Christian bakery owner Jack Phillips, who recently won his case before the Supreme Court in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, says his business has been busier than ever after his court victory.
Source: Christian Cakeshop Owner Begins Creating Wedding Cakes again after Court Victory
Two soccer players from opposing teams playing in the 2018 World Cup in Russia joined on the field on Monday after a game to pray together.
Source: Rival World Cup Players Unite in Prayer after Soccer Match
A newly implemented directive from the Chinese government forces Protestant ‘house churches’ and Catholic ‘underground’ communities to seek ‘guidance’ from recognised religious organisations.
Source: China’s ‘Underground’ Churches Told to ‘Seek Guidance’ from State-Approved Bodies
My wife and I are still talking about an ad we saw on television this week. Titled “Now and Then,” it depicts a lesbian couple visiting Las Vegas.
Source: Las Vegas Advertises Lesbian Wedding on TV
Muslim Fulani herdsmen have killed at least 54 Christians this year in Nigeria’s northeastern state of Adamawa, according to area sources.
Source: Christian Death Toll from Herdsmen Attacks Mounts in Adamawa State, Nigeria
June is the month of weddings. Now that the dust has completely settled from the mid-May wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, it’s interesting to note that the eyes of hundreds of millions around the world were looking at this whole event with great interest. How come—in light of the notion that marriage is just an antiquated institution these days?
Source: Marriage is the Dream That Will Not Die
Sociologists evaluate the progress and future of the evangelical push for church diversity.
The multiethnic church movement is working: Protestant churches in the US have become three times more likely to be racially diverse than they were 20 years ago.
The percentage of Protestant churches where no one racial group makes up more than 80 percent of the congregation tripled from 4 percent in 1998 to 12 percent in 2012, according to new research out this week from Baylor University. Evangelicals and Pentecostals show even higher levels of diverse churches, up to 15 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
Overall, nearly 1 in 5 of all American worshipers belong to a multiethnic congregation.
These findings—based on data from the most recent National Congregations Study—confirm a trend many evangelical leaders have pushed and prayed for, but research also indicates there is more work to be done to keep up with shifting demographics in the US and ensure the changing numbers reflect a healthy, biblical approach to diversity.
“Congregations are looking more like their neighborhoods racially and ethnically, but they still lag behind,” said Kevin D. Dougherty, Baylor sociologist and the lead author of the study, which was published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. “The average congregation was eight times less diverse racially than its neighborhood in 1998 and four times less diverse in 2012.”
Dougherty and co-author Michael O. Emerson, provost of North Park University, also suggested that “American congregations may be growing in diversity without altering the social conditions that inhibit full racial integration.”
Most multiethnic churches (71%) are led by white pastors, and over the years, their makeup has remained half white. (Previous research from Dougherty …
Source: Guess Who’s Coming to Church: Multiracial Congregations Triple Among Protestants
He has served the company for 33 years, 11 as president.
Christianity Today is announcing the pending retirement of ministry president and chief executive officer Harold B. Smith, effective May 1 of next year. The press release announcing the move includes the following:
Speaking on behalf of the board, CT Board chair Gene Habecker said that: “While we are saddened to see this passionate, mission-driven leader draw his time to a close, we are nevertheless deeply grateful for the work Harold and the exceptional staff have done over this time to re-envision this communication ministry for today’s and tomorrow’s church leaders and culture makers.”Smith assumed the lead executive role in March 2007, following 23 years of CT service in a variety of editorial and administrative roles.Shortly after becoming president, Smith found himself facing the recession of 2008-2009 along with the continuing challenges of a publishing industry still trying to navigate the print and digital divide. In response to both, Smith took the difficult and financially necessary step to significantly reduce the ministry’s largely print portfolio (and related staff) and strengthen CT’s digital commitment.As a result, more than five million unique visitors today access the ministry’s news, commentary, and assorted church resources each month on the web and in print; with over 30% of this number coming from outside of North America.In addition, Smith has set into motion a series of initiatives giving shape to CT’s future publishing directions and emphases. Among these initiatives:
Unifying the remaining ministry brands under the distinctives of One CT (“Beautiful Orthodoxy our core cause; Leaders our core readers; Leading our core calling.”) Implementing …
The “Ordinary Time” of summer invites us to give the extraordinary Good News.
Source: 4 Ways to Share God’s Love in Summertime
Church teams cancel trips as protests limit access and security.
Most summers, Corner of Love, a Christian nonprofit in northern Nicaragua, hosts 30 teams of volunteers to help with its school, medical services, and water improvement projects. But this year, no one’s coming.
Ministry leaders cancelled the summer programming last month since recent political unrest—the worst in the Central American country since the 1980s—could endanger visitors. Already an estimated 200 people have been killed this spring as Nicaraguans take to the streets to protest the current administration, led by President Daniel Ortega.
As the protests continue through the summer, Christian groups have begun postponing their mission trips or canceling them altogether, which leaves the communities they hoped to serve in even worse shape amid the national crisis.
“Everything is on the line: our finca (ranch), our clinic, our hospital, our school,” said Corner of Love CEO Tanya Mroczek-Amador, who recently traveled to the DC to lobby for support against the Nicaraguan government.
Summer is typically the busiest time for ministries in the region; a drop in missions trips during this season stands to hurt them for the rest of the year.
“Revenue from missions teams supports the work on the ground, including paying staff and taking care of facilities,” said Shawn Doss, whose organization Hope Missions recently had to cancel its July trip to Nicaragua. “They rely on revenue from teams coming down to help. They’re really struggling.”
In the case of Nicaragua, many short-term missions groups work in regions that aren’t directly affected by the protests and violence. The issue is getting there; most teams fly into major cities like Managua or Granada and then take …