ALBANY, Ga. (ABP) — For the second year in a row, the Georgia Baptist Convention has withdrawn fellowship from one of its most historic member churches for calling a woman as pastor. Geogia Baptists have declared a second church led…
Ups and downs of a Ranger
DALLAS (ABP) — Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton told a Texas Baptist mega-church Nov. 7 that he would not have overcome the alcohol and drug addiction that nearly cost him his baseball career without God's help. Coming off a season…
Rangers all-star tells story of ups and downs
DALLAS (ABP) — Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton told a Texas Baptist mega-church Nov. 7 that he would not have overcome the alcohol and drug addiction that nearly cost him his baseball career without God's help. Coming off a season…
Four Baptists arrested in Azerbaijan during raid on worship service
OSLO, Norway (ABP) — Four Baptists in Azerbaijan received five-day jail sentences Oct. 31 after a police raid on a harvest festival in a private home, according to an international news service that specializes in religious freedom. Forum 18, a…
Russian leaders decry arson attacks on Baptist, Orthodox churches
KARACHAYEVO-CHERKESSIA, Russia (ABP) — Political and religious leaders in Russia's mainly Muslim North Caucasus denounced arson attacks on two Russian Orthodox churches and one Baptist church overnight on Nov. 1. An Orthodox church in the village of Ordzhonikidzevsky in the…
Iraqi Baptist pastor says Baghdad’s Christians living in fear after attack
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP) — A Baptist pastor in Baghdad told a European Baptist leader that Christians there are living in fear following an Oct. 31 attack on a Catholic church in Iraq's capital that left more than 50 dead….
‘Unchurched’ studies seek to understand why people leave
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Seeking to develop strategies to prevent formerly active members from leaving through the so-called “back door,” LifeWay Research has conducted surveys to better understand why people leave. “I think we have a lot of strategies for…
Study finds large churches can do better at retaining members
HARTFORD, Conn. — Large congregations are more likely than small churches to emphasize evangelism and recruitment of new members but significantly less likely to contact members who stop attending, according to a recent study. A little more than half of…
Why do people leave churches?
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP) — Many churches and denominations put a lot of effort into attracting new members only to lose many of them through a “back door”—a term used to describe people who regularly attended a church in the past…