Word&Way Voices

Columnist Sarah Blackwell examines why some churches who claim to be focused on resurrecting the model of the early church are some of the least likely to regularly participate in communion. She then discusses some ways we can find new life in the important ritual.

Ryan Burge writes that there’s been a cultural shift that has gone basically unnoticed in small-town America: mainline Protestant churches have become an increasingly endangered species. This poses a problem for people who would still like to be a Christian but can’t be an evangelical.

Columnist Greg Mamula takes us inside the first online Biennial Mission Summit of American Baptist Churches USA. And he explores the benefits of virtual communal gatherings.

Senior Editor Beau Underwood reflects on several pieces written about the 4th of July and Christian Nationalism, which he felt made this year’s observance of the holiday feel different.

Columnist Sarah Blackwell notes that the global pandemic has hit pause on many of the life-as-usual activities that filled our calendars. So, she suggests five things for parents to consider before we hit the second half.

Columnist Greg Mamula writes that community is hard work. But, he adds, if we follow the way of the early church, we will discover most of the work is done one meal at a time.

Jason Koon writes that the new resolution on racism passed last week at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting far short of what is needed to begin the SBC’s work of digging out from its racialized past and seeking racial reconciliation.

Todd Littleton knows he faces nearly impossible odds at this week’s annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. Amid a flurry of resolutions decrying critical race theory, he decided to submit his own proposal to recognize structural racism and oppression as societal evils.

Jon Mathieu writes about critical race theory, how it is misconstrued, and why he as a White pastor sees it as a prophetic gift helping him and his church in a quest to be anti-racist.

Robert Wilson-Black remembers Donald W. Dayton, who died last May 2020. Dayton was an important interpreter of Evangelical, Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal traditions, revealing how they were connected and displaying how their roots were more entangled than historians had previously understood.