Baptist News Global

What’s a Baptist to think of the coronation of Charles III?

There are about 2,600 Baptist churches scattered throughout the United Kingdom. The majority (2,000) are in England, where Baptist forebear Thomas Helwys established the first Baptist church on British soil. Another 300 are in Wales, 200 in Scotland, and the…

The hidden battle in Christian higher education: A conversation with Scott Okamoto

One of the most under-the-radar battles going on within American evangelicalism today is a civil war between Christian higher education and the local church. If you’ve missed this new trend, there’s a good reason: The more overt stories of abuse…

There’s now yet another option for churches leaving the UMC

There’s yet another new option for churches departing The United Methodist Church. But this new model is more complicated — and requires a new vocabulary — than even the UMC or its breakaway group. the Global Methodist Church. Launched by…

Faced with a bomb threat, Virginia church held a picnic

What someone meant for evil, a Virginia Baptist church turned to good last weekend. In the early morning hours of Thursday, May 4, the Williamsburg, Va., Police Department received a phone call making a threat to bomb Williamsburg Baptist Church…

CNN’s disastrous platforming of Donald Trump

“CNN’s New Hampshire town hall with Donald Trump last night may have done more to boost his chances of winning the GOP presidential nomination than anything that’s happened since the 2020 election.” That was Politico Playbook’s substantive conclusion this morning. It’s…

On proposed constitutional amendment, SBC president is a ‘yes, and’

The Southern Baptist Convention’s constitution has “structural problems” that are highlighted by a current effort to amend the governing rules to expel churches with women serving as pastors, SBC President Bart Barber said May 10. Barber, a pastor in a…

Her church

I haven’t been able to get the book Her Country by Marissa Moss out of my brain since reading the “State of Women in Baptist Life,” released in 2022. The book explores the decline of women on country radio through…

In SBC annual statistics, even the good news isn’t that good

After plunging due to COVID closures, baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention rose again last year but remained well below 2019 levels — a year in which baptisms continued a decline that started in 1999. That’s the good news in…

Immigration advocates aren’t buying what Biden administration is selling

The Biden administration said its new travel ban on asylum seekers will expand the number of legal pathways for migrants seeking refuge at the U.S. southern border, but immigration advocates held a virtual press conference May 10 to say they…

The Bible is a tool, not a weapon

A few weeks ago in one of our Wednesday evening worship gatherings, I told the story of an episode I watched of the TV show “Criminal Minds.” It opened with a car pulled off onto the shoulder of a road…

Betty Law was a Baptist missions pioneer, serving both SBC and CBF

Betty Law, a pioneering missionary who played pivotal roles in both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, died April 16 in Fort Worth, Texas. At the time of her retirement from what was then known as the…

Transitions for the week of 5-12-23

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Marty Akins, to First Baptist Church, Ballinger, Texas, as pastor. Josh Beeler, to Madison Heights (Va.) Baptist Church,…

Mohler again claims same-sex marriage harms children

Dan Patrick reiterates: ‘No separation of church and state’

Baptists know better than this

Judge bars Tennessee from revealing immigration status of sick children