(A spokesman) said three ELCA churches and one pastor had been under public censure for violating the old policy. A Missouri bishop has lifted the public censure of a church that hired a lesbian priest in 2000—believed to be a first since the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination removed a ban on gay clergy last summer.... Continue Reading

The Aqulia Report will be represented at the meeting and will provide updates when appropriate on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as a full report of the findings and decisions made by the Synod on Wednesday. Elders from throughout the U.S. will gather in the Youth Activity Building at the denomination-owned Bonclarken Conference Center near... Continue Reading

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced that it has denied a petition to hear an appeal from a breakaway congregation seeking claim to the property of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church of La Crescenta, California. The court posted its action, together with dozens of other petitions denied, on its web site. Meeting in conference on Feb.... Continue Reading

“…in 1979, there were less than 500 known Christians from a Muslim background in Iran. Today the most conservative estimate is that there are at least 100,000 believers in the nation.” An evangelical pastor and eight other Christians were behind bars in Iran Friday, February 26, after authorities closed their church as part of a... Continue Reading

Discovery Church of Evansville, Indiana planted in September 2008 reached particular church status by the action of the Midwest Preesbytery on February 12, 2010. Pastor Trey McClain told the story of Discovery this way: “My wife Kitten and I began to feel God leading us to plant a church on the west side of Evansville... Continue Reading

“Adoption of this poisonous document by the Presbyterian Church will be nothing short of a declaration of war on Israel and her supporters,” declared the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The proposals set forth by a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) committee regarding the conflict between Israel and Palestinians will damage interfaith ties, said one of the nation’s largest... Continue Reading

“The equation of love with heroic violence and suffering is typically a male-centered perspective…the value of the nursing breast as a symbol of God’s provision might need to be reconsidered in our own time “ Once honored for voicing substantive theology in the Reformed tradition, Union Theological Seminary’s 2010 Sprunt Lectures will feature a feminist... Continue Reading

An examining governing body may not allow a candidate to exercise her freedom of conscience if doing so ‘ignore(s) or waive(s) a specific standard of behavior that has been adopted by the whole church such as the ‘fidelity and chastity’” requirement. A complaint is again before the Synod of the Pacific’s Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC)... Continue Reading

The task force was charged to bring a report and recommendations to the denomination concerning how Southern Baptists can work more faithfully and effectively together in serving Christ through the Great Commission. Southern Baptists need to repent of their pride, boasting and disunity and return to God and His vision. That was the sobering call... Continue Reading

Unspoken rules and social convention once kept the gunfire out of churches, and street criminals would often show deference to the very old and very young. But recent shootings suggest a change. Take off your hood in a house of God. Many thought that on Sunday afternoon, when three men in dark sweatshirts strode into... Continue Reading