In my last column for Baptist News Global, I wrote a sentence I want to come back to: “I am a trans man who grew up in the church and loved it until it threw me away.” Some readers may…
The United Church of Christ Is Running Out of People—and Pastors
I swear before I get done writing this newsletter, I will have written up a big report on nearly every American Protestant denomination. Just looking through the archive, I think I’ve tackled at least seven of them so far (TEC, ELCA, PCUSA, SBC, AG, PCA, UMC)….
Faith communities unite to fight hunger
Congregations across cultural and theological lines must see hunger as an affront to justice and unite in the struggle to eradicate food insecurity, according to a new campaign launched by Church World Service. The global humanitarian organization released a 2025…
Proposed bill to help welcome asylum seekers hailed by human rights groups
Human rights groups are lining up in support of new legislation designed to help states and cities welcome asylum seekers and refugees into local communities. The Destination Reception Assistance Act, introduced in Congress July 30, seeks to expand the federal…
‘Operation Reconquista’ aims to return Mainline churches to ‘orthodoxy’
Conservatives from seven Mainline Protestant denominations marked Reformation Sunday this year by publishing their own 95 theses calling for reform in their respective denominations — except for those affiliated with the American Baptist Churches USA, who published 9.5 theses to…
Switching denominations: Why some Baptist ministers are leaving
“As denominations have declined and become more rigid and doctrinaire, people have gone looking for opportunities in denominations that seem more compatible”
Passion, not money, needed for vibrant young adult ministries, study shows
Younger Americans are abandoning organized religion in ever greater numbers and it’s no shock that churches can’t control the underlying social forces driving that decline. But they aren’t totally powerless, either, says Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi, director of the United Church of Christ’s…
Change is an inside job — for both congregations and individuals, say coaches
The experience of guiding churches through challenges and change feels a lot like helping individuals through the same process, say consultants.
Andover Newton enters partnership with Yale
Baptist-affiliated Andover Newton Theological School and Yale Divinity School have signed a letter of intent to enter a two-phase plan toward formal affiliation beginning this fall, administrators at the two schools announced May 2. If the first phase is successful,…
Pastor, former journalist leaving Baptists for UCC
By Bob Allen A former Southern Baptist journalist turned American Baptist pastor is switching churches, and denominations, moving to the United Church of Christ. Kathryn Palen, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Jamestown, R.I., since January 2007, announced recently she…
Past CBF moderator moving to UCC church
By Bob Allen Former Cooperative Baptist Fellowship moderator Keith Herron will step down Sept. 21 as pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., to move to a St. Louis church affiliated with the United Church of Christ. Last…