Church

After an estimated 50,000 Christian worshippers, celebrity pastors, and onlookers flocked to a rolling revival meeting at Asbury University, the school’s administration announced a limited schedule for services in hopes of restoring order to this tiny Central Kentucky town.

An Indiana Baptist pastor, Benkert played a key role in setting up an investigation into how SBC leaders have responded to the issue of abuse. He also reported a church that had platformed former SBC President Johnny Hunt, who has been credibly accused of sexual assault.

Among sermon writers, there is fascination — and unease — over the fast-expanding abilities of artificial-intelligence chatbots. For now, the evolving consensus among clergy is this: Yes, they can write a passably competent sermon. But no, they can’t replicate the passion of actual preaching.

Last Wednesday, students at Asbury University gathered for their biweekly chapel service in the 1,500-seat Hughes Auditorium. They sang. They listened to a sermon. They prayed. Nearly a week later, many of them are still there.

This issue of A Public Witness raises the alarm about political attacks on the importance of the local church and the role of pastors, warns how such attacks aid the decline of U.S. Christianity, and lifts up a different vision for discipling believers.

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.