Ferguson has much from which to recover. Different from Joplin, Ferguson has the potential to rise from strife in relationships, work through its problems and model a healthy community.
For most people, the day of thanksgiving may bear little resemblance to the earliest days of gratitude for a good harvest celebrated almost as long as times of harvest in rural settings in cultures that long predated America itself.
While the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting was light on business, this year's rendition praised longtime worker -- Raymond R. "Bob" Kenison for his 36 years of dedicated service to children and youth through the Missouri Baptist Children's Home.
Word & Way is officially a Baptist newspaper covering Baptist life not only in Missouri but the adjacent Midwest. It tells Baptist stories originating in places like Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa and Illinois in the spirit of finding common ground among cooperating Baptists.
To merely communicate a gospel or a congregation that focuses on being palatable is likely to set the standard too low. Outsiders can easily spot a congregation that is either church-light or Christian-light. Entertainment alone has a way of being spiritually unsatisfying. The exercise of
Benevolence ministries have been an expression of churches since the first century when congregations assisted other churches, some of them far away on the early mission field. Early Christians looked out for each other with care. Jesus advocated for the needy indiscriminatingly.
It has become increasingly clear that the unrest in Ferguson is more than a protest over the killing of a young black man. The community is displaying pent-up anger in a situation where a majority of residents claim to have little to say in the
Urging churches to provide adequate financial care for their pastors, other ministers and staff members during less-than-stellar financial times might seem a stretch. After all, gifts to many churches are down even as members struggle with unemployment and, in other cases, less
