Baptist News Global

Lessons from Disney to help churches reopen successfully

Everything we do tells a story, intended or not. The ways we act, the ways we decorate, the ways we communicate, along with many other seemingly innocuous decisions all send a message to people coming to our places of worship. And now, Disney has some lessons for churches as they prepare to reopen in this time of coronavirus pandemic.

Five reasons it’s time to talk about opening our churches

Despite surging COVID-19 case numbers in many states, I believe it is time for progressive, mainline and Baptist churches to consider reopening for worship services. I make this suggestion quite tentatively and with full awareness that it might seem counterintuitive….

Campbell institute helps youth try on vocation as ministry

At 18, Jillian Brookshire already knows she wants to pursue a career in law, maybe even politics. What the Raleigh, N.C., resident didn’t know until more recently is that her professional interests may also represent a calling on her life….

There’s a double standard on pastors and politics

Imagine a prominent white Baptist pastor taking to cable news to make a case for Joe Biden and then appearing at rallies to campaign for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. All hell would break loose. And that pastor would soon…

White Supremacist Ideas Have Historical Roots In U.S. Christianity

When a young Southern Baptist pastor named Alan Cross arrived in Montgomery, Ala., in January 2000, he knew it was where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had his first church and where Rosa Parks helped launched the famous bus…

Hardy Clemons remembered as mentor, encourager, hero

Hardy Clemons, one of the most influential and beloved figures in progressive Baptist life, died July 1 in San Antonio, Texas, from COVID-19. Clemons, 87, pastor of three churches in Texas and one in South Carolina, was a denominational leader…

What kind of witness will the white Christian church give?

Recently I posted about re-encountering my white privilege on Facebook. I told a story about a meeting with a fellow dad from my daughter’s school and about my recognition that our lives were similar yet markedly different because of the…

Tearing down statues doesn’t erase history

Three years ago, I wrestled with the news that my great-grandmother’s statue memorializing “Uncle Jeff” had been removed by the City of New Orleans from the site where it had stood on Canal Street since 1911. I know it really…

Transitions for the week of 7-3-20

Please submit transitions — including staff changes, ordinations, anniversaries or deaths — to Barbara Francis. This page will be updated bi-weekly. STAFF CHANGES Wade Arnold, to First Baptist Church, Clemmons, N.C., as pastor. He comes from First Church, Oviedo, Fla., where…