- 28 days ago 28 Jan 21, 12:40am -

- 13 Nov 20, 8:52pm -

- 5 Aug 20, 12:13pm -

- 23 Jun 20, 6:07pm -

- 30 May 20, 1:36am -

- 28 days ago 28 Jan 21, 12:48am -

- 90 days ago 26 Nov 20, 9:13pm -

- 91 days ago 25 Nov 20, 11:01pm -

- 91 days ago 25 Nov 20, 10:59pm -

- 20 Oct 20, 10:02pm -

- 16 days ago 8 Feb 21, 5:05pm -

- 28 days ago 28 Jan 21, 12:42am -

- 57 days ago 29 Dec 20, 8:49pm -

- 91 days ago 25 Nov 20, 10:58pm -

- 94 days ago 22 Nov 20, 3:06pm -

By Tyler Staton Thomas is my favorite. He’s always been my favorite. I know Thomas. I am Thomas. Thomas wasn’t a fiercely rational cynic. To think of him that way would be to minimize a whole life down to one single moment, which is always a mistake. This is a man who left everything behind […]The post Stuck Between Two Unsatisfying Stories appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 13 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 11:00am -

The New Testament You Never Knew Online Bible Study with N.T. Wright Starts March 8 Bible scholars N.T. Wright and Michael F. Bird say the New Testament is filled with startling and unforeseen twists. According to Wright, “When we see Jesus announcing the kingdom of God saying the time is fulfilled, this is the time […]The post Leading Up to Easter: What You Don’t Know About the New Testament Will Surprise You appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 8:49pm -

Join us on this Lenten Journey through Scripture! The season of Lent invites us to return to God with our whole heart. It’s a theme that runs throughout Scripture and God’s relationship with his people. Throughout this Bible study, which you can read on your own or in a group setting, you’ll find links to […]The post Walking with Christ to the Cross, Week 1 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 22 Feb 21, 8:58am -

[Return daily during the coming week for updates] Support Bible Gateway—Find the Resources You Need At: ⇨ FaithGateway Store ⇨ Christianbook.com Order Resources in Bulk At: ⇨ ChurchSource ▼ Reading the Bible Has Given Christians Hope During the Pandemic – Survey ⇨ Christian Today ⇨ Read the Bible Gateway Blog post, 15 Bible Verses for […]The post Bible News Roundup – Week of February 21, 2021 appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 3 days ago 21 Feb 21, 8:07pm -

Historical context to biblical passages is important because it offers us a greater understanding of God’s work in the world. So, the question above—if you’ve ever thought to ask it—is a good one. Are there references to famous historical figures, such as Alexander the Great, Ptolemy I, and Cleopatra, in Scripture? And, if so, what […]The post Is Alexander the Great in the Bible? appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
- 6 days ago 18 Feb 21, 6:51pm -

Stephen Stallard, leader of the Mosaic Church, a small multicultural Southern Baptist congregation in Brooklyn, called on the SBC’s Executive Committee Tuesday to “repudiate” a new report from a task force which found that the Russell Moore-led Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is a major threat to the funding of the $15 billion Protestant Christian organization’s Cooperative Program.
- 10 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 1:26pm -

Pastor John Baker, founder of Celebrate Recovery — a global ministry born out of the heart of Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church aimed at helping people recover from addiction and other “hurts, habits, and hang-ups” — has died.
- 13 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 10:38am -

In an impassioned address at the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee meeting Monday, the denomination’s President, J.D. Greear, called out leaders that he said have allowed racists to feel more at home in their churches than people of color while passionately attacking critical race theory.
- 2 days ago 23 Feb 21, 11:33am -

Shauna Niequist has apologized for failing to speak out after her father, Bill Hybels, the founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, was accused of decades of sexual misconduct.
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 3:58pm -

A private memorial will be held for late televangelist and Crenshaw Christian Center founder Frederick K.C. Price in the wake of his recent death from COVID-19. Supporters and other members of the public will be allowed digital access to the event, Price’s family announced Friday.
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 12:44pm -

