Calling it a ministry might underestimate what’s happening at Chestnut Grounds. By listening and following, Nikki and Chris have become non-resident members of the trailer park. They’ve found community in an unexpected place. Perhaps it is only in unexpected places that community becomes beloved community.
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CBF honors Virginia pastors with leadership awards at ChurchWorks
Two Virginia pastors were honored Feb. 26 for their outstanding leadership during the opening day of ChurchWorks, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s annual conference for Christian educators meeting at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio, Texas. ChurchWorks is three-day event for all practitioners of education and spiritual formation in the congregational setting.
Virginia Baptist group will no longer forward money to CBF, citing partial lifting of ban on LGBTQ employees
The Baptist General Association of Virginia will no longer forward contributions from its affiliated congregations to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship because of a new CBF practice allowing the hiring of LGBTQ Christians to some, but not all, ministry positions.
Does communion mean anything? A lament over the BGAV and CBF
For the BGAV and CBF, perhaps “communion” now means we just share a little instead of share abundantly. Maybe “communion” now means we have only periodic public fellowship with each other instead of intimate friendship as brothers and sisters in Christ. Perhaps “communion” now means rapport and affinity move towards separation and estrangement.
Arrests, deportations chill demand for immigrant legal aid ministries
When two Baptist ministers launched a legal aid ministry for immigrants in Virginia in the fall of 2016, it was aimed largely at helping Latinos attain and maintain legal residency. But Donald Trump’s election a couple months later, and his high-profile immigration crackdown since taking office, has slowed demand for Greg and Sue Smith’s LUCHA Immigration Legal Services in Fredericksburg, Va.
Seeking fresh light: Cooperative Baptists practicing theology
An ideal practice of theology by the church is one that depends on the illumination provided by various sources of light through which the Spirit helps us see and diverse voices through which the Spirit helps us hear what the mind of Christ is regarding our faith and practice for time and place.
CBF hiring practice illuminates continued colonialism
The unrecognized and unacknowledged colonialist justifications for the CBF’s decision are disturbing. Implementing this policy solely because it reflects the congregational opinions of churches within the CBF would provide a much more understandable justification. Utilizing the beliefs and practices of global Christians in order to maintain a position of power, however, perpetuates a colonialist impulse that Christians have been subject to for far too long.
Reflecting on CBF life in the midst of hope and ashes
If I read my Bible correctly (and if I read my American history correctly), the only real hope we have for reconciliation isn’t actually through reading our Bible correctly. And it isn’t through winning an argument with someone who disagrees with us. Reconciliation only seems to happen in one way — through carrying crosses.
Baptist brokenness: Reconciliation and revolution
I am sick to death of decades of our ceaseless inability to avoid personal, spiritual and communal schism in our churches and ourselves. Truth to tell, however, 2,000 years of Christian history illustrate that the same Jesus Story that unites all Christ’s church often drives it apart. I’ve often teased that “Baptists multiply by dividing.” It’s not funny anymore. Never was.
Why I voted against the CBF Implementation Plan
I understand the need to be culturally sensitive when making hiring decisions, and I understand that applies whether you are sending missionaries to Nigeria or New Jersey. But the existing bylaws of the CBF leave those hiring decisions in the hands of the executive coordinator, and I trust Suzii Paynter. I trust her to be culturally sensitive, but I also trust her not to discriminate.
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CBF encourages congregations to ‘reimagine evangelism’
Does the idea of evangelism excite you or make you squirm? Does the Good News actually sound like good news anymore? In an increasingly post-Christian culture, how do we equip congregations to invite their neighbors to experience the way, the…
With new CBF policy, there’s space for some but not for all
I do not expect a denominational body to reinforce all aspects of my conscience any more than I expect a congregation to match my convictions in every way. Most people don’t expect a perfect match — just space to grow together. So I’m not bothered by a conviction that differs from mine. I am bothered by the centrality given to a conviction that makes no space.