For 27 years, Austin Baptist Chapel — known to most of the people it serves as “Angel House” — has served hot lunches to the homeless and hungry in Texas’s capital city. “Our homeless guests several years into the ministry…
Intentional Christian communities live and serve among the poor
In one of northern Philadelphia’s most-dangerous neighborhoods, a 20-person Christian group thrives, embracing a lifestyle of radical community. Shane Claiborne, leader of the 10 households in the Kensington neighborhood, helped found The Simple Way in 1995 as a faith community…
Church budgets called moral statements which reflect ethical priorities and churches’ passions
It may not feel like it to number-crunchers huddled around a Sunday school classroom table, fine-tuning annual financial proposals for an upcoming church business meeting. But church budgets are moral statements that reflect ethical priorities — and may be key…
Beauty and the budget — it’s a balancing act to get it right
Houston-area residents know South Main Baptist Church for the beauty of its Romanesque sanctuary and for its reputation as a progressive congregation committed to meeting physical and spiritual needs, both locally and globally. Keeping the facility beautiful and the ministries…
Reza Aslan defends controversial new book on Jesus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For the third time, Jesus is about to change Reza Aslan’s life. As a teenager, Aslan turned to Jesus in an evangelical youth group, where becoming a Christian made him feel like a real American. He…
Aging pushes some churches to fiscal brink, others to find creative solutions
(ABP) — Survival is a question thousands of American churches confront each year. Estimates of annual church closures range from 3,500 to 7,000. That’s likely to increase as younger generations, including the rise of the “nones,” increasingly avoid organized religion….
Baptist groups hosting pistol classes to support ‘biblical principles’
(ABP) — A Southern Baptist camp in Illinois plans to host a National Rifle Association pistol course intended to help participants qualify for permits under the state’s newly passed concealed-carry law. The eight-hour course is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7,…
What is Shariah and why do states like North Carolina want to ban it? A guide to the complex concept
(RNS) — North Carolina lawmakers approved a bill July 24 to prohibit judges from considering “foreign laws” in their decisions, but nearly everyone agrees that “foreign laws” really means Shariah, or Islamic law. North Carolina now joins six other states…
Removal of song from a hymnal because of reference to an atonement theory is drawing the ire of some
(ABP) — The wrath of God has become a point of contention since news broke that a new Presbyterian hymnal passed on the popular title In Christ Alone for theological reasons. “Why do many Christians shrink from any thought of…