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A recent Gallup Poll reports that family dining is still a part of everyday life for the majority of U.S. parents. Fifty-three percent of adults with children younger than 18 say their family eats dinner together at home six or seven nights a week. But what about those who do not observe this ritual? Could this percentage be increased?

“Payday Advance.” “No Credit Necessary.”

The promises hide economic exploitation and political inaction. Yet in this darkness, churches are responding with an alternative message, a sign of hope.

A documentary released last fall by EthicsDaily.com (also known as the Baptist Center for Ethics) made its Missouri debut on Feb. 1 in Kansas City. “The Disturbances” covers the previously-untold story of missionaries saving lives in the midst of genocidal violence in Nigeria in 1966. In a matter of days, thousands — and perhaps as many as 30,000 people — were killed due to their tribal identity.

The Baptist Home and Missouri Baptist University submitted legal responses on Jan. 31 to urge a judge to dismiss motions for summary judgment filed by the Missouri Baptist Convention on Dec. 2. The MBC requested the Court rule in its favor without a trial, claiming its 2016 victory in the case against the Missouri Baptist Foundation should serve as precedent in the cases against the Home and MBU. However, the institutions rebut the MBC’s claim that their cases are “nearly identical” to that of the Foundation’s case.

(RNS) For centuries during Lent, Christians have sought to grow closer to God through praying, fasting and giving to the poor.

Now they can also mark the 40-day period of penitence that precedes Easter by posting pictures to Instagram, reading a regular reflection in their email or watching a priest answer questions on Facebook Live.

On Valentine’s Day, some Kenyan pastors handed out red roses as a sign of love to HIV-positive youth suffering stigma and discrimination.

The gesture was meant as a way to reach out to youth, many of whom feel rejected by the churches.

Do we measure the success of our churches by the number of people present each Sunday, the square footage of our buildings, the number of degrees held by our pastoral staff or the amount of money that is given to annual missions initiatives? Although I appreciate and value what these things mean to a congregation, I wonder if those criteria are the best way to measure whether a fellowship of believers is fulfilling its call to participate in the building of God’s kingdom.

Six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law targeting missionary and evangelistic activities, Baptists and others in the country face large fines and other penalties. The new law went into effect on July 20. Authorities prosecuted at least 32 cases in the first six months after the law went into force. Two Baptists were among the first charged in the law’s first month and other Baptists are now finding themselves targeted.

Irv Cockriel is sounding the alarm for any who will listen. The retired college educator now works to educate his fellow Baptists on the importance of getting college students in church. Cockriel, who retired in 2000 after 32 years as an educator and administer in the College of Education at the University of Missouri, had a wake-up call about five years ago when he heard statistics from a youth minister about how many church-going youth fall away from church in college and never come back.

If Christians are living like the rest of the world, does church remain important?