Baptist News Global

Transitions for the week of 10.28.16

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated weekly. STAFF CHANGES Tom Baynum, to Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond, Va., as minister of music. James Cozart, to Oakwood Memorial…

Why New York needs churches

When my stylist at Supercuts finds out that I have only lived in Brooklyn for five months, she offers to explain New York to me. She looks me in the eye and says, “If you love New York, she will…

Rural, urban churches joining the monastic movement

The New Monastic communities get quite a bit of press. And why not? Their adherents shun contemporary society and church to live communally. They embrace ancient Christian contemplative and worship rituals, practice radical hospitality and serve those living on the margins…

Church opens prayer garden to pet lovers

“All dogs go to heaven” may be debatable theologically, but in Roanoke, Va., there’s a place where canines can go to church. Welcome to “dog chapel” at Colonial Avenue Baptist Church, a 53-year-old congregation affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship….

Fetters & freedom

On Thomas Merton’s vision of transcendence through faith.

Baptist official critiques ‘quick fixes’ to challenges churches face

Quick fixes like contemporary worship and missional outreach can’t fix what ails U.S. churches, an American Baptist official said in a recent lecture at Central Baptist Theological Seminary. “There are no quick fixes,” Jeff Woods, associate general secretary for regional…

The Art of the Qur’an — landmark exhibit shows holy book as text and work of art

The Art of the Qur’an aims to introduce visitors to the Islamic holy book as both foundational sacred text — the divine message for Muslims, received by the Prophet Muhammad between 610 and 632 — and work of art.

Of presidents and popes: how we’re looking too high

I know a pastor who left a large, suburban church where he served for 25 years to plant a new church in one of the poorest areas of town. He joined with another non-profit and they formed a new LLC…

I am with her and her and her

No, this is not a political endorsement. I am not implying that I will vote for Hillary Clinton as the next president of the United States or that you should. This is kind of a new revised version of her…

Faith, determination propel teen immigrant past social and language barriers in U.S.

It’s amazing how something like a plastic shopping bag — and faith in the good of others — can have such a positive impact on a life. Marilin Garcia, 18, can testify to that. Shen she was in kindergarten, her mother couldn’t…

Russell Moore: Religious Right must change or die

If the Religious Right is to survive, it must embrace a “gospel-centered” evangelicalism that articulates why and how Christianity matters rather than using religion as a means toward a political end, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top spokesman for public policy…

Judge says girls suing church can remain anonymous

A Kansas judge has ruled that two victims of sexual assault suing a Southern Baptist church will remain anonymous in court proceedings. Johnson County District Court Judge Kevin Moriarty granted a motion last month allowing the plaintiffs to proceed using pseudonyms…

An American experiment: 250 years of trying

10 reasons America is not a ‘Christian nation’

American Dominion traces deep roots of Seven Mountain Mandate

Lindsey Graham and the history of ‘widow’s succession’