AUSTIN (RNS)—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued a volunteer-run network of Catholic migrant shelters based in El Paso, aiming to revoke the organization’s nonprofit registration.

The lawsuit comes after Annunciation House moved to delay handing over documents about its clients to the attorney general.

Paxton’s office said it had demanded Annunciation House records because of the organization’s “potential efforts to facilitate illegal immigration.”

“The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) reviewed significant public record information strongly suggesting Annunciation House is engaged in legal violations such as facilitating illegal entry to the United States, alien harboring, human smuggling, and operating a stash house,” the office wrote in a Feb. 20 press release.

If Paxton is successful, Annunciation House—which was founded in 1976—could be required to cease sheltering migrants entering Texas. The lawsuit “seeks to revoke Annunciation House’s authorization to do business in Texas and asks the court to appoint a receiver to liquidate their assets,” Paxton’s office wrote.

On its website, Annunciation House says it has hosted more than 500,000 migrants fleeing death squads, civil wars, human rights abuses and poverty.

“The Attorney General’s illegal, immoral and anti-faith position to shut down Annunciation House is unfounded,” Annunciation House said in its own press release. Paxton’s office “has stated that it considers it a crime for a Catholic organization to provide shelter to refugees,” the organization said.

According to reporting from the Texas Tribune, the attorney general’s administrative subpoena sent to Annunciation House demanded it turn over records from January 2022 onward. Those records included identifying information about Annunciation House’s clients, referrals the nonprofit had made to legal services and their applications for federal funding for organizations that address hunger and homelessness.

One day to submit records

Annunciation House said the attorney general told the nonprofit on Feb. 7 it had one day to turn over records. After the state denied Annunciation House an extension, the organization responded by requesting that a U.S. district court rule on what documents it was required to turn over, and that it receive a restraining order granting more time to comply with Paxton’s demands.

The statement from Paxton’s office described the attempt to shut down Annunciation House as a “consequence” of the organization’s legal actions and delays.

Paxton’s legal action appears to be part of a broader Republican push to make immigration a key 2024 election campaign issue. In December 2022, four House Republicans, including two from Texas, sent a letter to Catholic Charities USA, a network of diocesan charity organizations, accusing it of “fueling” illegal immigration and violating federal law by providing necessities to migrants.

That same month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Catholic, called on Paxton to investigate El Paso nonprofits because they “may have assisted with illegal border crossings near El Paso.”

Since then, Texas has escalated its anti-migrant actions. In January, its National Guard got into a standoff with federal agents in Eagle Pass after guard members and state troopers blocked the agents’ access to the U.S. border. The same month, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Texas to remove concertina wire from along the river erected to stop migrants from crossing.

Adam Pardue, pastor of Highland Baptist Church in Lubbock, will be nominated for second vice president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

Pastor Jason Burden of First Baptist Church in Nederland, a past president of the BGCT, will nominate Pardue at Texas Baptists’ annual meeting Nov. 10-12 in Waco.

Pardue served as associate pastor at First Baptist in Nederland alongside Burden before accepting the pastorate of Highland Baptist in March 2012.

“He has an awesome family. His character is unimpeachable. And he is a person of good cheer and vision who will be of great service to our state convention,” Burden said.

Burden characterized Pardue as “a product of BGCT investment” in higher education.

After completing his undergraduate degree in music from Lamar University, Pardue earned a master’s degree in Christian ministry from Wayland Baptist University and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Hardin-Simmons University’s Logsdon Seminary.

He also earned a Master of Divinity degree from B.H. Carroll Seminary, which is slated to merge with East Texas Baptist University.

Burden also characterized Pardue as “a great contributor to Texas Baptists” through his involvement as a church health coach, helping other congregations work through the Pave church revitalization strategy.

“I want to see church health emphasized,” Pardue said, noting his desire to see Texas Baptists help churches that have plateaued or suffered decline. “I have a heart for it.”

Wants to ‘have a voice’ in the process

Given events at the national level in Baptist life, he sees this as a key time for Texas Baptists to discern their direction moving forward.

“I would like to have a voice in shaping that direction and to be a part of that process,” he said.

Having chaired the BGCT Committee to Nominate Executive Board Members and the Committee on the Annual Meeting, Pardue said, he even enjoys Texas Baptist committee work.

“I love Texas Baptists. Serving on convention committees, you’re dealing with people who have the same love you do and who believe in the work that is going on,” he said.  “I love to be around other Christian brothers and sisters.”

In addition to his BGCT service, Pardue also has served on the board of Lubbock Area Baptist Association.

Ten years before he became senior pastor at Highland Baptist Church in Lubbock, he served four years as youth pastor at that same congregation.

Pardue served in staff roles at other Texas Baptist churches—minister of music and youth at Fellowship Baptist Church in Bridge City and at Proctor Baptist Church in Port Arthur, youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Port Neches and associate pastor at First Baptist in Nederland.

He and his wife Angie have been married 26 years. They have two daughters, Avery Ashford and Abbey Pardue, both Christian ministry majors at Hardin-Simmons University, and a son-in-law, Blake Ashford.

Kevin Ray to Community North Baptist Church in McKinney as associate pastor of senior adults, business and administration, and community outreach. He was the interim administrator at First Baptist Church in Farmers Branch.

The building campaign to raise the initial $3 million toward a new Baptist Student Ministry center on the Baylor University campus has passed the halfway mark, Texas Baptist Missions Foundation President Jerry Carlisle reported to the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board. So far, more than $1.7 million has been given or pledged toward the project. Once the foundation has received gifts and pledges totaling $3 million, Baylor University will legally convey property at the corner of 4th Street and Daughtrey Avenue in Waco to Texas Baptists. After the initial goal is met, the foundation will continue to raise the additional $4 million needed to complete construction of the facility. For more information, click here.

