NEW YORK (ABP) — The nation’s two largest Christian denominations are experiencing slight but statistically significant membership declines, according to the latest edition of the National Council of Churches’ Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches. The 77th annual compilation of…
VIRGINIA BRIEFS
ODU campus minister to retire. Rob Sandford, Baptist campus minister at Old Dominion University in Norfolk for 39 years, will retire June 5. Sandford, who also has overseen campus ministry at all schools in the Norfolk area, took the…
Parachurch groups not feeling pinch
WINCHESTER, Va. (ABP) — Faith-based charities haven’t been hit as hard by the economic downturn as expected, a new survey by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability indicates. The ECFA, established in 1979 to accredit Christian non-profit organizations that model…
Virginia Baptist pastor discovers ways to deal with depression
RICHMOND — Kirby Smith has his life back. After years of struggling with clinical depression — what he calls “a hell on earth” — the Virginia Baptist pastor has discovered in both medical and psychological treatment a way to deal…
Church finances begin to feel impact of economic crisis
DALLAS (ABP) — Churches that aren’t cutting their budgets due to the economic downturn are, by and large, taking measures to curb expenses, according to a survey the National Association of Church Business Administration has done of its members. The…
Ministers often need help caring for their own mental health
While congregations often view their pastors as strong, stable shepherds, many members of the clergy experience a large disconnect between the image they project and the mental and emotional battles to which they are subject. “I have never met a…
John Leland center to offer leadership degree
Beginning in the fall, Leland Center for Theological Studies will offer a master of arts degree in Christian leadership (MACL). Mark Olson According to Leland’s president, Mark Olson, the new degree will focus on the particular leadership issues facing church…
RIGHT or WRONG: Racism or sexism — Which is the more virulent “ism” in our society and churches?
A key word in the question is “virulent.” According to Webster’s Dictionary, “virulent” carries the impact of being actively poisonous, noxious, highly infective, intensely bitter, spiteful and malicious. To deny a person the right to participate in the fullness of…
Through a glass darkly: Churches struggle to know how to respond to people with mental illness
Living with depression — or any other form of mental illness — is like viewing life “through a glass darkly,” according to Jessy Grondin, a student in Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. “It distorts how you see things.” Like one in…
OUT LOUD
“A spirit of adulation, bordering on servility, already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused pro-lifers of being too cozy with Republicans.” Archbishop Charles Chaput The Denver, Colo., prelate was speaking…
VIRGINIA BAPTIST FORUM: No dichotomy between science, Bible
I really enjoyed the creation/evolution articles in the Feb. 12 edition of the Religious Herald. Bob Allen did a good job of covering the debate and ongoing discussions on the subject of origins. The “Clergy Letter Project” is indeed most…
HERITAGE: A time of beginnings
It was late in the afternoon of March 3, 1989, in the First Baptist Church of Greenville, S.C. Elmer West, long prominent in Baptist life, was there, along with others attending the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Alliance (now…