June 19, 1865, is the day when the last enslaved persons in Galveston, Texas, received news that they had been emancipated. Juneteenth, as this day has been called, commemorates in the hearts and minds of Black folks the official end…
The stars are lining up for Middle Church’s fire rebuilding fundraiser this week
A constellation of stars has been assembled to help guide Middle Collegiate Church in New York City from the ashes of its historic building destroyed by fire Dec. 5. Located in the city’s iconic East Village, the congregation claims numerous…
Pandemic complicates the grief at Middle Church after fire, but leaders see hope
There’s no good time to lose a church building to fire, but the middle of a global pandemic seems like an especially awful time to members of Middle Collegiate Church in New York. “When you get to the block and…
It’s time to break the chains of slaveholder religion
I first came across the phrase “slaveholder religion” when I read the book by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove titled Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion. The premise of the book is that America’s original sin of chattel slavery persists as…
Chadwick forever
My world stopped last Friday when news of the passing of Chadwick Boseman hit the internet. Chadwick, at the age of 43, was announced dead after a four-year battle with Stage III colon cancer. News that shocked his fans all…
Zoombombing incident boosts church’s virtual ministry just in time for Easter
A recent cyberattack against virtual worship at First Baptist Church Jamaica Plain in Boston, Massachusetts, sparked Darrell Hamilton to re-imagine his calling and even that of the Church – capital C. How do congregations call and equip clergy and lay…
Jeff Sessions’ heckler influenced by Baptist ‘tradition of protest’
A Baptist minister removed earlier this week as a heckler during a speech on religious liberty by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity and former intern for the Baptist Joint Committee…