VATICAN CITY (RNS) — When China’s state-run Catholic Church ordained a new bishop for the Diocese of Shantou July 14 without the Vatican’s approval, it represented the latest step back from years of progress in a complex relationship. Yet the…
As political candidates run for office, some run from their church
NEW YORK (RNS) — On a recent Sunday, Rep. Michele Bachmann offered a Pentecostal church in Iowa an intimate account of her pilgrimage from apathetic teenager to devout Christian whose faith has persevered through hardship, including a miscarriage. But when…
Mid-Atlantic Baptists building bridges in China through basketball clinics
XI’AN, China — Coordinating their efforts through the Virginia Baptist Mission Board and the local YMCA, a team of athletes from Baptist churches in Virginia and both Carolinas led basketball clinics in July for youth in the central Chinese city…
China Christian Council confirms continued ties with Virginia Baptists
SHANGHAI, China — A leader of the China Christian Council — the official organization of Protestant churches in China — affirmed the group’s continuing commitment to strong ties with the Baptist General Association of Virginia during a meeting with BGAV…
Blogosphere abuzz over Rupert Murdoch as ‘Bible mogul’
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) — The scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s British tabloid empire continues to widen, bringing scrutiny to, of all places, western Michigan and the Zondervan publishing company. Among the major holdings in Murdoch’s News Corp is publisher HarperCollins,…
Calling old name ‘problematic,’ Campus Crusade rebrands itself
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (RNS) — Campus Crusade for Christ is out. “Cru” is in. The 60-year-old evangelical ministry announced its new name at a staff conference in Fort Collins, Colo., on July 19, saying the old name had become problematic….
HeraldBeat
Transitions ON THE MOVE Bryon LePere, to Buena Vista (Va.) Baptist Church, as pastor. He previously served as pastor of Big Island (Va.) Baptist Church. Bailey Edwards Nelson, to Flat Rock Baptist Church in Mount Airy, N.C., as pastor. David…
EDITORIAL: The new China
Like the blind man who grasped the elephant’s tail and drew the conclusion that all elephants were like snakes, my experience in China is so limited that the better part of wisdom would probably be to refrain from comment. But,…
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To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, James Hunter (Oxford) In the early 1990s, James Hunter, a sociologist at the University of Virginia, coined the phrase “culture wars” to describe the…
HERITAGE: Trumpet of life
“Don’t call Shiloh! Shiloh is dead!” With those words there begins a story which is legendary in the annals of Virginia Baptist history. When the Portsmouth Baptist Association met in 1871, the clerk called the roll of the churches. When…
China Christian Council plans Bible exhibition in four U.S. cities
SHANGHAI — The China Christian Council — the country’s official Protestant organization of churches — is hosting a Bible exhibition in four cities across the United States this fall, beginning Sept. 28 at the Mount Vernon Place Methodist Church in…
China’s Christians are thriving, marked by both unity and diversity
SHANGHAI — At the appointed time, they entered: the ministers wearing clerical vestments and the robed choir singing “The Lord is in his holy temple.” As the organist transitioned from the call to worship to “Come, Thou, Almighty King,” the…