Baptist News Global

The congregational staffing crisis

My news feed has been filled with a variety of stories recently describing the current and coming shortage of public educators. Many school systems are reporting a dearth of teachers as they start the academic year. Citing a variety of…

Progressive National Baptist Convention elects woman to leadership role for first time

One of the country’s leading Black Protestant denominations elected a woman to a key leadership role for the first time. On Aug. 11, during its 61st annual session, the Progressive National Baptist Convention elected Jacqueline A. Thompson as second vice…

50 years later, I’m still embarrassed to admit what a stranger at church taught me about being welcome

I’ve been interested in Mary Magdalene lately for some unknown reason. Hers is a fascinating story, and to be honest, everything we know about her would barely fill a small paragraph. Here it is: Mary Magdalene was a Jewish woman…

Is ‘In God We Trust’ an assertion of Christian nationalism or of American history in public schools?

As schoolchildren head back to class in Texas this week, many of them will be greeted by the sight of the American and Texas flags displayed along with the text of the National Motto: “In God We Trust.” That’s because…

What The Bear should teach us about the church and genuine acceptance

It feels like I just left here. This is the first thought stumbling through my mind as I listen to the deadbolt release, allowing me to enter the dark room I vaguely remember departing just a few hours ago. I…

Despite financial hardships, Americans upped their giving to congregations during pandemic

The financial hardships many Americans faced during the COVID-19 pandemic did not result in the predicted revenue declines for U.S. churches, according to new research into congregational giving trends. In fact, the study conducted by the Lake Institute on Faith…

Carver School of Social Work was a victim of American fundamentalism, authors explain

Diana Garland’s 1995 firing as social work dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had less to do with her public conflicts with the Kentucky seminary’s leadership than with the surge of fundamentalism in the SBC and American evangelicalism, according to…

Looking for hope in a time of abandonment

Surely I am not the only person in the land of the free and the home of the classified documents who keeps wishing, even hoping, that the innumerable issues, actions and ideas that divide us as a people have finally…

BGCT wants to ‘review and consider changes’ in its relationship to Baylor

Thirty-two years after the Baptist General Convention of Texas fought to retain a say in the governance of Baylor University, Texas Baptists may willingly change that agreement. The BGCT now hopes to “review and consider changes” to its 1990 agreement…

My two phone calls to Frederick Buechner

In 1978, someone gave me a copy of Frederick Buechner’s Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC. I read the first entry — “Agnostic: Some people all of the time and all people some of the time,” and we were off and running. By the time…

Ministry jobs and more

Baptist News Global provides a free listing of ministry-related jobs for Baptist churches, theological institutions and organizations across the United States. Each free posting is for 30 days and is limited to 150 words. Postings may be extended another 30…

An American experiment: 250 years of trying

10 reasons America is not a ‘Christian nation’

American Dominion traces deep roots of Seven Mountain Mandate

Lindsey Graham and the history of ‘widow’s succession’