Baptist News Global

The nation is grappling with mass gun killings. Why is the BGAV focused on human sexuality?

At this moment, why is the Baptist General Association of Virginia Executive Board talking about human sexuality? Yes, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship recently released their Illumination findings. And the CBF faces criticism from the right and the left for it. Right now, who cares?

Does communion mean anything? A lament over the BGAV and CBF

For the BGAV and CBF, perhaps “communion” now means we just share a little instead of share abundantly. Maybe “communion” now means we have only periodic public fellowship with each other instead of intimate friendship as brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps “communion” now means rapport and affinity move towards separation and estrangement.

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.

Supreme Court declines to take DACA case, leaving it in place for now

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed the Trump administration a setback over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which shields hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation.

Pastor says fight for deported Baptist church member will continue

“ICE may think they can just deport Gilles and that will be the end of it, but I have some news for them. This is just the beginning of what God is doing through Gilles and through Greenwood Forest Baptist Church because of his witness.”

Confidential ICE handbook lays out paths for investigators to avoid constitutional challenges

The handbook lays out ICE’s methods, said immigration lawyers and experts, stoking fears that ICE is willing to dismiss legal protections in the face of a single-minded drive to detain suspects.

Prayer and a packing pastor: Sutherland Springs’s response to the Florida mass shooting

As fresh mass shootings such as the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which killed 17, reopen debates about gun control, members of this Southern Baptist congregation are relying on what they hope is added safety plus ongoing prayer as they move forward.

Jerusalem Christians close Church of Holy Sepulchre to protest municipal authorties’ drive to collect taxes

Leaders of Jerusalem’s churches closed the doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday in a show of united protest in response to moves by municipal authorities in Jerusalem to begin collecting tens of millions of dollars in taxes from churches, as well as proposed legislation to confiscate church-owned land.

Member of U.S. Baptist church deported to the Republic of Congo

Denied humanitarian parole, a longtime member of a North Carolina Baptist church has been deported to the Republic of Congo, his pastor announced Feb. 23. Pastor Lauren Efird of Greenwood Forest Baptist Church in Cary, N.C., said immigration officials woke 58-year-old Gilles Bikindou from his holding cell in Atlanta at 2 a.m. on Friday and told him he was leaving.

Southern Baptists poised to sever remaining ties with D.C. Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention will cut ties with the District of Columbia Baptist Convention unless D.C. Baptist leaders confront a member church with lesbian co-pastors, the SBC Executive Committee warned during Feb. 19-20 meetings in Nashville, Tenn.

Seasoned saints: Stand down and take direction from the youth on gun control

The Son of Man called on society then and, I believe, does so now, to “change and become like children.” Literally, we must humble ourselves enough to put aside what we deem as comforting and correct based on experience and age, power and privilege, and commit to living in a world where the first shall be last and the last shall be first.

Arrests, deportations chill demand for immigrant legal aid ministries

When two Baptist ministers launched a legal aid ministry for immigrants in Virginia in the fall of 2016, it was aimed largely at helping Latinos attain and maintain legal residency. But Donald Trump’s election a couple months later, and his high-profile immigration crackdown since taking office, has slowed demand for Greg and Sue Smith’s LUCHA Immigration Legal Services in Fredericksburg, Va.

Paxton dodges ethics questions while claiming Talarico isn’t Christian

Restored Voices Collective gets GRACE report on former board member

‘CatsOnACouch’ influencer sues over First Amendment rights

Court finds Trump and Blanche conspired to create sham IRS lawsuit