America elected a female Vice President. Now will it put women in the pulpit?
(RNS) — One of the most important stories coming out of the 2020 presidential election is that the United States will soon swear in its first female vice president. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris noted this in her victory speech on Nov. 7, when she said, “But while I may be the first woman in this […]
Pope: Christmas a sign of hope amid difficulties of pandemic
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says the Christmas season provides reason for hope amid the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic. During his Sunday blessing, Francis noted that the Vatican’s Christmas tree had gone up last week in St. Peter’s Square, and that work is underway to build the life-size Nativity scene next to it. Read […]
Pandemic, loss unite two rural Missouri Baptist pastors around faith
Dec. 9, 2020 by Luis Andres Henao, David Crary, & Jessie Wardarski, AP NOEL, Mo. (AP) — Thirty miles of rural Missouri separate the two churches, and so much else. One is mostly White; the other hosts services in five languages for a flock that spans the world. Still, every Tuesday the pastors meet midway between […]
Photo Essay: Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church
Republished with permission from Word & Way. On Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving, vandals attacked Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist Church, a historic Black Baptist church in rural Callaway County, Missouri. The damage, which included the shattering of many windows, sparked headlines across the country after decades of the church suffering in silence through frequent, although smaller, […]
When Prayer Masks Injustice
Republished with permission from Word & Way. The angriest I ever saw one of my former ministry bosses and mentors came after someone wrote a column suggesting a conflict in Baptist life could be over if people just prayed more. As someone leading a new organization birthed from that conflict, he took offense to the […]
Houston Pastor Cuts Ties to Southern Baptists Over Critical Race Theory Rejection
(RNS) — A pastor pursuing a doctorate at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, announced in an editorial Wednesday (Dec. 16) that he was withdrawing from his degree program and severing his megachurch’s affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention over a recent statement by its seminary presidents on critical race theory. Read the […]
Black Southern Baptists Weigh in on Critical Race Theory Critique by Officials
Republished with permission from Word & Way (RNS) — The president of the National African American Fellowship of the Southern Baptist Convention has asked for a meeting with six seminary presidents who recently declared that an academic set of ideas on race known as “critical race theory” is incompatible with the denomination’s faith statement. “We affirm that […]
