IV – Know – Page 13

Fewer American Adults Are Engaging the Bible

Photo credit: Ben White, Unsplash In a time when 90% of the world’s population has access to the Christian sacred text of the Bible, a declining number of adults consider it a foundation of their lives. “Today, just 1 in 10 Gen Z adults regularly engages with the Bible,” says John Farquhar Plake, chief ministry insights officer of the American Bible Society.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness: How Long Does It Take to Read the Bible? ]

Alistair Begg, author and senior pastor of Cleveland’s Parkside Church, laments the diminishing role of Scripture in congregational life, warning that modern churchgoers often arrive not with a sense of reverence but with a consumerist mindset and calls for a return to “serious engagement with the Bible.” He says, “I’m not sure that America understands just how deep the problem is, in relationship to biblical illiteracy. You cannot continue to make your journey through life without your Bible—not as a talisman, not as something just to be revered in a corner—but without the Bible as our daily source of knowledge and encounter with God.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Spiritual Fitness: Top 12 Acts for a Christian ]

America’s preteens are not being raised in an environment that honors the Bible or presents its message, according to George Barna, director of research at the Cultural Research Center of Arizona Christian University. The lack of such spiritual formation means “we are on the precipice of Christian invisibility,” he says. His research shows just 21% of preteens believe in the existence of “absolute moral truths” that “are unchanging and knowable.” Only one in four agree the Bible is the true word of God.

[ Read how SemperVerus encourages you to live all facets of your life with a biblical worldview ]

“Biblical worldview incidence has declined with each of the last five generations. During that time, the national incidence of adults holding a biblical worldview has plummeted from 12% to today’s 4% level.”

Mental Health Toolkit: A Free Resource for Self-Defense and Church Security

Photo credit: Stormseeker, Unsplash Mental illnesses are common in the United States, affecting more than one in five US adults (57.8 million in 2021), according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Estimates suggest that only half of people with mental illnesses receive treatment.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Church Security: How to Identify 25 Common Mental Health Behaviors ]

With your involvement in church security/safety, you’ve likely witnessed the growing struggles with mental health evidenced in unusual behavior by some in your services and among people in your congregation, since church is where broken people are drawn to find meaning in their lives.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, A Prayer for Church Security Team Members ]

Recognizing the signs of common mental health challenges is crucial for responding appropriately when disruptions occur.

A Treasure Trove of Gun Information: The Defensive Use of Firearms Website

The website you ABSOLUTELY MUST bookmark if you are at all interested in learning as much as you can about self-defense and firearm insight is spwenger’s Defensive Use of Firearms.

It’s founded and maintained by Stephen P. Wenger, whose extensive credentials include hundreds of hours of law enforcement, self-defense, lethal force, armorer, public safety, and threat management training and teaching. He created the site in response to his frustration with seeing erroneous defensive tactics being taught by firearms instructors.

Along with the website, Mr. Wenger publishes the DUF Digest, a comprehensive examination of the practicalities and realities of the use of firearms for defensive purposes in a free, daily email digest of firearm-related news (subscribe at this list server site). He is also the author of the book, Defensive Use of Firearms (also see book information on Snub Gun Study Group), which he offers as a free PDF download.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Directory: Informative Free Email Newsletters From a Variety of Sources ]

The website’s valuable information is organized in the following categories:

Church Security: How to Identify 25 Common Mental Health Behaviors

Church security teams serve their congregations by overseeing the safety and decorum of church gatherings. Part of the training for team members includes the ability to quickly and correctly assess the reasons behind the disruptive behaviors of individuals during those events.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Self-Defense and Church Security: Make Scanning Your Priority ]

Determining whether a person is unruly due to a mental health crisis or to an intentional violent motive will influence the proper response required to keep the peace.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Chart: The Spectrum of Potential Threat Personas in Self-Defense and Church Security ]

The ministry Spiritual First Aid^™ offers the free PDF resource, 25 Common Mental Health Fact Sheets, that helps identify the signs, symptoms, and triggers of mental health conditions people may struggle with; it’s a tool that can assist security team members in ascertaining whether de-escalation tactics or more extreme measures are necessary.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Gentle Response De-Escalation Training for Church Security Teams ]

For example, the fact sheet on Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) states that this “is a mental health condition characterized by recurrent, sudden episodes of impulsive, aggressive, violent behavior, or angry verbal outbursts that are disproportionate to the situation. These episodes are typically brief and may result in physical harm to others, damage to property, or significant emotional distress, and they often lead to feelings of remorse or regret afterwards.”

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Tactical Training for Individuals and Church Security Teams to Thwart Active Violence Incidents (Part 2 ]

This comprehensive set of 25 fact sheets offers insights on the following topics: