Arlen White isn’t much one for slowing down. The 81-year-old Texan has been everything from a bus ministry director and counselor to a disaster relief leader and a county judge since “retiring” as a public school basketball coach in 1986….
Baptist-Muslim scholar swap produces dialogue on Jesus, the Trinity and religious violence
A scholar swap between a Baptist seminary in Georgia and an Islamic university in India uncovered a mirror image of mistrust and confusion between Christians and Muslims in both countries. The professors — Loyd Allen of Mercer University’s McAfee School of…
Relief groups face major task in Houston flooding: reaching the victims
Baptist and other faith-based organizations are descending on the Houston area following last week’s torrential rains and flooding. And the biggest job confronting them, experts say, is determining who needs help and how to get it to them. “We are…
Covenant of action inspires churches to social justice
Two very different Dallas churches inspired by callings for social justice are surmounting racial and geographical differences to minister to their city’s poor. Friendship-West Baptist and Wilshire Baptist churches came together formally in 2014 with a covenant of action through…
Pilgrimage making comeback — even with Baptists and unbelievers
Baptists and many other Protestant Christians are gradually embracing ancient physical practices that nurture spiritual growth. “I have a friend, a Baptist pastor, who makes his own prayer beads and I carry prayer beads in my pocket all the time,”…
As Millennials leave the church, some youth ministers ponder ‘scary stats’
Nearly six in 10 Millennials who grow up in churches leave to join the growing ranks of Americans with no religious affiliation, new research shows. That spells confusing and scary times not only for congregations worried about their futures, but…
Folksy Quaker author bringing ‘front porch’ wisdom to historic Baptist church
Even Quakers are experiencing the cultural challenges besetting many Christian groups. But that doesn’t worry them too much, said Quaker pastor, writer and speaker Philip Gulley. “I don’t think the goal of Christianity should be its ongoingness,” said Gulley, author…
Baptist leaders wonder: Can congregational polity weather cultural challenges?
The way Jay Kieve sees it, the congregational form of church governance is ideally suited to enable congregations to who they really are, where they are. “It’s genius,” Kieve said, “is that its spirit works … so each church is…
Faith coalition cites survey condemning payday lending practices
Religious opponents of payday lending got a boost Wednesday from the release of a new research confirming widespread Christian condemnation of the practice. Faith for Just Lending, a diverse coalition of faith groups, released a report titled The Collateral Consequences…