“Now is the time” to proclaim a gospel that sets people free, activist and theologian Traci D. Blackmon told participants at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer luncheon June 25 in St. Louis. The annual event…
CBF session explores responses to sexual abuse in congregations
One learning lab at the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly asked attendees to consider what their church would do if abuse happened in their congregation. Jay Kieve, CBF’s abuse prevention and response advocate, joined attorney David Cooke to talk through…
CBF ratifies downsized budget, elects slate of new leaders
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship adopted a downsized budget and elected new leaders during its General Assembly in St. Louis June 24-26. The 2025-26 budget — which takes effect when CBF’s fiscal year begins Aug. 1 — calls for expenditures of…
Find purpose beyond church growth or decline, Burge urges CBF
“Your church probably is not growing, and that’s OK,” Ryan Burge, a leading analyst of politics and religion, told a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship gathering June 24 in St. Louis. But that doesn’t signal a cause for apathy or despair, he…
Baylor and CBF announce new partnership
Baylor University and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship have announced a joint venture that will place three CBF field personnel — missionaries — on campus to guide students in responding to God’s call to ministry. Baylor is a Baptist heritage university…
‘No vouchers, no cuts’ rally opposes ‘big beautiful bill’
A coalition of education and religious freedom groups rallied near the U.S. Capitol urging senators to defeat a Republican spending plan that would create a federal school voucher program and impose deep cuts to social service programs like Medicaid. “Today,…
Some Baptist leaders hopeful about Pope Leo XIV
“I did not think this would happen in my lifetime,” Baptist scholar Elizabeth Newman said of the election of an American as pope. Newman, a theologian and ethicist who serves as co-chair of the Baptist-Catholic dialogues convened by Baptist World…
CBFNC focuses on diversity, inclusion and ‘serving together’ amid trying times
Last week’s annual gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina, hosted by Pritchard Baptist Church in Charlotte, centered the theme “Serving Together,” bringing forth unity in diversity among North Carolina congregations in the current political, social and economic…
What I learned at CBF’s Advocacy in Action
I got to tag along with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship on its Advocacy in Action trip to Washington, D.C., last week. Having participated in several similar advocacy trainings and trips with various groups, I thought I knew what to expect. The…
Despite court injunction, immigration agents show up at CBF ministry
A March 18 encounter with federal agents left a North Carolina refugee ministry and its network of supporting congregations rattled but determined as ever “to continue serving the stranger in our community,” said Marc Wyatt, director of Welcome House Raleigh….
CBF and coalition win temporary order against ICE raids in churches
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and others who filed suit to block the Trump administration from sending ICE agents into houses of worship won a temporary restraining order Feb. 24. U.S. District Judge Theodore Chang issued an order blocking the administration’s…
27 more religious groups sue to stop ICE raids at churches
Fellowship Southwest and the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas are among 27 religious bodies that filed suit against the Trump administration Feb. 11 to stop ICE agents from having access to houses of worship for immigration raids. The multiparty lawsuit…