Church

For two decades, Hinkle was editor of The Pathway, the official publication of the Missouri Baptist Convention, founded in 2002 amid a feud between conservatives and moderates in the state. Conservative leaders hired Hinkle, a former newspaper editor turned seminarian and Christian journalist, to lead the new publication — meant to rival Word&Way.

Contributing writer Sarah Blackwell offers her thoughts on how the church's model of the larger group tending to the few in need was swept away during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our pastors were like skippers left on ships trying to throw out as many lifelines as they could while keeping the whole ship from going down and rescuing their own families. But now it's time to turn back to the boat and give each other some grace.

The community-based air quality monitoring initiative, AirWatch St. Louis, has been keeping track of what’s in the city’s air since December 2021. Low-cost sensors are placed on the roofs of Metropolitan Congregations United churches spread throughout the city to measure particulate matter, a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Through the new digital map, the data collected is publicly viewable.

Houses of worship on Martha's Vineyard have long worked together to meet the needs of their neighbors. So they were ready to spring into action when refugees arrived unexpectedly after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday flew two planes of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, escalating a tactic by Republican governors to draw attention to what they consider to be the Biden administration's failed border policies.

A group of United Methodist bishops in Africa announced Thursday that it will no longer work with the Africa Initiative or the Wesleyan Covenant Association, accusing the groups of spreading misinformation. The bishops claim the Africa Initiative, which was formed in 2008 to give African clergy and laity a stronger voice in the global denomination, has “lost its original goal of helping The United Methodist Church in Africa.”

An arson investigation is under way after fire destroyed Victory Baptist Church, a historic church in South Los Angeles early Sunday, authorities said. The Los Angeles Times said Victory Baptist has played a major role in the spiritual and political history of South LA.

Elizabeth II of England, Britain’s longest-serving monarch and official head of the Church of England, died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at age 96. She came to the throne in 1952 and her two titles of Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England owe their existence to Reformation history.

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretched from that first spring into summer, researcher Eileen Campbell-Reed said, she realized its impact on ministry wasn’t going to be short-lived.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we take you to church to hear from Democratic gubernatorial nominees Charlie Crist in Florida, J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, and Stacey Abrams in Georgia. And then we consider the problems emerging from this campaign tactic. 

In this issue of A Public Witness, we introduce you to the man behind the microphone of the Todd Starnes Show before listening to his sermon Sunday. Then we offer a warning about risking the Church’s witness by elevating partisan voices like Starnes in pulpits.