When research looks beyond affiliation, the move away from religious institutions becomes more nuanced.I pastor an American Baptist church in a small town in rural Illinois. When the current building was dedicated in 1968, there were more than 300 members. By the last 1990s, there were about a hundred. When I became the pastor in 2006, just 50. Now, on a good Sunday I can look out from the pulpit and see 20 souls in the seats.Where did they all go? I became a social scientist, in part, to try to figure that out. In my forthcoming book, The Nones: Where They Came From, Who They Are, And Where They Are Going, I document in detail how and why so many Americans are now counted among the ranks of religiously unaffiliated in the United States.What I discovered was that while many people have walked away from a religious affiliation, they haven’t left all aspects of religion and spirituality behind. So, while growing numbers of Americans may not readily identify as Christian any longer, they still show up to a worship service a few times a year or maintain their belief in God.The reality is that many of the nones are really “somes.”Nones by BelongingReligious disaffiliation is at an all-time high—claimed by nearly a quarter of the population—when measured through surveys on religious belonging. The General Social Survey, for example, asks a common version of the question: “What is your religious preference?” Respondents can choose from a long list of options, including “no religion.”In 1972, just 1 in 20 Americans had no religious affiliation. That share inched up only marginally for the next two decades, before beginning its climb in the 1990s. The unaffiliated jumped about 4 percentage points between 1993 and 1996, up to nearly 1 in 6 (nearly 15%) by ...Continue reading...
- -

To reach the most vulnerable, leaders say vaccine sites have to set up in hard-hit neighborhoods and let churches spread the word. As the nation passed 500,000 coronavirus deaths this week, government data revealed that the life expectancy for African American men dropped three years—triple the decline among Americans overall during the first half of 2020.In an effort to help reach minority communities that have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 but less likely to get the shot, a coalition of 150,000 churches recently announced its plan for vaccinating over 100 million black and Latino churchgoers.The National Black Church Initiative (NBCI), which represents historic black denominations and partners with Latino leaders, has been lobbying the federal government for a more comprehensive plan to address disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake. NBCI president Anthony Evans wants to see the government more deliberately use churches’ built-in trust and familiarity to make the vaccine more accessible for minority populations.Evans said at a press conference at Mount Zion Baptist Church in Washington, DC, last week that he supports Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for who should become vaccinated first but worries that African Americans and Latinos who qualify because of their age or underlying medical conditions aren’t getting the vaccine.A representative from Health and Human Services (HHS) has not responded for comment on the NBCI plan, though the CDC distribution plan intends to address health inequities and “remove unfair, unjust, and avoidable barriers to COVID-19 vaccination.”While black churches across the country have already opened their doors to help states and hospitals distribute the vaccine, Evans’s large network could add 300 church-based vaccination sites in the hardest-hit ...Continue reading...
- -

The Saddleback Church pastor developed the popular Christ-centered 12-step program for “hurts, habits, and hang-ups.”Celebrate Recovery founder John Baker, who turned his testimony recovering from alcoholism into a biblical 12-step program used by more than 7 million people, died unexpectedly on Tuesday at age 72.Baker’s ministry began in 1991 at Saddleback Church in California and has spread to 35,000 churches nationwide over the decades. Celebrate Recovery is credited with helping destigmatize addiction among evangelicals and opening the church up as a safer place for recovery.“Thirty years ago John Baker turned the ruins of his life over to Jesus Christ and God transformed him from a driven businessman with an addiction to alcohol, a failing marriage, and alienated children to a Christ-follower with a passion to help others with their ‘hurts, habits, and hang-ups’ through the principles of recovery,” wrote Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church and a mental health advocate. “There is simply no way to put into words how I love John and will miss this kind, creative, brilliant and faithful man.”Evangelical leader Johnnie Moore, whose family previously belonged to Saddleback Church when living in California, remembered Baker’s commitment to “saving the lives of the people whom God loves.”“He became a doctor of hope for those whose lives were caught in vicious cycles of guilt, shame, and failure. With God’s help, he showed again and again that those cycles can be broken,” he said. “Pastor John was never content just to save souls. He wanted to also save lives, now. It isn’t just the impact he had on individual lives but on all of those who loved those who decided to walk into a Celebrate Recovery meeting.”Baker was raised in Collinsville, ...Continue reading...
- -

