In conversations this week with both friends and clients, all of whom are professional working women, I’m hearing the same thing: It’s all about feeling shamed. As schools announce plans for the fall, working parents find themselves facing a buffet of…
Adult faith formation thriving although different due to COVID
The coronavirus outbreak is inspiring Christians to take spiritual formation into their own hands — and that’s just fine with a lot of spiritual formation pastors. “People have pushed pause,” said Jayne Davis, associate pastor for discipleship at First Baptist…
Five ideas for pandemic praying
A young professional in my church recently reached out to me with some prayer concerns. As we talked on the phone, he searched for words. It turns out he was struggling with more than his prayer life; he was struggling…
Why we gather for in-person worship
We now have gathered for in-person worship for six Sundays after 15 weeks of online-only services. We recognize there are risks involved; we’re doing the best we can to mitigate those risks through the wearing of masks, practicing physical distancing…
Congregations on mission and online doing better financially amid COVID
Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial news from America’s religious congregations is not as dire as first predicted. Still, while some churches survive and even thrive, others struggle. “In March we were readying up to help churches think…
The church is closed but the kitchen is open to serve
Coronavirus has closed church facilities across the country, but Temple Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., is not one of them. Since mid-March, the congregation has become the site of a five-day-a-week feeding effort that has assembled, bagged and distributed more…
America, these are self-inflicted wounds
The United States has now lost 150,000 people — almost three times the number of people we lost during the Vietnam War – due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is spreading unchecked across the nation. Meanwhile, national, state and…
In ‘demon sperm’ theology, the problem is not the demons
Stella Immanuel — the Cameroonian-American doctor at the heart of this country’s most recent culture war skirmish over the novel coronavirus and the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment — believes certain medical conditions are the result of “evil deposits”…
Embracing technology prepared us in advance for COVID-19
During this pandemic, churches, schools and organizations have been forced to learn and use new approaches to worship, ministry and learning. We are creatures of habit, but habits can limit our perspective. As Baptist Seminary of Kentucky began offering theological…