The bad news for the Southern Baptist Convention is that membership declined for the 17th consecutive year. The good news is that last year’s 1.8% decrease was less than recent years. Those are among findings from the SBC’s Annual Church…
Candidate for SBC president stirs a storm by saying sexual abuse cases are a ‘distraction’
In a six-man race for the Southern Baptist Convention presidency, one candidate made headlines over the weekend for his stance on the 42 sexual abuse lawsuits reportedly pending against the denomination. Critics pounced when David Allen, a seminary preaching professor,…
Church life is the perfect cover for abusers, Brown says in BNG webinar
The all-encompassing nature of church life can provide predators with the ideal cover for committing sexual abuse within congregations, abuse survivor and author Christa Brown said. “Access and trust. Pastors and churches have both access to kids and enormous trust…
SBC Cooperation Group offers four recommendations, says Constitution is clear enough
A group tasked with studying ways to increase cooperation among a fractious Southern Baptist Convention has proposed four recommendations to be considered over the next year. In addition to the four recommendations, the Cooperation Group said May 1 it believes…
Virginia church with historic ties to SBC will vote on leaving due to Law Amendment
A Virginia church with deep historical ties to the Southern Baptist Convention will vote May 19 on a proposal to sever ties with the SBC due to the denomination’s intolerance for women serving as pastors. For decades, First Baptist Church…
There’s now half a dozen pastors vying to be SBC president
This summer’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting already was going to be one for the history books, and now there’s another reason for that distinction: A record six candidates have now announced their intention to run for the presidency of…
How evangelicals promoted, then abandoned environmental stewardship
Rising temperatures made 2023 earth’s hottest year on record. Climate scientists say human activity increases heat-trapping gasses that contribute to weather-related disasters, which in 2022 forced more than 3 million Americans from their homes and cost the world $360 billion…
Who’s an evangelical? New poll finds Southern Baptists separating from Christian nationalists on some points
The question of whether Southern Baptists should be counted among the nation’s conservative evangelicals is not a new one, but it is up for debate again thanks to results from a new Lifeway Research survey on faith and politics. That…
Bart Barber, a unicorn among SBC presidents, reflects on the state of the SBC as his term concludes
Bart Barber is a unicorn among recent Southern Baptist Convention presidents. And now he’s a lame duck, too. To participate in our interview by Zoom, Barber had to travel away from his North Texas farm. This is unlike any of…