News

As countries across the world work to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Balkan nation of Croatia found its work complicated by a massive earthquake on Sunday (March 22) — which adds to the ministry work of the small Baptist community there. After a 5.4 earthquake struck a few miles north of the capital city of Zagreb at 6:23 a.m. local time, relief efforts were complicated by efforts to keep social distancing amid the coronavirus outbreak.

As in-person worship services are canceled or downsized amid the coronavirus outbreak, some churches across the U.S. are bracing for a painful drop in weekly contributions and possible cutbacks in programs and staff.

Caleb Borchers planned to preach on the biblical Book of Haggai as he met with his five-year-old church in Asa Messer Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island. In the end, the sermon on Sunday (March 15) was one of the few things that turned out the way Borchers thought it would.

After the pastor of a black Baptist church in Virginia tested positive for COVID-19, the church attacked local media for reporting on his case and how he may have put others in the community at risk. The pastor joins a number of clergy members across the country struck by the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus.

As the coronavirus pandemic grows around the world, numerous countries are enacting new restrictions that impact the lives of Baptists in those places. For Baptists in the Scandinavian countries of Denmark and Norway, Baptists are adapting how to do worship since large in-person gatherings are prohibited.

Early spring coincides with at least three major religious holidays — Easter, Passover and, this year, the beginning of Ramadan. All three — or at least public events surrounding them — could be disrupted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus.

Twenty-five years after a hopeful vision for addressing gender inequities around the world was adopted, progress has been made, but impacts have been uneven, and persistent inequalities and human rights abuses remain.

Bekah Stoneking isn’t the only one who thinks the world might need a little Christmas now. And several people have shared similar epiphanies (pun intended) on Twitter.

Rev. Bryan Catherman's neighbors were crying Wednesday, afraid the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that struck Salt Lake City, Utah, a few hours earlier signaled the end of the world.

As countries around the world deal with the growing coronavirus pandemic, some U.S. leaders have used rhetoric denounced by Baptists and others as racist. The rhetoric continues despite the World Health Organization recommending against names for illnesses that include a geographic or ethnic reference because it could spark discrimination and even hate crimes.