Baptist News Global

On banning conversion therapy: Listen with your heart

Editor’s note: On Aug. 25, Baptist pastor Bob Browning testified before a joint committee hearing of the Kentucky Legislature, speaking in favor of a bipartisan bill in both chambers that would ban state-approved, licensed counselors from using so-called “conversion therapy”…

Bonds forged in flood recovery lead pastor to seminary opportunity

The journey to recovery after a devastating 2016 flood showed Louisiana pastor S.C. Dixon the promise of interracial bridgebuilding and opened doors to new relationships in ministry and education. During relief efforts, he saw Baptists work together across racial lines,…

CBF assessing damages and needs in path of Hurricane Laura

Hurricane Laura’s damaging foray through Louisiana and parts of Texas is inspiring faith-based collaboration in disaster response efforts that are complicated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and National Baptist Convention of America International plan to…

12 trends for being church in a post-pandemic world

In a post-pandemic world, the church, in the words of Mark Twain, may need to declare, “The rumors of my death are grossly exaggerated.” While it is true that many struggling churches may close, merge or re-purpose in the near…

Life lessons from speaking with a foreign accent

What we know today to be the traditional “Asian accent” tells the story of Asian American assimilation in essence. The generation of Asian immigrants before us possessed the accent that white Americans saw as the most foreign in comparison to…

Beirut explosion brings sorrow and memories for 91-year-old missionary

Like people around the world, Frances Fuller was deeply grieved by the Aug. 4 explosion that killed nearly 200 people and displaced another 300,000 in Beirut, Lebanon. But for Fuller, 91, watching the indescribable carnage was personal. She saw in…

400 faith leaders ask Trump to end immigrant family separations

More than 400 faith leaders from diverse backgrounds have signed a letter asking the Trump administration and Republican National Convention to change their policy of separating families and putting immigrant children in detention camps. The letter was organized by New…

Is QAnon a prophet or provocateur? And how should Christians respond?

To some, it’s the beginning of a new religious movement. For others, a puzzle or a game. For still others, it is community, a gathering of like-minded folks who enjoy each other’s company and share a deep passion. But for…

Transitions for the week of 8-28-20

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES David Braneky, to Grace Baptist Church, Blue Bell, Pa., as pastor. He comes from the pastorate of the…

The Christian citizen: Gospel, conscience and dissent

E Pluribus Unum, the founders declared of their new American Republic, “Out of Many, One.” From 13 furiously independent and diverse colonies would come “one nation,” (“under God,” we would add much later), “with liberty and justice for all.” It…

MacArthur says Trump called to support his defiance of COVID orders

John MacArthur, the California pastor who continues to defy a public health order limiting public gatherings due to the coronavirus threat, says he has received encouragement from President Donald Trump and can’t imagine why any thinking Christian could vote for…

Pandemic summer makes the finances of running a camp even harder

If owning and managing a camp or conference center was hard before March 15, consider the difficulty created after COVID-related cancellations began pouring in. Baptists saw the first crack in the viability of running retreat and conference centers seven years…

Trump’s war on ‘woke’ targets federal grants and foreign relations

Reflections on In the Twilight of the Christian West

Why rural families need support now

Why do we keep sounding the alarm?