Many years ago, an African-American man attended our church by climbing the bell tower to listen to worship. He is buried eight feet outside church property but not in the church cemetery, according to the church’s policy at the time…
Planting churches that take root requires right processes, right people
Christ’s Great Commission—to share the gospel with people of every language, nationality and culture—calls Christians to find ways to penetrate unreached areas. Planting new churches in places where none exists, or in specific cultural contexts, can result in changed lives…
How should church starters measure success?
Andrew Daugherty sees success where others might only have glimpsed failure when Christ Church Baptist in Rockwall, Texas, ceased to exist as a congregation four years after it launched. Should the death of a new church be considered a failure? That…
Missional, emergent movements place premium on church starting
The missional church and emergent church movements are sweeping through many aspects of religious life — including church planting. While both most often are tagged as movements, they also function as foundations for birthing new congregations. “It’s easier to start…
Analysis: Southern Baptists face the future — and an identity crisis
Bill Leonard (ABP) — Institutionally and organizationally, American Protestantism is in a state of permanent transition — and the Southern Baptist Convention is no exception. These days it is clear that fewer religious Americans think of their primary identity in…
Publisher of Ergun Caner’s memoirs stands by demoted seminary head
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (ABP) — A Christian publishing company said it has no plans to pull titles written by a Baptist seminary president recently demoted for making "factual statements that are self-contradictory" in sermons and speeches. After an investigation, Liberty…
ANALYSIS: Southern Baptists face the future — and an identity crisis
(ABP) — Institutionally and organizationally, American Protestantism is in a state of permanent transition — and the Southern Baptist Convention is no exception. These days it is clear that fewer religious Americans think of their primary identity in terms of…
In Grand-Goave, U.S. Baptists offer Haitians a hand with church, clinic
GRAND-GOÂVE, Haiti (ABP) — Michael Akinboro emanates gentleness. Toddlers sit quietly while he checks their breathing. Babies obediently swallow bitter cough syrup. Not one child who comes for diagnosis fusses or cries. Michael Akinboro, a Nigerian-born registered nurse from African…
‘Good News Bible’ translator Bob Bratcher dies
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (ABP) — Robert Bratcher, the New Testament translator for the Good News Bible, died July 11 at the Carol Woods retirement community in Chapel Hill, N.C. He was 90. Robert Bratcher Born in Brazil the son of…
Six months after massive earthquake, Haiti still has a long way to go
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (ABP) — Haiti is a country of conspicuous contrasts — a landscape both monochrome and vivid, and a people standing solidly, yet shaken to pieces. Nearly six months after an earthquake rocked Haiti, the island still bears the…
CBF joins national coalition of disaster-relief responders
Tori Wentz, one of CBF's field personnel, provides medical care during a recent mission trip to Haiti. (CBF photo) ATLANTA (ABP) — Five years after organizing a national disaster-relief ministry in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship…
CBF-funded Mercer team to attend to Haiti’s psychological wounds
ATLANTA (ABP) — Six months after the earthquake that devastated Haiti, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-funded team of students with Haitian ties and faculty members from Mercer University is seeking to help the country recover from its deep psychological wounds. Reid…