For the last 30 years, it has become popular for new churches to build their worship and ministry space to look like a warehouse or storehouse (or use an actual warehouse). The “Emergent” or “Emerging Church” and ultra contemporary church…
About 2,500 youth from more than 60 countries attending Baptist gathering in Singapore
SINGAPORE (ABP) — German Baptist youth leader Christian Rommert reminded youth from more than 60 countries gathered in Singapore that life in Christ is not about rules or systems but relationships. Rommert cautioned the 16th Baptist Youth World Conference against…
Baptist World Alliance calls for end to Cuba embargo, presents human rights award to Glen Stassen
OCHO RIOS, Jamaica (ABP) — Baptist leaders from around the world called on the United States to lift its half-century-old economic embargo on Cuba in a resolution adopted during the Baptist World Alliance annual gathering July 1-6 in Ocho Rios,…
New head of SBC public policy agency says too much political involvement can harm mission of church
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Southern Baptists’ new spokesman for moral and religious-liberty concerns offered a corrective for Christian involvement in politics in a wide-ranging, 45-minute interview July 8 on C-SPAN. “I think there was a day when evangelical Christians in…
Churches have role to play, Suzii Paynter tells conference on immigration
DALLAS (ABP) — Faith communities in the United States both serve and benefit from immigrants, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter said July 10 in a conference at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas. “Immigrants have brought…
Spiritual formation: more than a buzz phrase
Two words combined to be a buzz phrase have appeared at different times and in different ways in Baptist life lately, especially at CBF General Assembly last month: Spiritual. Formation. The new Dawnings CBF initiative that offers a missional visioning…
CBF leaders hope strategic changes signal a new day for the group as it grapples with identity
GREENSBORO (ABP) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship “embraced the challenge of change” during the past 12 months, CBF Moderator Keith Herron said in his report to the 2013 General Assembly June 28 in Greensboro. Last year’s General Assembly in Fort…
Baptist Women in Ministry celebrates 30 years of a movement ‘started with a sense of outrage’
GREENSBORO (ABP) — Baptist Women in Ministry celebrated its 30th anniversary June 26 in a packed auditorium at First Baptist Church in Greensboro in conjunction with the June 26-28 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly. “Tonight we have come here to…
‘Dawnings’ is spiritual formation for churches, not a strategic plan, CBF leaders say
GREENSBORO (ABP) — Dawnings, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s new missional process for congregations, is about discerning God’s will for churches and ministries, Bo Prosser, coordinator of missional congregations, said during a presentation about the system in Greensboro. What it is…