Several area churches will hold late night services on New Year’s Eve, sometimes referred to as “Watch Night” services. The Watch Night service has been a part of many Christian traditions for centuries and has been an especially prominent among black churches in the United States for more than 150 years. According to the African […]
Voting is a basic right and a fundamental expression of our freedom. This summer marked the 50th Anniversary of Freedom Summer. During the summer of 1964, people across the state of Mississippi, from up north and around the nation engaged in a statewide initiative that focused on voter registration, voter education and electoral empowerment. This […]
by Rev. Dominique Atchison As I sat in my father’s car driving down Billy Graham highway in North Carolina, I heard my father utter the words, “I don’t like Black lady preachers.” That was at the very beginning of my journey, when I had just started seminary. Since then I’ve chosen to sarcastically refer to […]
Here are five of the fastest-growing churches you might not have heard of. (Lightstock) Other Christian magazines annually report on the “fastest-growing churches in America.” Churches like New Spring in Anderson, South Carolina; Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama; Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California; Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas; and Citylife Church in […]
Water, it seems, is all the rage. Experts say the demand for global mission projects focused on providing clean water has become unquenchable as churches increasingly see water as one of the most efficient means of meeting physical and spiritual needs. Also driving the trend have been efforts by a wide range of players to […]
With the warmth of an outstretched hand from one friend to another, churches across the nation will honor friendship on Sunday, March 30 for the first annual nationwide Friend Sunday. Friend Sunday 2014 sparks a new national initiative for churches to join together and encourage members to invite friends and family to a special […]
Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, Archbishop José Gomez, Craig Groeschel, Miles McPherson and Ray Johnston Among Pastors Promoting Mark Burnett/Roma Downey Feature Film: Pastors and Christian leaders throughout the U.S. are jumping on board a campaign to spread the Gospel message via the upcoming film “Son of God” by buying out multiplex cinema screens for the […]
Marvin Sapp, award-winning gospel artist and pastor, recently shared his heart on the spate of Christian ministers committing suicide and suggested that the issue of mental health was “taboo” in the urban community. The Michigan minister also revealed that if it were not for his late wife’s expertise in and advocacy for psychological well-being, he […]
The Christmas holiday brings peak attendance for most churches, and an increasing number of U.S. religious groups are using the boom time to wow parishioners with virtual choirs on YouTube and Instagram advent calendars. More than 500 churches will stream Christmas sermons online this year, up from just a handful in 2007, said DJ […]
Kimberla Lawson Roby stood near the pulpit of a Baptist church in this Atlanta suburb one Saturday in late August, giving her testimony. She spoke of infidelities, mistresses, blackmail, out-of-wedlock children and extravagant spending. She did so as neither minister or worshiper, but rather as a novelist telling scores of rapt fans about her […]
In the 1990s, Peter Wagner published The Healthy Church, a book describing several diseases that churches sometimes exhibit. Some of his descriptions are quite helpful (e.g., koinonitis = excessive, inward fellowship), and the list itself challenges readers to come up with their own descriptions. Here are ten diseases I see as I consult with unhealthy churches around […]
Southern Baptist churches hold 24 spots among the 100 fastest-growing and 100 largest churches in the U.S., according to Outreach magazine lists drawn from LifeWay Research data. NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C., tops SBC churches in both categories, ranking as the second fastest-growing and the fourth largest church in the nation among all […]
