One of the principles that spans both testaments of Scripture is that we reap what we sow. It’s gardening season where I live. Planting a garden has a built-in object lesson for this principle. Whatever kind of seed you put…
The role of a ‘declining’ church
By Corey Fields It has been interesting to watch the buzz over the recent Pew study looking at religious affiliation between 2007 and 2014. Although I’m very thankful to Pew for their incredible work in pulling together the hard data,…
On LGBT: What I have learned since ‘Changing Our Mind’
By David Gushee Follow David: @dpgushee About a year ago I began my 16-week series on LGBT issues in what was then ABPNews/Herald. In October 2014 a version of these essays plus further material was published as the book Changing…
How the Pope teaches
Word is out that Pope Francis’ long-awaited encyclical on the environment will be published later this month with the title Laudato Sii—“Praised Be You”—words from the Latin text of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun. (Baptist News Global…
Welcome to the church of the Shark Tank
Have you ever watched the television program Shark Tank? It is a reality show on ABC television with re-runs on CNBC. I recently started watching it. Typically I do not watch reality television, but one night while channel surfing I…
Betty’s Place
By Jason Coker Being the good little Baptist that I am, I was going to the annual meeting of the Baptist Fellowship of the Northeast a couple of weeks ago in Ballston Spa, N.Y., when I had a revelation —…
8 topics that ought to be on every youth minister’s agenda
One of the hardest jobs in a church these days is that of youth minister. Not just because the schedule of activities can be grueling or the work can be physically demanding. The reason, instead, is ever-increasing demands placed on…
What does a progressive Christian statement of faith look like?
The Phoenix Affirmations is a set of twelve principles originally composed by a community of clergy and laypeople from Phoenix, Arizona. As word spread a number of Christian scholars and progressive Christian leaders from around the country added their input…
Jason’s upside-down world
By Bill Wilson If asked to identify a favorite New Testament character, most of us go with the predictable and obvious: Barnabas, Mary, Nathaniel, Peter, Lydia, Timothy, Phoebe. You know the list. Let me remind you of an obscure character…