Top leaders address divides in the denomination at the first in-person Executive Committee meeting in a year. At its first in-person meeting since the pandemic took off a year ago, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee decided to cut ties with two churches whose pastors had been convicted of sexual offenses as well as two LGBT-affirming churches. But it was leaders’ concerns over ongoing tensions within the denomination that stirred Southern Baptists during the two-day gathering at its Nashville headquarters.“Southern Baptists in large part are ready to walk into the future. But we are spending a lot of time tolerating those who would rip us apart,” said SBC president and Executive Committee member J. D. Greear during remarks Monday night. “Brothers, let’s just call it: These things are demonic.”During his presidency, Greear led the charge to stand by abuse victims in the wake of a watershed 2019 Houston Chronicle investigation, but some advocates are still disappointed that the denomination has not been more proactive in disaffiliating with pastors who mishandle abuse allegations or compiling a database of abusive leaders.Though the disfellowshipped congregations represent a tiny proportion of a denomination with over 47,000 churches, it’s the biggest batch to be considered “no longer in friendly cooperation” with the SBC since it launched new efforts to improve its response to abuse.This is the second year that the denomination’s repurposed credentials committee has been tasked with making recommendations about churches’ status in the SBC. In 2020, the committee recommended one church lose its place in the convention due to past abuse by its pastor. This year, the committee recommended four. The SBC does not make public how many churches were ...Continue reading...
- -

How a group of white church planters learned to listen to African Americans and build a better Christian community.We didn’t know anything about critical race theory. Or implicit bias. There was no elaborate argument for centering minority voices. But as a group of 20-somethings from an almost-all-white suburb about to plant a church in the former capital of the Confederacy, we were thinking a lot of racism, reading the Scripture, and praying.And something happened. On the basis of simple Christian beliefs—the sort every follower of Jesus would affirm—our new church saw the benefit of hearing black voices and learning from black sources.To begin with, the Scriptures are clear that while truth is objective, every knower is inescapably subjective. We are warned that our inherent limitations are fraught with self-deception (Jer. 17:9; Ps. 19:12–13)—a deception so deep that it often manifests long after we have received the restorative gift of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 2:11–14). In other words, one of the fundamental problems we face isn’t simply that we are ignorant of important subjects that we ought to know but that we have sinfully misguided assumptions and prejudices that we aren’t even aware of. This is particularly concerning for those who have been called to preach the truth!Yet C. S. Lewis would remind us that, while we all have blind spots, we do not all have the same blind spots. So diversity helps us correct our self-deception. All the more reason to obey the command we received through the apostle James: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).At the start of Remnant Church, my fellow pastors and I were thinking about that old truth that those who are called are not necessarily ...Continue reading...
- -

Here is a trivia question for (the few) GetReligion readers who follow sports, and professional football in particular.Name the only head coach in the National Football League who is a (a) former pro quarterback, (b) an ordained minister and (c) the former head of a seminary?Yes, I am not making up that last detail. The answer? That would be (the Rev.) Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts.Now, there is another reason that I brought up Reich and his unique resume (see this Baptist Press piece by Tim Ellsworth, one of my former students in Washington, D.C.), including his service as president of Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, N.C.The big NFL story, these days, is the unusually high number of big name quarterbacks who are either on the move or asking (or hinting) that they would like to move to other teams. The first big domino to fall in this story was Carson Wentz moving from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Colts.Wentz should be in the prime of his career, but had an epic slump in 2020, a collapse that was clearly mental and emotional, as well as physical. As many pundits and journalists noted, Wentz hadn’t really been at the top of his game since he lost the quarterback coach — that would be Reich — who helped him become a potential superstar.ESPN noted that the Colts are: … banking on their present -- and future -- with Wentz to solve what has unfortunately been a revolving door at quarterback in Indianapolis over the past few years. … The person responsible for ensuring Wentz is the answer for the Colts? Reich. The coach is putting his reputation on the line by believing he can get Wentz, who was his quarterback when he was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia, back to the level when he was considered an MVP contender before a season-ending knee injury in 2017. …
- 4 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 8:00pm -

