BNG is pleased to announce a new partnership with Robert P. Jones and PRRI that will bring a new column by the author to BNG’s site every Monday, beginning today. Earlier this month, we were in a remarkable space between…
Southern Baptists, power and the continuum of sexual violence
Note to readers: This article includes content related to sexual abuse and violence against women. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention has found yet another way to retraumatize survivors of clergy abuse and accentuate the convention’s long history…
Christians should support the RECLAIM Act in Congress
When people in the United States approach their retirement years, many who live in the northern areas of America tend to migrate south to warmer climates. My husband and I did just the opposite. We fled the hot, humid summers…
Why the U.S. is uniquely divided: Engaging a scholar from New Zealand
My last column for BNG, “Covid Wars,” offered a lament over our divided nation. It did not propose solutions, only sorrow and grief. Of course, we must do better than that. We must try to understand how we got here…
Roe v. Wade in real time
It was very late one night when my phone rang, the caller ID telling me this would be a crisis call. As a victim advocate, I had received hundreds of middle-of-the-night crisis calls over the years. For the sake of…
If pickles had souls, would the SBC Executive Committee still ignore the will of SBC messengers?
On Tuesday, Sept. 21, the single greatest threat to the future of the Southern Baptist Convention since the controversy of the Conservative Resurgence was revealed. It was not revealed to be a liberal drift, inerrancy versus non-inerrancy, women preachers, the…
It may take 21 Sundays, but I will get back to church
La versión en español está disponible aquí. Even though I’ve always considered myself a committed church member, I must confess that right now I am having a hard time going back to in-person church. I have faithfully attended virtual church…
Tal vez me tome 21 domingos, pero regresaré a la iglesia
Read this column in English here. Aunque siempre me he considerado como una miembro comprometida con la iglesia, debo confesar que ahorita estoy batallando para regresar a la iglesia presencial. Durante la pandemia, he asistido fielmente a la iglesia virtual….
Long after the news cycle fades, Afghan refugees will still need our care
On Sunday, Aug. 15, two Muslim Afghan women walked into Grace Community Church in the middle of worship. As they walked about halfway into the sanctuary, we made eye contact. The look on their faces was of hopelessness. They were…
The church is called to die
The church my wife and I have served since 2000 was founded 70 years ago as a Southern Baptist mission, a church plant in a neighborhood that had just been converted from a dairy farm. The founding pastor understood his…
When churches turn on themselves
When churches turn on themselves, things get very ugly very quickly. As if it weren’t already hard enough to be and do church in this culture, we face an exponential increase in internal congregational conflict and turmoil. American Christians are…
Talking about abortion is an opportunity to call on the grace of Jesus Christ
At the end of the day, my theology means very little until it touches the ground. I am an Episcopal priest, spiritual director and recovery coach, so my whole ministry rests inside the stories that are shared with me, the…