Protestant
Southern Baptists don’t like women pastors? That means trouble for all of us.
By Jeffrey Salkin — June 15, 2023
(RNS) — The Southern Baptists are pushing back against women pastors. It is a sign of something bigger.
Southern Baptists reaffirm commitment to abuse reforms, preview database of abusers
By Bob Smietana — June 14, 2023
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) — Despite criticism, the task force charged with implementing abuse reforms was renewed for a second year.
Southern Baptists start constitutional step naming only men as pastors
By Adelle M. Banks — June 14, 2023
(RNS) — The new language would add that a church ‘affirms, appoints, or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.’
Should white Christians celebrate Juneteenth?
By Chuck Mingo — June 14, 2023
(RNS) — Yes, and like any celebration, it’s better with friends.
Four ways to leave your denomination: How churches are disaffiliating from the UMC
By Emily McFarlan Miller and BeLynn Hollers — June 14, 2023
(RNS) — To date, 5,550 of the United Methodist Church’s approximately 30,000 US churches have disaffiliated from the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination since 2019.
Ouster of Saddleback and Fern Creek from SBC over women pastors is affirmed
By Adelle M. Banks and Bob Smietana — June 14, 2023
(RNS) — Saddleback, whose case was argued by founding pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren, had been ousted for naming a woman to its pastoral team.
Southern Baptists end first day of annual meeting with key questions hanging
By Bob Smietana — June 13, 2023
(RNS) — The nearly 13,000 messengers left the convention hall not knowing the fate of Saddleback Church, which is appealing its removal from the denomination, or about the future of abuse reforms.
Rick Warren, other church leaders appeal Southern Baptist ouster at annual meeting
By Adelle M. Banks — June 13, 2023
(RNS) — The historic debate — which has been fought over social media, via documents and through a website campaign spearheaded by Warren — came to the floor of the two-day meeting.
SBC messengers reelect Texas pastor Bart Barber to a second term as president
By Bob Smietana — June 13, 2023
(RNS) — Barber was an unlikely candidate for president when he first ran in 2022. His election seems to indicate that Southern Baptists approve of the direction the convention is going. His reelection marks the third time a candidate backed by the Conservative Baptist Network has been defeated.
Black or white? Christian minister redefines racial and ethnic identity in a mixed world
By Kathryn Post — June 12, 2023
(RNS) — In his new book, 'Mixed,' Eli Bonilla Jr. urges readers to avoid approaching 'soul-deep complexity with skin-deep conversations.'
Vexed by quailing attendance, sex abuse and internal feuds, SBC takes on women pastors
By Bob Smietana — June 12, 2023
(RNS) — More than 12,000 local church representatives, known as messengers, will gather in New Orleans, ready to do their denomination's business.
How Pat Robertson made white evangelicals Republican
By Mark Silk — June 10, 2023
(RNS) — It all began with his 1988 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
As Christian Reformed synod opens, one church awaits its fate
By Yonat Shimron — June 9, 2023
(RNS) — Last year, the synod voted to declare sexually active gays and lesbians 'unchaste.' This year it will revisit the issue and may take action against a church that ordained a gay deacon.
Three years after George Floyd’s death, faith groups quietly advance racial healing
By Adelle M. Banks — June 9, 2023
(RNS) — A range of Christian groups are working separately to continue to address the often-fraught divisions along racial lines among their members and in the wider society.
With Turning Point Faith, pastors use politics as a church-growth strategy
By Jack Jenkins — June 9, 2023
(RNS) — For a growing number of evangelical pastors, embracing right-wing rhetoric is seen as a way to put more people in the pews — and it may be working.