The United Methodist Church is on the brink of America's biggest religious schism since the Civil War, with the conflict centering on sexual morality, biblical authority and theological liberalism.At stake is an empire with 6.7 million U.S. members and 31,000 congregations located across most American counties, 6.5 million members overseas and $6.3 billion in annual donations (though there's now a severe money crunch). Many of those churches sit on prime urban and suburban real estate.But when? The 2020 General Conference to settle matters was postponed until this coming Aug. 29- Sept. 7 in Minneapolis, a city that currently limits meetings to 150 people. News calendars are iffy until the imminent UMC decision on whether it can meet then, or must delay a second time or whether it's possible to manage such a complex international meeting online.Whenever and however delegates assemble, by most accounts they're prepared to adopt some version of the 33-page "Protocol of Reconciliation & Grace Through Separation" (.pdf here) hashed out last year via professional mediation among representatives of various factions.One breakaway has occurred prematurely. Online worship last Nov. 29 established the hard left "Liberation Methodist Connection." The new denomination is intended for Methodist exiles to live out their "God-given identities" regardless of not only same-sex identity but e.g. gender expression, sexual non-monogamy, immigration status, piercings, body art or drug use.However, the main event involves who inherits the UMC's name, logo, endowments, properties and structures. In U.S. Methodism, liberals and centrists combined have political power to install a laissez-faire LGBT policy, while the evangelical wing dissents alongside millions of Methodists in Africa and the Philippines. (This structure is unusual. Most "mainline" denominations that have legislated full LGBT inclusion are U.S.-only.)The Wesleyan Covenant Association figures conservative congregations and pastors will happily leave behind UMC assets, schools and agencies and is busily preparing a new breakaway denomination under "Protocol" terms that would merge Americans and booming churches overseas.
- 10 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 2:00pm -

Not to anyone’s huge surprise, President Biden has resurrected a faith-based office as the religious face of the Biden White House.Don’t yawn yet. There are some intriguing differences between what President Obama’s faith-based office was like and what Biden is proposing. The office’s most recent incarnation includes discussion about race, Covid, pluralism and “constitutional guarantees.” From Religion News Service: President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Sunday (Feb. 14) reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, undoing former President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape an agency that went largely unstaffed for most of his tenure.I do need to take some issue with the top paragraph. Trump did have a faith-based office called the Faith and Opportunity Initiative, and it was headed up by Paula White-Cain, a Florida-based televangelist with no government experience.However, her connections among evangelicals and charismatics were second to none, and those were the folks who Trump saw as essential to his surprise 2016 victory. They got well-publicized visits to the White House and photo ops in the Oval Office. What’s not as well known is there were Jewish groups who also had access through White-Cain; something I learned when I was researching this 2017 profile on Paula. In a statement accompanying the announcement of the executive order, Biden echoed his recent remarks to the National Prayer Breakfast, bemoaning widespread physical and economic suffering due to the coronavirus pandemic, racism and climate change. He added that those struggling “are fellow Americans” and are deserving of aid. “This is not a nation that can, or will, simply stand by and watch the suffering around us. That is not who we are. That is not what faith calls us to be,” he said. “That is why I’m reestablishing the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to work with leaders of different faiths and backgrounds who are the frontlines of their communities in crisis and who can help us heal, unite, and rebuild.”I still think White-Cain let in more folks than most people knew but she got no credit for it. The White House announced the appointment of Melissa Rogers, a First Amendment lawyer and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, to oversee the office, as she did in former President Barack Obama’s second term. Rogers will also serve as senior director for faith and public policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council.I interviewed Rogers for my Paula piece and she was helpful and knowledgeable. She was also accessible to the press and not above taking a few pot shots with how the Trump administration was running its faith-based office in recent years. Clearly, White-Cain either didn’t read or didn’t listen to Rogers’ critiques.
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 4:30pm -

