It may now seem surprising to many United Methodists, and even more Baptists, that for most of our histories in the United States, all Methodists and Baptists were regularly designated as evangelical denominations. The most important reason is that both...
Headlines about Turkey’s October offensive in northern Syria have all but faded. But the danger is far from over for Christians trapped in the region. And the agony also remains palpable among refugees and others in North America who know…
A 126-year-old Baptist church that two years ago clashed with leaders of its affluent Silicon Valley community over traffic and parking concerns is seeking a buyer for its 1948 building that in its prime accommodated a congregation of 600 to 700 members but has now dwindled to about 25.
During the Civil Rights Movement being not-racist in the midst of murder, lynching, theft and almost every other degradation known to humanity, wasn’t enough. It still isn’t.
Saints are regular, blessed folks around us through whom goodness shines. Being blessed is not about storing up riches and celebrity accolades; it is all about giving oneself away.
Andy Savage – co-founder of a Tennessee megachurch who resigned last year as teaching pastor after admitting to sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl two decades earlier – is starting a new church for others who, in his words, “got our hands on the wrong thing.”
John MacArthur’s “go home” comment directed toward Beth Moore was an insult to her and to her ministry of teaching and preaching. But it was more than that. It was an insult to every female preacher, teacher and pastor living out God’s call to ministry.
Borrowing from scripture and the U.S. Navy, I suggest a pastor’s role in today’s world should be like that of Jesus, who began his movement with the flexibility of a new type of vessel, a small crew and the vision of a new creation based on the pattern of heaven.
A genuine reparations process must focus fundamentally on achieving justice and equity for those who have been harmed, not on expiating the guilt of those who have benefitted, directly or indirectly, from the infliction of harm.
I want to be an innovator and I want to be part of this new thing being born.
For decades the SBC has avoided liability in criminal and civil actions involving churches or affiliated organizations by claiming they are all autonomous, self-governing organizations. But former Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware Executive Director Will McRaney claims in a new court document that lawyers representing NAMB turn that argument on its head.
The experience of James Bradley as one of America’s first black seminarians can show us how far we have come. But, even as theology schools consider ways to address their culture of whiteness, it also shows us how far we have yet to travel.
Oh, the dilemmas of pastoral ministry. Here I sit, looking at a beautiful piece of art for Sunday’s order of worship, trying to determine whether to cover the nakedness of the man helped by the Good Samaritan.
