WASHINGTON (RNS) — As Occupy camps nationwide deal with police crackdowns and the inevitable onset of winter temperatures, religious communities of all stripes are stepping in with offers of shelter and solidarity, say church leaders and protest organizers. Soon after…
OPINION: Always reforming
Ecclesia Semper Reformanda, so the saying goes — “The church is always reforming.” Those words came to mind last week when I heard sociologist-prophet-iconoclast Tony Campolo preach at the New Baptist Covenant II meeting, that multiracial effort at affecting Baptist…
Churches strive for balance as Christmas falls on Sunday
“You mean we have to go to church Christmas Eve and Christmas morning?” Many worship leaders know their own children likely will ask that question this year. They also know quite a few families in their congregations will answer, “No.”…
Churches engage Occupy movement
WASHINGTON (RNS) — As Occupy camps nationwide deal with police crackdowns and the inevitable onset of winter temperatures, religious communities of all stripes are stepping in with offers of shelter and solidarity, say church leaders and protest organizers. Soon after…
HERITAGE: Sounds of celebration
In rural Tidewater Virginia the noises are usually the sound of a crane’s flapping wings or the gentle lapping of the waves. Macedonia Baptist Church in Mathews County recently offered its own sounds of celebration as the congregation celebrated the…
OUT LOUD
“I think there's now an evangelical ‘tri-lemma.’ Do you vote for a Mormon who's had one wife, a Catholic who’s had three wives, or an evangelical who may have had an entire harem?” Robert Jeffress The pastor at First Baptist…
TRENDING: Hell? Yes.
You could say that 2011 was the “year from hell.” I didn’t see it coming. In January, a friend from Australia sent a manuscript of a book on hell and asked if it would fly in the United States. Steve…
Ecumenical dialogue clarifies Baptist beliefs, says prof
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — Ecumenical dialogue between Baptists and other Christian traditions clarifies Baptist distinctives rather than dilutes them, says a Gardner-Webb University professor who participated in recent preliminary conversations between Baptists and Orthodox Christians. Steven Harmon “The purpose of…
Church kicked out of association appeals for funds
OWENSBORO, Ky. (ABP) – A Baptist church kicked out of its association for allowing a gay-rights group to meet in its building has launched a national fundraising campaign to prevent having to close its doors. Bob Coons, pastor of Journey…
CBF gets grant to assist ministers in first church
ATLANTA (ABP) – The Lilly Endowment has awarded the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship a $750,000 grant to create a program for ministers serving in their first church after seminary. The CBF Fellows Program will offer cohort learning, peer learning, coaching, mentoring…
Coalition requests policy on faith-based hiring
WASHINGTON (ABP) – Dozens of religious, civil rights, labor and women’s organizations, wrote the White House Dec. 7 asking how the Obama administration decides whether religious organizations may discriminate when hiring for government-funded positions. A coalition including the Baptist Joint…
‘Occupy’ movement comes to church
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (ABP) – As the Occupy protest movement spreads into cities across the United States and around the world, one North Carolina Baptist congregation says it is time to occupy the church. A November Occupy Church "protest" helped energize…