DIDCOT, England (ABP) — Baptist life in Great Britain entered a new stage this week under a new leader and with a new website and magazine aimed at rebranding the 122-year-old Baptist Union of Great Britain. Lynn Green Lynn Green,…
Suburban church hosts birthday bash for homeless in Richmond’s center city
POWHATAN, Va. — Powhatan Community Church threw a birthday party for 130 people Aug. 31 — all of them homeless. It was held in Richmond’s Monroe Park with plenty of cake, ice cream and birthday gifts. The event is one…
ERLC defends sectarian public prayer in legal brief filed with Supreme Court
(ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 2 defending prayers offered in Jesus’ name at government meetings. The first legal brief filed since Russell Moore took…
HeraldBeat: Tracking Baptists across the Mid-Atlantic
Accepted a new call? Been ordained? Church celebrating an anniversary? Mission trip or project that you would like highlighted on the HeraldBeat page? Send info to HeraldBeat editor Barbara Francis at [email protected]. Transitions ON THE MOVE Ronnie Kiehm, to Farmville…
Baptist ethicist signs sex abuse petition
(ABP) — Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., added his signature to “A Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ” posted July 17 by Godly Response to Abuse in the…
Reza Aslan defends controversial new book on Jesus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For the third time, Jesus is about to change Reza Aslan’s life. As a teenager, Aslan turned to Jesus in an evangelical youth group, where becoming a Christian made him feel like a real American. He…
Church gets creative when Braille hymnal is called for, launches team of volunteers to meet need
RICHMOND — As First Baptist Church in Richmond prepared to introduce its new hymnal, Celebrating Grace, to the congregation nearly two years ago, it realized there wasn’t a Braille application for the new hymnal or plans to produce one. The…
WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter
Resurrection Year, by Sheridan Voysey (Thomas Nelson) After long, agonizing rounds of IVF and with no pregnancy to show for it, Sheridan and Merryn Voysey recognized that their hope for a child would not be realized. Voysey tells their…
Removal of song from a hymnal because of reference to an atonement theory is drawing the ire of some
(ABP) — The wrath of God has become a point of contention since news broke that a new Presbyterian hymnal passed on the popular title In Christ Alone for theological reasons. “Why do many Christians shrink from any thought of…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Should churches make space available to outside groups?
Sooner or later every church has to decide whether it will make its building available for outside groups to use. The following Suggested Facility Use Covenant is a suggestion only, and not intended to be a legal document. For their…
Bluefield College’s football team gears up to battle hunger in community with ‘Sack the Quarterback’
BLUEFIELD, Va. — The Bluefield College Rams and a local grocery store will kick off the 2013 Sack the Quarterback hunger relief program with a special Rams Football Day at Food City in Bluefield on Aug. 17. From noon to…
What is Shariah and why do states like North Carolina want to ban it? A guide to the complex concept
(RNS) — North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill July 24 to prohibit judges from considering “foreign laws” in their decisions, but nearly everyone agrees that “foreign laws” really means Shariah, or Islamic law. North Carolina now joins six other states…