Baptist

As Baptists around the world struggle with the coronavirus pandemic, the Baptist World Alliance will lead a three-pronged effort during Pentecost weekend to bring global Baptists together for worship. Elijah Brown, BWA general secretary, announced the initiative during an interview with the Word&Way podcast “Baptist Without An Adjective.”

A federal judge has denied a Kentucky church’s bid to block enforcement of the governor's restrictions on faith-based gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge David Hale in Louisville on Saturday night rejected a motion for a restraining order by Maryville Baptist Church near Louisville, the Courier Journal reported.

As churches across the country avoid in-person worship services, a historian and sociologist of religion in American life sees parallels to a previous pandemic. Historian John Schmalzbauer draws encouragement from the fact churches survived the 1918 influenza pandemic as the coronavirus outbreak continues. 

Russell Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention’s top ethicist, said he saw no problem with churches applying for government loans as part of the coronavirus relief legislation enacted last month.

Even before the global coronavirus pandemic, Baptists in the South American nation of Venezuela have faced years of economic struggles, lack of resources, political turmoil, and difficulty in travel. And as they’ve done during those other challenges, they’ve continued to minister amid the threat of coronavirus and the difficulties it has sparked.

On Tuesday (April 14), U.S. President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would halt funding to the World Health Organization despite the global role of the WHO in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Trump’s move echoes political fights decades ago as the son of a Danish Baptist preacher transformed the health arm of the United Nations to adopt a social justice approach to health across the world.

As the coronavirus pandemic sweeps the globe, it adds to the life-and-death challenges of refugees in eastern Africa already threatened by conflict, lack of resources, and perhaps even devastation from billions of locusts. A Baptist pastor ministering in refugee camps in Uganda — himself a refugee from South Sudan — sees the coronavirus outbreak as the latest danger to those he serves.

As most churches across the country shifted to online worship services due to the coronavirus pandemic, a few tried a more low-tech way of worshiping without gathering together in a confined space: drive-in services. However, those drive-in worship services sparked church-state conflicts during Holy Week as some governmental officials view the drive-in services as still covered by bans on mass gatherings.

Children who come from hard places need to have the chance to feel safe and loved, said Randy Lee, residential parent with Louisiana Baptist Children's Homes. Other children's homes in Missouri and Alabama report staff and supporters are rising to the challenges.

More than any other time of the year, Baptists observe the Lord's Supper during Holy Week services. But with coronavirus leading churches to suspend in-person services, many Baptist churches are experimenting with virtual Communion times as congregants gather their own food items to represent the body and blood.