For anyone who hasn’t gotten the message yet: American congregations are changing rapidly, and the old ways aren’t working. The kind of rapid adaptation seen in response to the coronavirus pandemic illustrates the kind of new thinking that will be…
Hartford Seminary is now a university with an interreligious peacemaking focus
One of the nation’s oldest seminaries has changed its name and removed the word “seminary” in the process. Hartford Seminary, established in 1833 by a group of Congregational ministers to train ministerial leadership for churches, now is known as Hartford…
Ronnie Floyd resigns SBC Executive Committee leadership with two weeks’ notice
After 28 months on the job, the embattled president of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee announced his resignation Oct. 14 saying he cannot abide by the recent decision to waive attorney-client privilege for a sexual abuse investigation. Ronnie Floyd,…
Judge says New York must offer option of religious exemptions to vaccine mandate even if exemptions aren’t granted
New York employers do not have to grant religious exemptions to the state’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but the option to seek a religious exemption must be offered, a federal judge indicated Oct. 12. U.S. District Judge David N. Hurd issued…
What seemed like an odd motion at the June SBC meeting now appears prescient
Lost among the big headlines of the June Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting — headlines about creation of a Sexual Abuse Task Force, a hotly contested presidential election and resolutions on Critical Race Theory and abortion — was a consequential…
SBC’s legal counsel quits in protest of Executive Committee waiving privilege in sexual abuse investigation
One week after the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee voted to follow the will of convention messengers over the advice of its legal counsel and waive attorney-client privilege for a sexual abuse investigation, its longtime legal counsel gave notice it…
More adults than ever are unpartnered in their prime years, new research shows
If you look around your congregation and realize there are a lot more young and middle-aged single adults than there used to be, you’re not alone. It’s a national trend. New data from Pew Research finds a sharp uptick over…
Is the future of evangelicalism with the Christianity Today ‘elite’ or with the firebrand neo-Calvinists?
Mark Galli is best known in the United States as the former editor in chief of Christianity Today who took on Donald Trump as being morally unfit for the presidency. Late last week, he lit another fire, this time not…
As nationwide COVID vaccination rates increase, a few are still seeking religious exemptions, often with difficulty
Two weeks ago, as the St. Louis County Council was about to pass an ordinance requiring all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, one resident stood up and told wary city employees how to avoid the mandate: “If you don’t…
The one thing that most predicts a pastor’s success
Of all the things I’ve learned through a few decades of mentoring young writers and pastors, one predictor of success stands out above all. This one thing rises above raw talent, education or privilege — all of which may play…
SBC Sexual Abuse Task Force has lost one-third of its time to delays, but now the work may begin
Nearly four months after messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting overwhelmingly approved appointment of a Sexual Abuse Task Force, the work can begin, although the panel has lost fully one-third of its allocated time before a report is…
To some, the latest SBC divide over sexual abuse investigation pits what’s morally right against what’s legally prudent
Sometimes the morally right thing to do is not the legally prudent thing to do. Such is the dilemma facing the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee as it meets Tuesday, Oct. 5, to vote — for the third time —…