News

More than any other time of the year, Baptists observe the Lord's Supper during Holy Week services. But with coronavirus leading churches to suspend in-person services, many Baptist churches are experimenting with virtual Communion times as congregants gather their own food items to represent the body and blood.

In times of distress and uncertainty, faith-based and community leaders continue to be valuable resources of comfort, support and, perhaps most importantly, studies show, credible sources of information for their members and communities.

As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world, numerous governments responded by shutting down borders and ending international flights to prevent infected persons from arriving. For a Cuban Baptist pastor, this meant his quest to overcome international political squabbles left him and his wife stranded for days in Guyana by coronavirus travel closures.

Smaller churches located in the U.S. and other countries are concerned about "after" the coronavirus, with lower receipts and the ripple effects upon staff, ministry, and mission support. Initiatives launched in the United States and by the Baptist World Alliance are offering relief and inviting participation.

Almost 9 in 10 pastors see at least some current events matching those Jesus said would occur shortly before he returns to Earth, according to a new survey focused on Christian eschatology, or the study of end times.

The Churches Helping Churches Initiative has set up a relief fund, and started an application process for $3,000 grants. This initiative is targeted toward congregations between 25 to 150 members in size, in low-income communities, and in urban areas disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Inspired by a family in Georgia, a Christian movement to erect crosses decorated with Christmas lights during the pandemic has taken off nationally as a symbol of positivity and prayer. But the lit crosses have also drawn comparisons to the Klu Klux Klan’s burning crosses.

As people are dying from coronavirus — as well as from other causes that would’ve still occurred without the pandemic — pastors and grieving families face new struggles in how to plan funerals in a time when people are supposed to practice social distancing.

Throughout polling history, Democrats have been more likely than Republicans to hold a positive view of the U.N., but the approval gap between parties has narrowed significantly in recent years. Currently more than half of all U.S. adults poll feel the U.N. is doing a poor job.

People who lined up for meals recently at Cornerstone Baptist Church in blighted South Dallas had not been able to shower in a month and had no place to call their own while the city of Dallas is under a shelter-in-place order.