Church

For students hoping to become pastors in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the exegesis exam is already stressful. But the most recent exam was made even more difficult when the committee developing the test chose one of Scripture’s “texts of terror.”

In a letter sent Friday to the churches of the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, president Glenn Swanson announced that state executive director Michael Crawford had resigned from the position effective immediately.

A new exhibition at a London library explores the Anglican Church’s role in the 18th-cenury slave trade. It coincides with a new report setting out that role in hard facts and figures.

The Progressive National Baptist Convention plans to use a new $1 million grant to fund a five-year training program for ministers of the historically Black denomination as they adapt their preaching in an age changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A court date has been set for a trial involving former Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson, the school, and an alleged sexual abuse survivor. A former SWBTS student filed suit against them in March 2019 alleging negligence, violation of privacy, and liability.

This issue of A Public Witness explores three examples of impactful denominational resolutions to show why it matters when Christians decide to speak with one voice. The model resolutions include two statements decrying the historic mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and a resolution about the war in Ukraine.

Middle Collegiate, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, is one of four Collegiate Churches of New York that sprung from a Reformed Church congregation in New Amsterdam founded in 1628, and they are considered the oldest continuous Protestant congregations in the Americas.

Nearly four years ago, the United Methodist Church approved an exit plan for churches wishing to break away from the global denomination over differing beliefs about sexuality, setting in motion what many believed would be a modern-day schism. Since then, a new analysis has found, it’s fallen well short of that.

This issue of A Public Witness takes you to church — twice — to listen to the evangelistic appeals of Mike Pence and Joe Biden on MLK's birthday at two significant Baptist congregations. Then the two messages are considered together to offer insights into the religious divide in American politics.

For years, Southern Baptist Convention leaders refused to listen to abuse survivors, ignoring their concerns and labeling them as enemies of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. One of the first steps toward changing was setting up a confidential hotline.