The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
COVID-19 revealed unknown strengths of many congregations, but the pandemic also exposed some significant issues among churchgoers.
TULSA (BP) – Although for years, the horrific incident was only whispered about, Deron Spoo was very intentional in trying to ensure it was solemnly remembered.
Biden’s proposed budget excludes Hyde Amendment, By Tom Strode
WASHINGTON (BP)—The Southern Baptist Convention’s ethics entity and other pro-life organizations are urging Congress to restore long-standing bans on federal funding of abortion that President Biden excluded from his proposed budget.
Why Pastors Have a Unique Responsibility to Counsel, By David Powlison
You must counsel. It’s not optional. You can’t say no as if it were simply a career choice, a matter of personal preference, or an absence of gifting. This does not mean that every pastor will have the same balance between public and private aspects of ministry. How much you’ll “formally” counsel (i.e., meet with particular persons at agreed-on times) depends on many factors. Some pastors will do a great deal of hands-on cure of souls, some relatively little. But every pastor ought to dedicate some percentage of his ministry to the delicate art of intentional conversation as well as being continually on the lookout for the informal opportunities latent in every human interaction.
What Are Southern Baptists Really Fighting About?, By Trevin Wax
This time of year, I usually share a few observations about the Convention of churches to which I belong. Two years have passed since the scandalous evil of sexual abuse by multiple Southern Baptist pastors came to light (as well as the egregious mishandling of these allegations in some of our churches over the past two decades). And, while many churches have taken steps to improve their procedures and systems to protect the vulnerable, and despite good signs here and there in the SBC census numbers (as reported through the Annual Church Profile), the overall picture of numerical decline for our Convention is discouraging, especially the number that should mean the most to Baptists who adopt the moniker “Great Commission”—baptisms.
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