Critics say Andy Stanley doesn’t take political involvement seriously. He begs to differ. The author of a new book titled Not In It To Win It, Stanley is a man on a mission to challenge the American evangelical church to…
Annual report on Baptist women in ministry finds some gains but serious losses due to COVID
Women in ministry continue to feel blocked in their callings and ignored in their ministry settings because they are female, according to an annual report released June 21 by Baptist Women in Ministry. “The State of Women in Baptist Life,”…
Letter to the Editor: The importance of establishing best practices for pastoral searches
Letter to the Editor June 17, 2022 Dear Editor: In a 2014 article in BNG, writer Marion Aldridge penned an excellent piece on pastoral search committees. According to the article, “Even a tiny, troubled Baptist church can get 100 resumes.”…
Pastors dabble in brewing and mining to survive Zimbabwe’s burning economy
Father Chukucha cuts a lone figure as he circles the withering garden of his parish in Mberengwa, one of the poorest districts of the middle of Zimbabwe. While 250 miles away in another district, Pastor Noel Fengu, a Baptist minister,…
How a seminary education causes a pastor to struggle with Comforting Lies versus Unpleasant Truths
Imagine going to medical school or law school and finding out once you graduate and enter your practice that you must forget at least 25% of what you learned or lose your job. Yeah, that is what it’s like for…
The Supreme Court’s politicized decision on abortion will do nothing to help churches thrive
As if the American church isn’t divided enough, it appears we’re about to roll back the clock 50 years on abortion rights and throw more jet fuel on the culture war bonfires consuming our congregations. For some churches and pastors,…
Mental health remains greatest challenge for 13- to 25-year-olds
Mental health is the biggest challenge presently facing young people in the United States, but some say faith has helped them cope with their continuing emotional struggles, according to a survey designed to help churches minister to Generation Z in…
Maybe the church needs pastors who aren’t entrepreneurs
I once was a “professional Christian.” Like David Ramsey, (who recently authored “What Could the Church Learn from Amazon?”), I also stepped away from the church, and I agree with him that part of the problem was “the pressures that…
Half of U.S. congregations led by solo pastor but that’s not what most churchgoers experience
The iconic Americana image of a solo pastor faithfully tending the flock of a local congregation remains a reality for more than half of U.S. congregations, but that is not the reality most American churchgoers experience. Combined with the report…
Baptists in countries bordering Ukraine open their doors to fleeing refugees
The Ukrainian Baptist Union has evacuated its headquarters in Kyiv as Russian artillery and airstrikes continue to pound the capital city and as Baptist groups in neighboring countries scramble to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees escaping the violence, according…
Zoom, zoom, zoom … Some pastors aren’t revved up for continued online church
It took a couple of years, but Elizabeth Mangham Lott finally hit her bottom with doing online church by the end of January. “Y’all, this Zoom church stuff is crushing me today. I don’t wanna do it. And I don’t…
Research documents slide in respect for pastors and belief in their influence
New research confirms what many pastors already know — that they are decreasingly respected and influential in U.S. society. “Pastors, for the most part, are peripheral and ornamental. Quaint, but not entirely necessary. Kind, but not wholly credible,” Barna senior…