Church

With Flag Day coming on June 14, several Christian groups hope pastors across the country will lift up a different standard during church services on June 11. The “Preach and Pray to Confront Christian Nationalism” initiative is urging pastors to warn against efforts to conflate Christian and American identities.

Once an evangelical insider with a textbook conversion story, Tisby has become persona non grata in some Christian circles for his books on race and religion.

Hundreds of people flocked to a small town in Missouri this week and last to see a Black nun whose body has barely decomposed since 2019. Some say it's a sign of holiness in Catholicism, while others say the lack of decomposition may not be as rare as people think. 

Even though this piece for A Public Witness starts as a story about one college, it deals with something many churches, schools, and organizations need to consider: taking steps to address their history.

The Maryland pastor leaves behind a sprawling network that boasts active efforts in 200 cities across 25 US states.

The recent firings prompted more than 700 Houghton alumni to sign a petition in protest.

'Most of us are not wealthy,' said one local resident. 'It’s impossible for us to get a loan from the commercial banks. So the only opportunity is to go to the loan sharks,' where the interest charged is 'overwhelming,' she said.

States such as Minnesota and South Dakota are offering suicide prevention training to clergy – a crucial, trusted presence in rural America. In the farmland, churches remain essential social gathering points.

It is one of three churches appealing decisions recently made by the denomination’s Executive Committee to remove eight congregations from official affiliation.

The Southern Baptist Convention has lost 3 million members since 2006, about half of that in the last five years.