Church

Disgraced former Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt plans a return to ministry after completing a restoration process overseen by four pastors, according to a video released last week. Hunt, a longtime megachurch pastor in Georgia, was named earlier this year in the Guidepost Solutions report on sexual abuse in the SBC, which alleged that Hunt had sexually assaulted another pastor’s wife.

With Christmas approaching, Christine Trotter explores part of the story that is usually omitted: Mary travels from Nazareth to Judea to visit her relative Elisabeth, an older woman who speaks prophetically to Mary and informs her that she is pregnant with the Lord. Trotter outlines what else we know about Elisabeth, why her character is frequently left out of the Christmas story, and why she should be included as a prophetic voice.

For the second time in as many years, a university affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention has seen its accreditation placed on a two-year probation amid controversy about mismanagement and poor trustee governance.

The ongoing decline of organized religion in America has led to an existential crisis for tens of thousands of congregations. Over the past two decades, the median size of a congregation has dropped from 137 people to 65 people. Rather than owning a building that was empty most of the week, Embrace Church is part owner of a thriving third space — filled every day with the sounds of conversation and friendship.

One is an ordained pastor in Brooklyn, the other a single mother and children’s book author in New Jersey. Both drive for Lyft. Both share the word of God as roving preachers. 

Pastor Dawn Darwin Weaks explores what it was like for a once large and vibrant church community to decide to make a major change. With only a few dozen active people left, they made the choice to relocate, rename, and relaunch together. Before the 116-year-old congregation gathered for worship in a new space, they performed one last ritual in order to truly let go.

Phoenix pastor Caleb Campbell has a theory about the growing number of Americans who are labeled as Christian nationalists. Most would rather go to Cracker Barrel than storm the Capitol. Many see themselves as good Christians who love their country. But somewhere along the way, they began to think being a good American and being a Christian were one and the same.

Perhaps the third time will be the charm for United Methodists awaiting a vote to officially split the denomination. The United Methodist Church has announced the dates for the next meeting of its global decision-making body after postponing its 2020 General Conference meeting three times for pandemic-related reasons.

Black church leaders in Georgia organized rallies Sunday (Oct. 30) in a push to get their congregants to vote — a longstanding tradition known as “souls to the polls” that is taking on greater meaning this year amid new obstacles to casting a ballot in the midterm elections.

The Reconstructing Evangelicalism conference, which drew about 400 pastors and other church leaders to Calvary Memorial Church in the Chicago suburbs, was inspired by a recent trend among evangelicals and other Protestants to “deconstruct” the faith they grew up with — examining core beliefs and often rejecting the conservative politics, sexism, and racial divides evangelicalism has come to be known for.