While women face well-known and painful obstacles to ministry, the little, daily slights can be just as hurtful and draining, Laura Ellis said during a June 29 workshop hosted by Baptist Women in Ministry. “The smaller but not-insignificant microaggressions really…
Churches’ eco-stewardship can protect ‘the tree of life,’ San Antonio congregation shows
With research, planning and commitment, a single congregation can provide a faithful ecological witness and take steps to combat climate change, members of Woodland Baptist Church in San Antonio told participants at the 2022 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly. Jeni…
God calls all kinds of people to behold the Lamb of God, West tells CBF
God uses different people in different ways, just as seen throughout creation, Houston pastor Ralph West told the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship June 30. “Have you noticed in a careful reading of Scripture that God doesn’t do any two things in…
Together for Hope inspires communities to see what they’ve got more than what they’re lacking
The mayor of Sidon, Miss., said courage surged through her town when it encountered Together for Hope, a national coalition that uses holistic approaches to fight poverty in the most economically ravaged American communities. Like most cities and towns in…
CBF is ‘crossing over’ to a new era, Baxley tells General Assembly
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship is “crossing over” into a new era of growth and promise, Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley told participants in CBF’s General Assembly June 30. In a report punctuated repeatedly by loud applause from the audience, Baxley said…
While the SBC shuns women as preachers, CBF celebrates a new generation of women as preachers
Testimony is the cure for the despair that afflicts people and churches after two years of pandemic and politics have tried American religion by fire, Courtney Stamey told participants in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship June 29. While the Southern Baptist…
Jesus calls women to ministry by name and asks them to rise up, Stewart says in fiery BWIM sermon
Like the crippled woman in Luke 13, female clergy know what it means to be paralyzed by sexism, patriarchy and other forms of emotional and psychological abuse, Gina Stewart preached during Baptist Women in Ministry’s June 28 worship celebration in…
BNG dinner will bring together Anthea Butler and Beth Allison Barr for a conversation on race and gender
Two of the most prominent voices speaking to the American church about race and gender will appear together at a Baptist News Global event during the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly in Dallas this June. Anthea Butler of the University…
Panelists describe better alternatives to ‘hit-and-run’ evangelism
Diogo Carvalho’s initial foray into evangelism was motivated by an emphasis on saving souls from hell and counting converts. “It was hit-and-run evangelism. I would approach someone in the streets, speak with them five minutes and let them go,” the…
Do not lose heart while tending the soil of God’s work, speakers urge CBF assembly
Faced with concurrent pandemics of health, politics and racism, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship churches have not lost heart but have pressed on amid the challenges, CBF Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley said in an address to the group’s General Assembly Aug. 27….
Scholar explores the ways migration changes people’s attitudes, beliefs and religion
Over time, immigrants to new countries behave in new ways and embrace new ideas that they would not have embodied had they never left home, according to João Chaves, author of a forthcoming book titled Migrational Religion: Context and Creativity…
Pandemic has accelerated needed changes in churches, panelists report
The COVID-19 pandemic posed challenges to churches, but it also helped them sift through outdated programming and policies to reinvent ministry going forward, according to panelists of “Expanding Engagement in the Local Church,” an Aug. 25 workshop of the Cooperative…