Disputes about baptism are troubling the waters among some Baptists. From a controversial policy of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, which narrows the definition of an acceptable baptism of a new missionary, to churches that wrestle with the…
VBMB staff has exhibit booth at CBF’s General Assembly
Participants at this year's Cooperative Baptist Fellowship's General Assembly had direct access to the ministries of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board — perhaps the first time a state Baptist convention has maintained a presence at the CBF's annual meeting. Dee…
Jesus’s ministry prompts focus on immigration, say Hispanics
The central question in the debate on immigration reform is not about economics or politics, Hispanic Baptist leaders said June 23. “The basic issue is whether Jesus still has a mission to the poor,” Albert Reyes, president of Baptist University…
‘Information integrity’ essential to world citizenship, Nash tells ABP audience
Rob Nash, one day after being elected global missions coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, urged about 300 Baptists at an Associated Baptist Press banquet to pursue “information integrity” on their way to becoming “citizens of the world.” In his…
Leave ‘Christendom’ thinking behind, says BWA’s Lotz
Western Baptists need to leave Christendom behind and become more like the early church, Denton Lotz told about 150 persons attending a Baptist World Alliance dinner June 23. Lotz, who is general secretary of the BWA, said many Westerners still…
Baptist politics ‘wreaking havoc’ on universities, warns Godsey
Baptist higher education faces a monumental crisis, due in large part to abuses of control and financial dependence, longtime university president Kirby Godsey told participants at the Whitsitt Baptist Heritage Society's annual meeting June 22 in Atlanta. Godsey will retire…
Methodist numbers drop below 8 million
(RNS) — A United Methodist Church report says church membership dipped to a new low last year, dropping to under 8 million in the United States for the first time in nearly 80 years. The church's General Council on Finance…
BWA presses Vietnam on religious freedom
(ABP) — A Baptist World Alliance-led delegation recently returned from Vietnam, where they pressed government officials to ensure greater religious freedom in the rapidly Westernizing nation. Vietnamese-American Baptists and top officials from the Baptist World Alliance, the Baptist General Convention…
2nd Georgia church votes to join BGAV
First Baptist Church in Dalton, Ga., has voted to join the 1,400 congregations affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia. The church, which unanimously approved the action June 25, is the second Georgia congregation to join the BGAV. First…