While Americans focused on the dramatic conclusion of 2020 White House race, reports began circulating in the overseas press claiming that a sickening massacre had taken place in a famous church — a pilgrimage site for the Ethiopian Orthodox.How famous? For centuries, church officials have claimed that the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum contains the Ark of the Covenant.This was, from the start, a journalism horror story — since Ethiopian officials were preventing foreign journalists from reaching the site of the alleged massacre. At the same time, activists on both sides of the stunningly complex conflict appeared to be working hard to shape the coverage that was taking place.The other day, a frustrated reader sent me this note, after seeing materials posted online attempting to undercut claims that this massacre of 700-plus believers took place. “I’ve trusted you and your sources for about five years now so I’m hoping you can help get to the bottom of this,” the reader said.I told the reader that, to me, it appeared that this was a case in which — at this point — certainty was impossible. A careful reader would note that some journalists were saying that claims about the massacre could not be verified — either way. “Human rights activists on left and right are concerned about the report and believe the attack COULD have taken place. But there has been no verification that has been locked down certain,” I said.If you want to see what we’re talking about, check out these early reports from Catholic News Agency (“Hundreds reportedly dead after massacre at Oriental Orthodox church in Ethiopia”) and The Church Times (“Massacre ‘of 750’ reported in Aksum church complex, Tigray, Ethiopia”).This is, of course, an argument about the attribution of truth claims. When journalists cannot (for a variety of reasons) do on-site reporting to seek evidence, they frequently are forced to seek the best sources that are available to them (often via telephone or other forms of technology) and report what they can. Here is the crucial point: Journalists have to clearly identify the identity of the sources and let readers know what kind of access they would or would not have to the information.This leads us to a recent Associated Press story with a headline stating, “ ‘Horrible’: Witnesses recall massacre in Ethiopian holy city.”The key word is, of course, “witnesses.”
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 6:40pm -

Texans like to brag that they live in “a whole other country.”I don’t suppose, though, that whoever came up with that slogan had Siberia in mind.As a severe winter storm crippled the state’s energy grid this week, my parents were among 4 million residents who lost electricity. Mom and Dad endured a really chilly night before going to stay at my sister’s house for a few days.Heroes (think “Mattress Mack”) and villains (#FlyingTed) have emerged, while people of faith — as they tend to do during disasters — rally to help.Here at Religion Unplugged, Jillian Cheney tells the inspiring story of a church that partnered with a Jeep club to rescue snowed-in families.Houses of worship losing power themselves hampered some efforts to provide reliable sanctuary, but “leaders are doing all they can to connect and comfort their communities,” Christianity Today’s Kate Shellnutt reports.Churches and other faith groups teamed up to help open an emergency warming center for the homeless at a Dallas convention center, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana notes.Catholic churches in San Antonio and Fort Worth opened their doors, according to the Catholic News Agency’s Jonah McKeown.Among others mobilizing to help: Southern Baptists, Churches of Christ and Episcopalians.Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads1. A congregation of avatars: A few pastors minister “to the wild universe of virtual reality, or VR for short,” this fascinating feature by World magazine’s Juliana Chan Erikson explains.
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 2:00pm -

Missouri-based International House of Prayer–Forerunner Christian Fellowship withdrew its membership from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability on Jan. 31, according to a list of recent membership changes. The status change is labeled as voluntary, meaning the organization is not under a compliance review by the ECFA. Forerunner Christian Fellowship, based in Grandview, is a ministry of the International House of Prayer (IHOP) of Kansas City. The charismatic and often-controversial organization is known for running a 24/7 live-streamed prayer room it describes as “a perpetual solemn assembly gathering corporately to fast and pray in the spirit of the tabernacle of David.”  IHOP was founded in 1999 by Michael Bickle, whose theology centers around living out the Great Commission through fasting, prayer, worship and acts of service, emphasizing prophetic experiences, end-times studies and historic premillennialism. 
- 5 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 6:34pm -

Texas Pastor Dwight McKissic is known for challenging his fellow Southern Baptists about racial equity and, more recently, their denomination’s seminary leaders’ controversial statement on race. But in the last week, facing his own challenges from Mother Nature, McKissic has been the recipient of an offer of help from one of those seminary presidents.The Arlington house McKissic shares with his wife, Vera, grew cold early Feb. 15 when the electricity shut off during the snowstorm and freezing temperatures that hit the middle of the U.S. 
- 7 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 4:16pm -

