Baptist News Global

In South Africa; money marks churches, mosques as soft targets for armed robbery

It’s a shameless new trend, faith leaders say. It was not usual for armed criminals to storm faith services, rob churches and mosques in South Africa — until now. “There is no holy cow anymore,” said Pastor Drewmore Sikhosana, a…

Dear church people, work toward church vitality

Dear people in churches, When your pastor, church staff and lay leaders try transforming your church into a more vitalized body of Christ, they will inevitably encounter resistance, push back and sometimes attacks and character assassination. Our role is not…

Why is the SBC so influential? Look at the number of congregations

If you want to understand why Southern Baptists are in the news so much, one simple chart produced by Ryan Burge might show the answer. The SBC counts 51,379 congregations in the United States, far more than any other denomination….

Bless your heart for producing professionals and satisfied saints when radical prophets are needed

A recent webinar with my alma mater made me realize theological schools and the church face the same challenge today: How to be risk-takers in a world that only values stability. Let me say upfront, I’m not someone you’re likely…

After three years of turmoil, Fort Lauderdale church’s finances under ECFA scrutiny

A Florida Baptist church that has been embroiled in three years of internal controversy has been suspended from membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability pending a review of compliance with membership standards. ECFA is a nonprofit organization open…

Jesus Revolution helps us remember and calls us to hope again

In the second weekend at the box office, Jesus Revolution far surpassed expectations with a cumulative earning of $30 million. The movie is well done by Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company and stars Kelsey Grammer, Joel Courtney and Jonathan Roumie….

BJC acquires Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation

Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has acquired the Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation in an effort to expand its work promoting racial and religious freedom. BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler said the move announced March 6 also will…

The great breakup in the American church and the political uses of religion

In a recent article in Politico, Joshua Zeitz begins with the decision of 400 Methodist churches in Texas alone to leave their parent denomination, The United Methodist Church, to join the new, more conservative Global Methodist Church. This reflects the…

Her ‘Damascus Road’ led to campaign against the death penalty

Joia Erin Thornton underwent a self-described “Damascus Road experience” that altered her career track from magazine writing to criminal justice policy work, community organizing and anti-death penalty advocacy. “I was living and working in New York, and I had this…

Challenges for Baptist women in ministry today

I first saw a clergywoman in 2007 visiting a small, rural Church of England church in Yorkshire, UK. Brought up in mostly Catholic Poland, with limited religious literacy, I only had a vague idea that this was possible in other…

EQ, SQ and MQ are the key to an effective search process

Over the course of the last 14 years, the leadership of the Center for Healthy Churches has assisted hundreds of congregations in their searches for new ministerial leadership. While every one of these search processes is unique and has its…

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