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…
Common denominator for new churches: They all need funds
Regardless of the method or process used to start them, all new church plants have one thing in common — the need for money. Sometimes a church planter will raise enough money through individual donations or start with a handful…
Homeowners weigh morality of walking out on mortgages
ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS)—Lynn Thompson quit paying the mortgage on her investment property—not because she couldn’t afford the payments, but because she thinks walking away is better for her long-term financial health. trategic defaults on home mortgages accounted for 31 percent…
Musician teaches young girls that modest is hottest
NASHVILLE, Tenn.—As Jaime Jamgochian performs concerts and leads worship around the country, she communicates to teenage girls messages about modesty, purity and self-worth. “I really want young girls to be who God created them to be and to believe that…
FAITH DIGEST
Church attendance inches up, Gallup says. A new Gallup Poll found Americans’ self-reported church attendance has increased slightly since 2008. When asked how often they attend church, synagogue or mosque, 43.1 percent of Americans in 2010 said they attended “at…
Churches start their own humanitarian aid agencies
WASHINGTON (RNS)—Members of Metro Community Church in Englewood, N.J., support the missionaries sent by their denomination, the Evangelical Covenant Church, to the Congo, but Africa is a distant and dangerous trip from the 400-member flock. “We can’t send our short-term…
BAPTISTS BRIEFS
Crumpler receives award. Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, former executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union and a past moderator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, received the annual Courage Award from the William H. Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society during the CBF general assembly…
RIGHT or WRONG? Repenting of racism
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…
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…