Moody Bible Institute (MBI) Provost Dwight Perry, who is supervising an investigation into alleged mismanagement of sexual abuse cases at MBI, today said he regrets “any confusion” caused by his endorsement of a pastor who sexually abused a relative.The pastor, Charles Lyons, resigned from Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago in November 2019, after admitting the abuse, which occurred decades ago.Lyons had pastored Armitage Baptist for 45 years, and the news of his abuse and resignation was covered in the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times. 
- 23 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 12:38am -

Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee today disfellowshipped four congregations—two for employing known sex offenders and two for affirming homosexuality.The denomination’s credentials committee determined that four congregations are “no longer in friendly cooperation” with the denomination. Those churches are Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia; St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky; Antioch Baptist Church in Sevierville, Tennessee; and West Side Baptist Church in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania.Meeting in executive session, the Executive Committee voted to remove all four churches. 
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 11:20pm -

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) President J.D. Greear called out fellow Baptists who he said were sowing dissension and lies in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination at the meeting of the SBC’s Executive Committee on Monday.Greear,  who pastors The Summit Church, a North Carolina megachurch, defended his three years as the denomination’s president and highlighted the convention’s growing diversity. But he said political divides are distracting the convention from its mission work.“We are not, at our core, a political activism group,” he said in an address to the denomination’s Executive Committee. 
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 2:41pm -

Missouri-based International House of Prayer–Forerunner Christian Fellowship withdrew its membership from the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability on Jan. 31, according to a list of recent membership changes. The status change is labeled as voluntary, meaning the organization is not under a compliance review by the ECFA. 
- 8 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 3:21pm -

Four churches were disfellowshipped by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee on Tuesday (Feb. 23).
- 9 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 3:05pm -

The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is the latest organization to sign on to an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) legal brief to the Supreme Court of the United States, prepared by The Nonprofit Alliance, to prevent the disclosure of the IRS Form 990 Schedule B listing of a charity’s major donors and protect the privacy of major donors.
- 9 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 2:56pm -

Today, I’m pleased to have back to the program Dr. Patrick Wright.  He is the Thomas C. Vandiver Bicentennial Chair in Business, and he is the Director of the Center for Executive Succession at the Darla Moore School of Business, which is at the University of South Carolina. Here at MinistryWatch, we bring you news […]
- 20 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 3:08am -

Seven out of 10 Black adults and nearly nine out of 10 Black churchgoers think that to really understand the African American experience, it’s important to realize the role of religious faith in the lives of Black people.
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 3:44pm -

Despite pandemic-related uncertainties, there’s been a surge of commentary on whether The United Methodist Church should split.
- 4 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 8:05pm -

Longtime partnership with Baltimore-Washington Conference provides hope to families in Zimbabwe left homeless by the March 2019 disaster.
- 6 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 5:17pm -

An international group of General Conference delegates asked United Methodists around the globe to help imagine a better way to be the church.
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 6:27pm -

As Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and other diseases threaten lives and livelihoods, church leaders in Congo offer assistance.
- 1 day ago 23 Feb 21, 4:52pm -

Following a volatile presidential election, United Methodists offer shelter and other humanitarian aid to people seeking refuge from armed rebels.
- 2 days ago 22 Feb 21, 4:14pm -

