The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship approved a mission and ministry budget increase of almost 5%, elected slates of nominees for vacant governance positions, bestowed awards, and heard challenges and affirmations from key leaders during the CBF General Assembly June 30. Participants…
Alleged mastermind of Rwandan massacre inside church arrested 30 years later
Fulgence Kayishema — Africa’s most wanted man — was arrested in Cape Town, South Africa, five weeks ago after spending 30 years on the run. That one of the world’s biggest war-crimes suspects lived freely shines a spotlight on why…
American Baptists reaffirm and celebrate women in ministry
Editor’s note: This article has been expanded and updated from its original version. The board of directors of American Baptist Home Mission Societies issued a statement June 24 saying it “wholeheartedly affirms women pastors.” And last week’s biennial meeting…
Supreme Court says evangelical web designer doesn’t have to serve same-sex couples
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of Lorie Smith, an evangelical graphic artist who says she wants to create wedding websites and is “willing to work with all people” but not same-sex couples. Her free-speech case was based…
Another megachurch leaves the SBC
Another megachurch where a woman has preached has left the Southern Baptist Convention. Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C., led by Pastor Steven Furtick and his wife, Holly, voluntarily withdrew from the SBC just two weeks after the denomination voted to…
Baptist Women in Ministry marks 40th anniversary by blessing women cast out by the SBC
Meredith Stone opened Baptist Women in Ministry’s 40th anniversary celebration dinner with spontaneous and scathing remarks about the Southern Baptist Convention’s continuing assault on female clergy. “Forty years later and we are still talking about the SBC,” quipped Stone, BWIM’s…
White Christian nationalism is an ‘unholy alliance’ between fundamentalism and politics, Tisby tells BNG crowd
An event that occurred outside Atlanta more than a century ago presaged the violent, racist God-and-country resurgence of white Christian nationalism that pervades America today, historian and author Jemar Tisby said during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Atlanta…
High court unanimously seeks a compromise on religious accommodation in the workplace
In a rare unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court June 29 found a compromise on a thorny religious liberty claim: What constitutes “undue hardship” on an employer required to accommodate a worker’s religious practices? Rather than unwinding legal precedent —…
Southwestern Seminary given warning by accrediting agency
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has been issued a warning by one of its primary accrediting agencies, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The Southern Baptist Convention school remains fully accredited while SACS investigates concerns about the school’s governance and…
Meet Denise the heaven receptionist
“Hi thanks for waiting. Welcome to heaven. What would you like your ghost outfit to be?” Not the greeting most of us expect to receive in the afterlife; but this is not St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. No, this…
Fundraising is not a ‘necessary evil’ but an essential ministry, Capps says
Pastors must transform their attitudes about fundraising if congregations are to survive economic and cultural trends increasingly hostile toward churches, said Shauw Chin Capps, president of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Foundation. “Embrace fundraising as a ministry. It is not a…
Deliberation provides key to sacred and courageous conversations, Candler’s Corrie stresses
Congregations can conduct conversations on vital issues without fragmenting if they learn how to deliberate together, Elizabeth Corrie told participants in a “Bold Faithfulness” seminar during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Atlanta June 28. The focus of the…