The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to churches, but it also helped them sift through outdated programming and policies to reinvent ministry going forward, according to panelists of “Expanding Engagement in the Local Church,” an Aug. 25 workshop of the Cooperative…
Pastors ponder pandemic preaching problems — and how they’ve survived
Preaching has been radically different and difficult for Pastor Cheryl Adamson since March 2020, and not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The parallel scourges of police brutality, political subjugation and racial oppression faced by African Americans, and exacerbated by…
Panelists make the Christian case against conversion therapy: It harms people
Ministries that promise to transform gay people into straight people instead cause immense spiritual, emotional and physical trauma that can take decades of counseling to undo, according to the panelists on an Aug. 24 BNG webinar titled “The Christian Case…
COVID has dramatically changed the experience of global missionaries
American missionaries serving in far-away places continue to endure significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including limits on travel and in-person ministry, a scarcity of international volunteers and in some cases feelings of guilt for being vaccinated in communities…
Baptists worldwide uniting to offer aid to Haiti as challenges mount
Baptist organizations from around the world are joining forces to provide financial, material and spiritual care to Haitians reeling from the Aug. 14 earthquake that killed at least 2,200, injured more than 12,000 and flattened tens of thousands of homes,…
Hashtags won’t defeat white Christian nationalism, panelists warn
Ongoing efforts by white Christian nationalists to destabilize American democracy must be met with the courage and grassroots activism made famous by the 1960s Civil Rights movement, panelists said during the second of two Aug. 18 webinars on the movement….
Attacks on Critical Race Theory didn’t come out of nowhere, panelists say
Recent attacks against Critical Race Theory are simply the latest expression of the white Christian nationalism that also inspired the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill and subsequent voter-suppression efforts around the nation, writer and historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez…
Flint congregation finds strength through Wellness Check Wednesdays
DeVontae Powell could see last summer that he and his Baptist congregation in Flint, Mich., would have to take mental health seriously if they were to get through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and two human-generated disasters afflicting the…
American officials say Kazakhstan moving in right direction on religious freedom but still restricts minority groups, including Baptists
American officials are praising the Republic of Kazakhstan for considering religious freedom reforms that would help prevent the spread of extremism in Central Asia, hold off the political influence of neighboring China and enable minority faith groups, including Baptists, to…
Americans are deeply divided over the need for racial healing and how to talk about the nation’s past
Americans remain intensely split over the pace and need for racial healing more than a year after the police killing of George Floyd unleashed massive social and political upheaval, new research shows. The Pew Research Center also has found deep…
Understand the humanity of the Dreamers, DACA recipient urges
Wanting secure borders and other controls shouldn’t require Americans to judge immigrants harshly or use denigrating language to label them, a DACA recipient said during a national immigration forum Aug. 11. “Even if people … can’t understand immigrants or why…
Yes, churches survived the first year of the pandemic, but overall giving continues to decline and adaptation is needed
Congregations must reimagine ministries, repurpose facilities and reinvent donor appeals if churches are to survive the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the continuing decline of religion in the 21st century. That was the advice offered by two panelists in…