percent, cut staff salaries by one percent and implement other cutbacks in anticipation of "worst-case" economic outcomes.

In Sioux City, Iowa, the economy forced 120-year-old Our Savior's Lutheran Church to close its doors. The church held its final service Sunday, with a special luncheon afterward.

Sundaythe Rev. Deb Kociban's at First United Methodist Church in McKeesport, Penn., prayed, "We are anxious, Lord. Help us to set aside the things that are bothering us."

The Pittsburg Tribune-Review wrote:

One by one, congregants raised their hands when she asked if they knew someone in need of individual prayer because of illness, family struggles, lost jobs or other difficulties.

Tony Cartledge found in it all, as faithful men often do, hope:

Successful dieters rejoice when they can tighten their belts and exercise longer. Perhaps some serious revisiting of vision and resources can lead churches and organizations to develop leaner, broader based, and more effective ministries.

Perhaps those of us who survive will do so personally as well.