Baptist News Global

Methodist numbers drop below 8 million

(RNS) — A United Methodist Church report says church membership dipped to a new low last year, dropping to under 8 million in the United States for the first time in nearly 80 years. The church's General Council on Finance…

BWA presses Vietnam on religious freedom

(ABP) — A Baptist World Alliance-led delegation recently returned from Vietnam, where they pressed government officials to ensure greater religious freedom in the rapidly Westernizing nation. Vietnamese-American Baptists and top officials from the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist General Convention…

2nd Georgia church votes to join BGAV

First Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga., has voted to join the 1,400 congregations affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia. The church, which unanimously approved the action June 25, is the second Georgia congregation to join the BGAV. First…

VBMB staff member Hazel Mallory dies

Hazel W. Mallory, 63, a longtime member of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff, died June 24 after a battle with cancer. She began her employment career in Richmond with the Equitable Insurance Group and for the past 31 years…

ANALYSIS: Baptist history on alcohol not totally teetotaling

Question: Why do you always take two Baptists with you when you go fishing? Answer: Because if you only bring one, he'll drink all your beer. Most everybody who grew up in the South has a favorite Baptists-and-alcohol joke, usually…

ANALYSIS: SBC surprise not a coup, but maybe a course correction

With the election of an outsider president who had strong support from reform-minded pastors, the Southern Baptist Convention may be changing in tone. But substantive changes are still a ways off, say denominational observers. While there were surprises, messengers to…

At the front door

Hazel Mallory died Saturday, June 24, from cancer. Her funeral was on Wednesday, June 28, at Hatcher Memorial Baptist Church in Richmond. For 31 years Hazel Mallory sat at the front door of Virginia Baptist life. As the administrative assistant…

EDITORIAL: Aunt Ida’s witnessing technique

Dear Jimmy, Since its been a spell since I've written, and since your Uncle Orley ain't around to distract me, I figured I'd drop you a line or two. Orley has gone with some of his farmer friends over to…

Rejected

In the May 4 issue of the Herald there was an insert, Caring Times, from the Virginia Baptist Children's Homes and Family Services which I enjoyed very much. I am glad these homes exist for the children, both Baptist and…

Time will tell

Let me be among the first to congratulate you on the straight-talk editorial, “Time Will Tell.” in the June 22 issue of the Herald. You cited four significant lessons learned from the Southern Baptist Convention held in Greensboro: Don't mess…

Baptism meanings and methods spark debate among some Baptists

Disputes about baptism are troubling the waters among some Baptists. From a controversial policy of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, which narrows the definition of an acceptable baptism of a new missionary, to churches that wrestle with the…

Quiet CBF assembly leaves time for exhortations, declarations

Editor's note: This is compiled from previous ABP stories. ATLANTA (ABP) — News from speakers, workshops and auxiliary meetings during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship general assembly included: — CBF Coordinating Council members unanimously elected Rob Nash as global missions coordinator…

What you’re not seeing: Tens of thousands of children separated from parents

The way we were

Talarico’s pastor pushes back on Daily Wire’s claims

Spiritual formation is how churches learn whom to hear