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Christmas Nativity scenes are as commonplace in December as fireworks in July and apple orchards in the fall. The symbols are universal: a babe in a manger, a doting mother and father, shepherds, a star… but this year some Nativity scenes, including one previously displayed at the Vatican, have included a new feature. The keffiyeh…

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As the Christmas season continues in full swing, pastors and congregations prepare for the influx of church visitors who will make their way to Christmas services this year. Pastors identified Christmas as the second-highest attendance day for church services, according to a study by Lifeway Research, with Easter being in first place and Mothers’ Day…

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Churches continue to recover after shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decreased in-person attendance. One church that is seeing pre-pandemic recovery is Orthodox churches. In 2022, Orthodox churches saw a 78% increase in converts compared to numbers in 2019. Even more surprisingly, many of these converts are young men and many are coming from…

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A groundbreaking fusion of faith and technology has taken the Christian world by storm. Miguel Ángel Omaña Rojas, a tech expert from Mexico, has used artificial intelligence to reconstruct what he believes is a realistic image of the Virgin Mary as a teenager prior to giving birth to Jesus Christ. His work draws inspiration from…

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As churches continue to struggle with financial fallout from the 2020 pandemic, a debate has cropped up on whether a church should require tithing. The concept of tithing, paying 10% of one’s income to a church, comes from the Bible, with Abraham giving a tenth to the mysterious priest, Melchizedek and later in Genesis 28,…

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