Baptist News Global

Bad theology in the House of Representatives

By Allie Bullard On July 14, I listened to a House Judiciary Committee hearing on “The Ethical Imperative for Reform of Our Immigration System.” The hearing highlighted three conservative Christian leaders speaking on immigration, including: Richard Land of the Ethics…

ABP celebrates 20 years

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — July 17 marked the 20th birthday of Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service created by and for Baptists interested in a free press during a tumultuous time within the Southern Baptist Convention. A birthday cake…

Evangelicals pray for those economically affected by Gulf oil spill

WASHINGTON (ABP) — The National Association of Evangelicals and Evangelical Environmental Network set aside Sunday, July 18, as a "National Day of Prayer for the Gulf." Mitch Hescox, president and CEO of the Evangelical Environmental Network, said he realized a…

Truth, ‘Baptist Holy War’ casualties — and ABP

By Marv Knox “Truth is the first casualty of war,” the old adage proclaims. Consequently, a couple of truth-tellers became early victims of the Baptist Holy War. Twenty years ago this summer, the Southern Baptist Convention’s so-called “Conservative Resurgence” secured…

Secularization, Australia, and us

By David Gushee Sometimes the best way to understand one’s own culture is to leave it, which I have done to teach a course this week at Morling College, a fine Baptist institution here in metropolitan Sydney. My most unexpected…

Campolos model peaceful dialogue on gays

KEUKA PARK, N.Y. (ABP) — During its July 12-17 summer conference, the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America used a Christian couple who famously disagree over homosexuality and the church to model a respectful and peaceful dialogue about the issue….

Groups across spectrum file briefs supporting Westboro Baptist Church

WASHINGTON (ABP) — Seven groups representing diverse constituencies filed Supreme Court briefs July 14 defending the rights of a controversial Baptist church to protest near military funerals with messages of hate. Lawyers representing law schools, civil-liberties, religious-freedom and press-freedom organizations…

Planting churches that take root requires the right processes, people

(ABP) — Christ’s Great Commission — to share the gospel with people of every language, nationality and culture — calls Christians to find ways to penetrate unreached areas. Planting new churches in places where none exist, or in specific cultural…

Church Planting: How should church starters measure success?

Andrew Daugherty ROCKWALL, Texas (ABP) — Andrew Daugherty sees success where others might only have glimpsed failure when Christ Church Baptist in Rockwall, Texas, ceased to exist as a congregation four years after it launched. Should the death of a…

Church Planting: Missional, emergent movements place premium on planting

(ABP) — The missional-church and emergent-church movements are sweeping through many aspects of Christian life — including church planting. While both most often are tagged as movements, they also function as foundations for birthing new congregations. {youtube}dpXscmLyoUU{/youtube} “It’s easier to…

Church Planting: Need for funding common denominator in church starts

(ABP) — Regardless of the method or process used to start them, all new church plants have one thing in common — the need for money. Sometimes a church planter will raise enough money through individual donations or start with…

Tenn. city latest flashpoint in culture wars

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (ABP) — Best known to history buffs as the site of a major Civil War battle and to Baptist insiders as the home of the independent/fundamentalist Sword of the Lord newspaper, usually quiet Murfreesboro, Tenn., has recently emerged…

Supreme Court slides into partisanship

Before the fireworks, be careful what you drink

The contemptible case of Clarence Thomas

The permanent paradoxes of Christian thinking about war