Church

An updated edition of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible includes thousands of changes in language, reflecting the research of a wide range of scholars who spent four years reviewing its contents as well as taking into consideration “modern sensibilities.”

U.S. Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved a long-anticipated document on Communion on Wednesday that stops short of calling for withholding the sacrament from politicians such as President Joe Biden who support abortion rights but offers plenty of tacit justification for individual bishops to do so.

Religious Americans are being sorted into two kinds of churches — megachurches, and minichurches. Half of the congregations in the United States have 65 people or fewer, while two-thirds of congregations have fewer than 100.

A small Baptist church in Texas received more than $15,000 in donations after a conservative group criticized the congregation’s website for supposedly using the wrong pronouns for God.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we take you on a college tour to Southwest Baptist University and several other Christian schools embroiled in governance conflicts this year. Then we offer some lessons on why these issues matter to Christian communities.

In recent weeks, state Baptist groups in North Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida, and California have set up committees or task forces to address sexual abuse. Attempts to set up similar responses failed in Mississippi and Missouri.

The accrediting body for Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri, placed the school’s accreditation status on “probation on Thursday. The move comes after an investigation into actions by SBU and the Missouri Baptist Convention during a three-year conflict at the school over power and theology.

For some smaller congregations, navigating the PPP loan process was difficult and the results disappointing. While some congregations got multi-million-dollar PPP loans, some got tiny loans by accident. Two churches got loans for $666.

The president of Kentucky’s Georgetown College has been fired after reports emerged accusing him of sexual assault and sexual misconduct against employees, the small Baptist liberal arts school announced Tuesday.

Noted historian and presidential biographer Jon Meacham has been uninvited from Samford University’s inaugural celebrations for their 19th president, Dr. Beck Taylor, over concerns about his ties to Planned Parenthood.