News

U.S. food insecurity declined again in 2017, yet millions of households remain food insecure, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report released Sept. 5.

CORBIN, Ky. (BP) -- A series of bad decisions had left James Price's life in shambles.

He had no money, no car, no home and no hope. But a chance encounter with retired businessman Ronnie Neal is changing the trajectory of his life.

KIGALI, Rwanda (RNS) – Grace Umutesi has secretly been conducting services in her house in the Bannyahe slum on the outskirts of the capital since officials shut down her church in July for failing to comply with building safety standards and other regulations.

“I’m very disappointed by the decision of the government to close our church,” said Umutesi, 35, a mother of four. “But we cannot stop to pray and praise God because our church has been closed. God is everywhere and he listens to our prayers.”

CINCINNATI (BP) -- A shooting rampage in Cincinnati that left four dead and two others injured on Thursday (Sept. 6) led a city councilman to request aid from the community. Within minutes Cincinnati Baptists began responding.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — Rev. Neal Locke of First Presbyterian Church of El Paso recently moderated a panel at the first-ever Christian Transhumanist Conference, hosted last month by the Christian Transhumanist Association at Lipscomb University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Nashville. 

Transhumanism is the idea humans can transcend their current physical and mental limitations using science and technology. 

The first major program of Central Seminary's new Buttry Center for Peace and Nonviolence brought together about 40 people from seven nations for an intensive training on conflict transformation.

KAMPALA, Uganda (RNS) – On a recent Sunday morning, hundreds of worshippers gathered at Jehovah Pentecostal Church in Kisenyi, a slum on the outskirts of Kampala, to pray against their government’s intensifying crackdown against opposition politicians, journalists and supporters.

(RNS) — For millions of Americans, summer is the season for short-term mission trips. Church groups take off for faraway places where sharing God’s love involves construction projects, teaching Bible lessons at camps and bringing medical care to people who seldom if ever see a doctor or a dentist.

Dan and Sharon Buttry, global consultants for American Baptist Churches USA's International Ministries, recently led a ten-day training for conflict transformation trainers as the first major initiative of the new Buttry Center for Peace & Nonviolence at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kan. Word&Way Editor Brian Kaylor interviewed the Buttrys at CBTS shortly before the training conference.

A new religious typology highlighting “beliefs and behaviors that cut across many denominations” was set forth in an Aug. 29 report from the Pew Research Center.