The U.S. healthcare establishment’s plan for curbing the pandemic requires pushing the COVID-19 vaccine out to vulnerable populations as quickly as possible. Homeless people meet many states’ criteria for priority immunization but pose unique challenges for health workers who want to help them.Some states specifically list the homeless in their vaccination plans, while others prioritize people of a certain age or with specific pre-existing conditions, which include many homeless people.However, many homeless people don’t trust the medical system or have trouble traveling to clinics or health departments, as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for immunizing the homeless point out. The CDC also notes that many people without permanent housing live in congregate settings in shelters or have poor health due to harsh life on the streets.They also often move from place to place, making it hard to coordinate receiving a two-dose vaccine. Providers have trouble reaching people who lack reliable cellphone service, internet access, and home addresses. The fragile nature of the vaccines means distributors must administer them in a limited time window, but homeless people might have difficulty keeping an appointment if they lack reliable transportation. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis denied a Denver health official’s request to begin vaccinating the homeless and said that waiting for authorization of a single-dose shot, like Johnson & Johnson’s, makes more sense. The Food and Drug Administration could grant the Johnson & Johnson vaccine emergency use authorization as early as this weekend.The CDC recommends “offering vaccination in homeless service sites and places where people experiencing homelessness visit.” Earlier this month, Los Angeles Christian Health Centers received the vaccine at their Skid Row clinic and began attempting to contact 900 possible recipients, the LA Times reported. Over the next week, elderly homeless people walked to the clinic from nearby shelters to get their shots. The health centers receive 100 doses a week to distribute across six county clinics. Some health officials set up canopies near a homeless encampment at LA’s Leimert Plaza Park and offered campers food to take the vaccine.Meanwhile, in Houston, Texas, the nonprofit HOPE Haven is working with homeless clients to educate them and prepare them to receive the vaccine when it becomes available. “They hear all kinds of stuff, so if they think COVID-19 is some kind of hoax or conspiracy, they’re not going to want to take the vaccine,” director Kristyn Stillwell told The Houston Chronicle. “We’re [also] going to start with things like a tetanus shot and that kind of thing and then in the fall with the next round of flu shots. … We want them to get used to the medical workers.”Image: Deck: Health workers struggle with how to immunize the homelessCategory: HomelessnessKeywords: Effective CompassionCompassionHomelessnessCoronavirusPovertyCaliforniaSlug: HomelessnessArticle Title: Vaccines on the streetsAuthor: Charissa KohDigital Branding: CompassionHide from Archive?: 0
- 53 mins ago 24 Feb 21, 10:43pm -

One of President Joe Biden’s first acts in office was to pause all immigrant deportations for 100 days. But a federal judge indefinitely blocked the president’s order on Tuesday night.Why? U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, an appointee of President Donald Trump, initially halted the deportation freeze last month. Texas had sued, arguing the order violated federal law and would impose additional costs on the state. The ruling does not require deportations to resume at their previous pace. Immigration agencies have a lot of latitude in deciding if and when to enforce removals.Dig deeper: Read Harvest Prude’s report in The Stew about Biden’s reversal of Trump-era immigration policies.Image: Category: PoliticsArticle Title: Judge overrules deportation freezeKeywords: PoliticsWhite HouseImmigrationCourtsAuthor: Kent Covington
- 2 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 10:02pm -

Gov. Greg Abbott largely blames the board leaders of Texas’ power grid operator for catastrophic utility failures during last week’s winter storm. Historic snowfall and single-digit temperatures left millions throughout the Deep South without power and water for days. More than 80 people died, roughly half of them in Texas.What do the board members have to say for themselves? The five directors who resigned all live outside of Texas. Four of them acknowledged “concerns about out-of-state board leadership” in a letter to grid members and the state’s Public Utility Commission, which oversees the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). During the crisis, ERCOT officials removed contact information for board members from its website, saying they had become the target of threats. Abbott accepted their resignations, calling ERCOT’s lack of preparedness and transparency unacceptable.Dig deeper: Listen to the stories of WORLD staffers from Texas who weathered the storm.Image: Category: WeatherArticle Title: Texas utility directors resignKeywords: WeatherDisasterEnergyAuthor: Lynde Langdon
- 2 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 9:54pm -

Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot is about 66 percent effective against moderate to severe illness and 85 percent effective at preventing severe cases. U.S. Food and Drug Administration scientists on Wednesday also said the single-dose vaccine is safe, paving the way for the agency’s advisers to meet on Friday to debate whether to grant emergency use authorization.How is vaccine distribution going elsewhere? The United Nations’ COVAX initiative made its first delivery on Wednesday. Ghana received 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for free and plans to start vaccinations on March 2. Some 92 countries are also in line for shots through the program, while 90 other nations and eight territories pick up the bill. COVAX plans to provide enough vaccines for participant countries to immunize 20-30 percent of the population, but it has already hit delays and shortages. The Ivory Coast is set to receive the next batch.Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s report about poor nations’ struggle to acquire COVID-19 vaccines as richer countries buy them up.Image: Category: HealthArticle Title: FDA report: Single-dose vaccine safe and effectiveKeywords: CoronavirusHealthVaccinationsInternationalUnited NationsAuthor: Rachel Lynn Aldrich
- 2 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 9:49pm -

