The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention are among a coalition of faith groups applauding the recent repeal of a government rule that they believe would have expanded predatory lending. Opposition to payday lending and other forms of…
BWA begins World Congress with emphasis on religious freedom for all
The 122nd global gathering of the Baptist World Alliance begins July 8 — a year later than originally planned and online due to the continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. BWA announced the virtual version of its three-day World Congress…
Where’s the line between finding inspiration in another pastor’s sermon and plagiarizing it?
“Borrowing” someone else’s sermon is one of the top four ways pastors get fired from churches, according to Thom Rainer, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing arm and a noted interpreter of modern Christianity. Rainer made that statement…
Author was called to action by hearing KKK leader describe his racist ‘Damascus Road experience’
Author Susan K. Williams Smith was sickened to learn that a passage from the New Testament inspired Samuel Bowers’ to launch the Mississippi White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1960s. Smith’s new book, With Liberty and Justice…
Amid charges of slippery slope liberalism, Presbyterian Church in America drafts a potent policy against gay clergy
In a scene reminiscent of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting this summer, pastors and leaders of the Presbyterian Church in America entered their annual meeting last week with letters and endorsements and counter-letters circulating to address what some believe…
Could newly elected SBC president be forced to resign over sermon plagiarism?
Amid charges of sermon plagiarism, newly elected Southern Baptist Convention President Ed Litton is facing calls for his resignation. Litton recently acknowledged borrowing some sermon material, with permission, from immediate past SBC President J.D. Greear, and Greear confirmed that statement….
Churches adapted rapidly to the pandemic, but there’s a mental health cost to that success
The rapid and creative responses churches made to address the COVID-19 pandemic created significant stresses on church leadership and laity both, one of the nation’s leading religion researchers said in a recent webinar. “The staggering amount of change that (occurred…
She’s Tim Tebow’s mom, but she’s got her own story too
When you hear the name “Pam Tebow,” you might think first of her influential son, Tim Tebow, winner of the Heisman Trophy. She’s fine with that. “Timmy is doing fine,” she said in a recent interview. “I have five kids,…
U.S. religious freedom monitoring agency raises concern again about abuses in Algeria
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has expressed displeasure over a series of recent court decisions that seek to limit the religious rights of Christians in the North African country of Algeria. USCIRF’s concern, expressed via a press…
Ministry jobs and more
Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…
New survey asks an overlooked group — college students — what they think of Critical Race Theory
In the current furor over Critical Race Theory, one set of voices most directly affected by the actual teaching of this academic theory has been missing: College students. Axios and Generation Lab sought to correct that omission with a nationwide…
It’s time to ‘untangle the embedded patriarchal strongholds,’ BWIM leader declares
New manifestations of the church emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic will include more openness and opportunities for women called to ministry, but it may take decades for that acceptance to become widespread in Baptist and other Christian spaces, Meredith Stone…