NEW YORK (ABP) – Metro Baptist Church in New York is neither very big nor housed in a very impressive facility. But the small, scrappy worshiping community and its associated ministry center have an impact far beyond its gritty urban…
Photo competition aids Haiti, honors Baptist photojournalist
MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (ABP) — A photo exhibit and competition sponsored by a church near Richmond, Va., will raise money for victims of last January’s devastating earthquake in Haiti and honor an award-winning photojournalist whose work illustrated decades of Baptist mission endeavors. The…
AU urges IRS to probe church; calls for end to National Day of Prayer
WASHINGTON (ABP) — A church-state watchdog group says the Internal Revenue Service should investigate whether a New York church violated federal tax law by endorsing a Democrat running for governor. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a group…
Video of women’s rights meeting posted online
ORLANDO, Fla. (ABP) — Video of an evangelical women's-rights convention that this summer demanded an apology for teaching deemed harmful to women is now available on the Internet. Held July 24 in Orlando, Fla., the gathering of a small group…
Who are evangelicals?
(ABP) — When evangelist Billy Graham, social activist Jim Wallis, pastor Rick Warren, theologian Al Mohler and author Brian McLaren all can fit under the umbrella term “evangelical,” some theological and cultural observers wonder if the term has lost its…
Moderate Baptists uneasy about evangelical baggage
(ABP) — Are supporters of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and Mainstream Baptist groups evangelicals? The answer is yes and no. Formed in reaction to the Southern Baptist Convention’s shift to the far right in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both…
Definitions of ‘evangelical’ vary
(ABP) — The National Association of Evangelicals and Christian researcher George Barna offer two definitions of the term "evangelical." The National Association of Evangelicals has a seven-point statement of faith. Members affirm they believe: • The Bible is the inspired,…
Congregations struggle to become diverse, retain diversity
WACO, Texas (ABP) — More than a half-century after Martin Luther King Jr., declared 11 a.m. on Sunday the most segregated hour in America, nine in 10 congregations still have a single racial group that accounts for more than 80 percent…
California Baptists advise churches to add marriage definition to bylaws
FRESNO, Calif. (ABP) — The California Southern Baptist Convention is offering advice that churches revise their bylaws to anticipate possible changes in the legal definition of marriage. An article on the convention website advises that "a simple bylaw amendment can…