On an average Saturday morning twice a month, 30 to 50 families used to show up at the food pantry at Eternal Faith Baptist Church in Manor, Texas. They browsed the fellowship hall or pick up prepacked bags filled with beans, rice, pasta, cereal, and cans of meats, fruits, and vegetables. In the spring of 2020, that number jumped to 80 or 100, said Sheila Matthews, who leads the church’s food pantry ministry. It switched to a drive-thru format, and Matthews said that at first Eternal Faith was the only area church with a food pantry. Clients told stories of losing jobs or having unemployed relatives move in with them as the pandemic progressed.“We’ve been doing this for so long and have the same clients come through … some of these families were new,” Matthews said. Some “came through saying they didn’t know what to do because they’d never had to go through a food bank before.”Matthews’ experience matches stories from food distributors nationwide. As many Americans lost jobs last year, poverty researchers reported increasing food insecurity. The government and local communities stepped up food support in response, but some scholars say the reports misrepresent the situation and are leading to misguided solutions.The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food security as always having enough food for an “active, healthy life.” Measurements of food insecurity range from anxiety about having enough to eat to lacking food. In 2019, the USDA estimated 10.5 percent of American households experienced some level of food insecurity at some point. That number represented progress from 2018’s 11 percent and the 2011 peak of nearly 15 percent. Only 4 percent of households in 2019 experienced “very low food security”—actually skipping meals because they did not have enough food.In April 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau began the Household Pulse Survey to measure Americans’ well-being during the pandemic. In July, Lauren Bauer at the Brookings Institution analyzed the initial results and wrote that “food insecurity has remained persistently elevated at record levels.” Around the same time, the Urban Institute reported more than 1 in 6 adults were food insecure two months into the COVID-19-induced recession. Meanwhile, food banks saw rising demand: From February to March, the Central Texas Food Bank had a 200 percent increase in new clients. In June, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey averaged 50 percent more clients than before the pandemic and spent about $1 million above its budget each month on food and temporary staff.Politicians and advocates seized on those findings to demand the government step up its response. In mid-June, 2,500 organizations wrote a letter to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asking that the next pandemic relief bill increase Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps. The government had already boosted food welfare programs in the spring by streamlining the application process for SNAP and waiving the requirement that existing recipients recertify. Congress also authorized the USDA to give all SNAP households maximum benefits and waive work or job-search requirements. The CARES Act provided money for states to reimburse households with children eligible for the school lunch program, and schools continued making meals for families to pick up. Congress’ December omnibus spending bill increased SNAP benefits by 15 percent.Despite the reported problems with hunger, American Enterprise Institute scholar Angela Rachidi said the government safety net expansions largely worked. “Reported trends in food insecurity … contradict other data that show reductions in poverty among U.S. households since the start of the pandemic and increases in income … because of the economic relief efforts Congress authorized,” she wrote in August.Food insecurity can be subjective because it measures people’s food preferences and anxiety, she noted, arguing that food insufficiency has a more straightforward definition: “A household did not have enough to eat, sometimes or often, in the last seven days.”As various government program expansions expired throughout the year, food insufficiency numbers remained relatively stable, hovering at about 11 percent. Rachidi found most food-insufficient households did not participate in the government’s safety net programs, and she recommended the government focus on enrolling those families rather than boosting benefits. “Increasing SNAP won’t address food insecurity very much and more likely fulfills a long-held goal among Democrats to increase SNAP benefits,” she said in an email.Image: Deck: Experts disagree about the extent of food insecurity and the success of welfare expansionsCategory: PovertyKeywords: PovertyEffective CompassionCompassionFoodHealthCoronavirusSlug: PovertyArticle Title: How many have gone hungry during the pandemic?Author: Charissa KohDigital Branding: CompassionHide from Archive?: 0
- 2 hours ago 24 Feb 21, 9:46pm -