In Israel, Jewish women are fighting for the right to pray from Torah scrolls at the Western Wall, as men do. Starlette McNeill identifies with those women and their struggle. While McNeill isn’t Israeli and isn’t Jewish, her personal trials…
Leaders report progress on task force addressing sexual misconduct by clergy
A Cooperative Baptist Fellowship task force developing guidelines for responding to a wide range of sexual misconduct by clergy is in place and compiling best practices to be shared with churches and partner ministries, according to an update Jan. 11. Pam…
Advocate says preaching opportunities changing landscape for Baptist women in ministry
A decade-old emphasis encouraging moderate Baptist churches to invite a woman to preach one Sunday in February has contributed to a shift in how people in the pew think about women in ministry, a longtime advocate for pulpit inclusiveness said…
Working for justice is path to peace in 2017, spiritual leaders say
Scrolling through the list of celebrities who died in 2016 seems to take, depressingly, forever. There also were the personal losses and, for many, a political and cultural landscape that seems upside-down. And those are just the personal and domestic…
Study says stained-glass ceiling slowly lifting in churches
Openness to calling a woman as senior pastor is growing incrementally in moderate and progressive Baptist churches in the southern United States, according to the latest State of Women in Baptist Life report by Baptist Women in Ministry. “The statistics…
When will there be enough women ministers?
Early this year in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, his colleague, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, was asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court. Her answer caused quite a stir as she quickly…
CBF launches task force on clergy sexual misconduct
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Governing Board approved a task force on clergy sexual misconduct June 21 in a final meeting prior to this week’s CBF General Assembly in Greensboro, N.C. The CBF will collaborate with Baptist Women in Ministry in…
An anomaly in the pulpit
“What’s in a name?” the guest preacher asked as the sermon began. The message was taken from the Lukan account of the Gerasene man suffering from demon possession, the man who was called Legion. The reverend addressed the biblical significance…
Author says women’s narratives shed new light on SBC conflict
Scholars have analyzed and dissected the turbulent period of 1979-1990 in the Southern Baptist Convention known collectively as the conservative resurgence, fundamentalist takeover or SBC holy war from almost every angle, but until recently most have focused on only half…