Today

Daily Briefing: Jordan Strikes Syria After Church Killings as Israel Counts a Deadlocked Vote

By The FaithDaily Desk

Good morning. Jordan carried out airstrikes in Syria on Monday in response to an attack last week on a Greek Orthodox church that killed nine people, Charisma News reported. Jordan said more than 20 Islamic State militants were killed in the strikes, which took place in southern Syria after it linked the church attack to the group.

The violence fell against the backdrop of a contested vote next door. Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday in their first national election since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Christianity Today reported. Turnout reached nearly 78 percent, the highest in more than 25 years. Yet no party came ahead as a clear winner, leaving a deadlock the outlet says could take weeks to resolve. Christians in the country are among those awaiting the result.

In England, a new report urges the Church of England to cut its mainland dioceses from 40 to about 30, to spend less on administration, and to give deaneries control over substantial church funds, according to Anglican Ink. A diocese is the area overseen by a bishop; a deanery is a smaller grouping of parishes within it. The report warns that expanding management and shrinking parish ministry have placed the institution under strain.

In the United States, The Gospel Coalition looked at congregations that are growing while others shrink. Thousands of Americans are leaving church — "dechurching," in the outlet's phrase — yet some churches are baptising many new members, and the piece sets out the practices of the country's most evangelistically effective congregations.

Separately, Charisma News examined a Pentagon planning effort to keep US forces operating through as long as 90 days without dependable electricity, framing the scenario as a test of readiness for ordinary families.

Two further pieces turned to the screen. Christianity Today published a reflection, adapted from Russell Moore's newsletter, on lying and liars, drawn from the work of Nathan Fielder. A second Christianity Today article noted that the supernatural is selling at the box office, pointing to Obsession, which it calls the summer's highest-grossing horror film and the fifth most profitable of all time.