Baptist News Global

WINN RECOMMENDS: Books that matter

Resurrection Year, by Sheridan Voysey (Thomas Nelson) After long, agonizing rounds of IVF and with no pregnancy to show for it, Sheridan and Merryn Voysey recognized that their hope for a child would not be realized. Voysey tells their…

OPINION: Slow-walking the faith-based rules

Remember the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (OFANP)? Well, it’s probably because the White House doesn’t really want you to. On Aug. 2, the press was notified that the director of the Office of Management and Budget…

LEADERSHIP LINK: Should churches make space available to outside groups?

Sooner or later every church has to decide whether it will make its building available for outside groups to use. The following Suggested Facility Use Covenant is a suggestion only, and not intended to be a legal document. For their…

What is Shariah and why do states like North Carolina want to ban it? A guide to the complex concept

(RNS) — North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill July 24 to prohibit judges from considering “foreign laws” in their decisions, but nearly everyone agrees that “foreign laws” really means Shariah, or Islamic law. North Carolina now joins six other states…

Removal of song from a hymnal because of reference to an atonement theory is drawing the ire of some

(ABP) — The wrath of God has become a point of contention since news broke that a new Presbyterian hymnal passed on the popular title In Christ Alone for theological reasons. “Why do many Christians shrink from any thought of…

Reza Aslan defends controversial new book on Jesus

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For the third time, Jesus is about to change Reza Aslan’s life. As a teenager, Aslan turned to Jesus in an evangelical youth group, where becoming a Christian made him feel like a real American. He…

Aging pushes some churches to fiscal brink, others to find creative solutions

(ABP) — Survival is a question thousands of American churches confront each year. Estimates of annual church closures range from 3,500 to 7,000. That’s likely to increase as younger generations, including the rise of the “nones,” increasingly avoid organized religion….

Baptist groups hosting pistol classes to support ‘biblical principles’

(ABP) — A Southern Baptist camp in Illinois plans to host a National Rifle Association pistol course intended to help participants qualify for permits under the state’s newly passed concealed-carry law. The eight-hour course is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7,…

ERLC defends sectarian public prayer in legal brief filed with Supreme Court

(ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Aug. 2 defending prayers offered in Jesus’ name at government meetings. The first legal brief filed since Russell Moore took…

Baptist ethicist signs sex abuse petition

(ABP) — Ben Mitchell, Graves Professor of Moral Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., added his signature to “A Public Statement Concerning Sexual Abuse in the Church of Jesus Christ” posted July 17 by Godly Response to Abuse in the…

Practical joke backfires at Baptist camp in Maryland as five are sent to hospital

JERRETTSVILLE, Md. (ABP) — Five people were taken to a hospital and multiple medical units were dispatched to a Maryland Baptist campground in a hazardous materials incident that resulted from a prank. The July 23 incident at Camp Wo-Me-To near…

Baptist Joint Committee names recent graduate as education, outreach specialist

(ABP) — Recent McAfee School of Theology graduate Charles Watson Jr. has been named education and outreach specialist for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. A native of Millen, Ga., Watson previously worked as children’s director at Buckhead Baptist…

Democratic Socialists’ wins rattle Democrats, rouse GOP

Republican-fueled Islamophobia cited as cause of more attacks

Belgian footballer set an example for men worldwide

Yes, the global refugee situation is a crisis, book contends