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When Rev. Raphael Warnock joined the U.S. Senate, he assumed a seat previously held by Joseph Emerson Brown, an infamous White Southern Baptist politician who enslaved Black people. But to get to that position, Warnock had to overcome criticisms from a new generation of Southern Baptists.

The death spiral of evangelicalism has long been written about in both the religious and mainstream press. Scholar and pastor Ryan Burge thinks there is a bigger and possibly more important story in the data.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged coordinated global action on Monday to build an alliance against the growth and spread of neo-Nazism and white supremacy and the resurgence of xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and hate speech sparked partly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are hearing, just across the nation, of pastors and churches both struggling,” said Joe Wright, executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network. “We’re seeing just the stress of trying to do ministry in this kind of environment is taking a toll on pastors and church leaders.”

On the first Sunday after he became a U.S. Senator, the Rev. Raphael Warnock described his election and the changing scene at the U.S. Capitol — from insurrection to inauguration — as forms of divine messaging.

It is unlikely that former Western slave-trading countries will engage in reparative measures in the near future. But there remains a strong case for why the fight for reparations shouldn’t be abandoned.

As a student in college and seminary, then as a pastor in Texas, Dwight McKissic has been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention for more than 45 years. Now he’s pondering whether he and his congregation should break away.

As the FBI and local police investigate an explosion at First Works Baptist Church in El Monte, California, which has been the center of protests for its anti-LGBTQ messages, both supporters and protesters of the church are denouncing the attack.

Doyle Sager, a Word&Way columnist and the lead pastor at First Baptist Church in Jefferson City, Missouri, passed away Friday (Jan. 22) after a battle with cancer. He was 69.

Jen Hatmaker was “proud” to offer the final prayer in the liturgy for the inaugural interfaith prayer service Thursday hosted virtually by the Washington National Cathedral. The popular Christian author, speaker and podcaster has also apologized for it — at least for the first line of the prayer.