Dallas Baptist University appointed Jeremiah J. Johnston as senior fellow for Christian origins in its Institute for Global Engagement. Johnston is president of the international Christian Thinkers Society, the author of 15 books and host of a podcast. He completed his doctoral residency in Oxford in collaboration with Oxford Centre for Missions Studies and received his Ph.D. from Middlesex University in the United Kingdom. He also earned advanced degrees in theology from Acadia University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His role at DBU will include editing an upcoming academic journal housed within the Institute for Global Engagement, expanding the reach of the university and engaging with students through speaking at chapel, lecturing and teaching courses.

Houston Christian University announced plans to launch a Master of Science in Leadership program in fall 2024, pending approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Offered through HCU’s online division, the new advanced degree is designed to teach leadership skills in alignment with Christian values and prepare individuals for effective leadership in a diverse range of industries and organizations. The 30-credit hour program helps students develop strategic thinking, influential communication, organizational behavior, ethical judgment and a global mindset. “The challenges that the students will face are many, but we hope that by being principled and taught strong Christian leadership values, their leadership will shine in the marketplace,” said Mike Rome, dean of the Archie W. Dunham College of Business at HCU.

Baptist University of the Américas will host a Congreso Experience on March 2 in partnership with Texas Baptists. Other recent Congreso Experiences at Wayland Baptist University and East Texas Baptist University offered opportunities for local Hispanic youth to meet current university students, tour the campus and engage with each other through discussions, worship and community service. During the event at ETBU, for example, students assembled hygiene kits Texas Baptists’ River Ministry will distribute along the Texas-Mexico border.

The Howard Payne University Alumni Association Virtual 5K is scheduled March 23. Individuals can participate by running or walking from anywhere. Last year, more than 100 individuals participated from 25 cities and four states. Brownwood-area residents are invited to the HPU campus to participate in person. Registration for the 5K is $40 per adult and $10 per student. A portion of the registration will be used to support HPU student-focused events and scholarships. Registration is open until March 6. Each participant will receive a race packet, which includes a t-shirt and race bib. Participants are encouraged to submit their race times to the alumni relations office March 23, and the top three finishing times will receive prizes. To register for the Virtual 5K or sign up as a sponsor, visit hputx.edu/alumni/hpu-virtual-5k/ or contact the HPU alumni relations office at alumni@hputx.edu or (325) 649-8007.

Baylor University will host the 2024 Collegiate Day of Prayer at 7 p.m. on Feb. 29. The Collegiate Day of Prayer is an evening worship and prayer service focused on college-aged students. The event—promoted internationally—will originate from Waco Hall on the Baylor campus. The livestream will be available on the Baylor Facebook page, its YouTube channel and the Collegiate Day of Prayer website.

First Baptist Church in China Spring will host a First Blessing event from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on March 23. First Blessingis a ministry that enables churches to provide shoes for schoolchildren. Church volunteers interact with families seeking shoes, escorting the parents through the process as their children are properly fitted for shoes and allowed to select a pair of their choosing.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Board voted to cut ties with four churches on Feb. 20.

One hired a woman pastor. Two allegedly mismanaged sexual abuse. The other failed to give to SBC missions causes.

All four were designated as “being out of friendly cooperation” with the nation’s largest Protestant denomination after its credentials committee recommended they be removed.

Immanuel Baptist Church, in Paducah, Ky., was deemed “not in friendly cooperation” for having a woman who serves as senior minister.

The SBC statement of faith—the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message—says that the office of pastor, also known as an overseer or elder, is limited to men.

The SBC is considering a constitutional amendment that would bar churches that allow women to hold the title of pastor, no matter what their role at the church.

Last February, the Executive Committee expelled five churches, including Saddleback Church in Southern California, one of the nation’s largest churches, for giving a woman, the wife of its new senior pastor, the title of preaching pastor.

The Executive Committee determined Grove Road Baptist Church in Greenville, S.C., had shown “a lack of intent to cooperate in resolving a concern regarding the pastor’s mishandling of an allegation of sexual abuse.”

The committee also decided West Hendersonville Baptist Church, in Hendersonville, N.C., had broken denominational rules on dealing with abuse by retaining a pastor who was “biblically disqualified.”

Trustees also decided that the SBC’s relationship with New Hope Baptist Church, of Gastonia, N.C., had been “discontinued” because the church, according to the Executive Committee, had not given to SBC causes for five years.

A question about the faith and practice of New Hope had also been raised, and the church had a “lack of intent to cooperate” in resolving that question.

Southern Baptist churches are required to donate to the SBC’s Cooperative Program unified budget or to a denominational entity, such as a seminary or a mission board.

Historically, churches are rarely removed for not giving. After joining via a state convention or by filling out a simple online form and making an initial donation, a church will remain on the SBC rolls unless someone takes action to have it removed.

Donations are checked when a church registers messengers for the SBC annual meeting but are not monitored otherwise. Currently, fewer than 60 percent of churches give to the Cooperative Program, its joint missions fund, down from about 75 percent in the mid-1980s.

At their regularly scheduled meeting this week, Executive Committee members approved a budget for fiscal year 2023-2024, which will be presented at the SBC meeting in June.

They learned the Executive Committee’s assets declined by more than $2 million last year, part of an ongoing fiscal crunch.

They also heard an update from the search committee looking for a new permanent Executive Committee leader. That committee hopes to name a candidate next month. The Executive Committee has been without a permanent president since 2022 and has had a pair of interim leaders.

LONDON (RNS)—The tattoo spelling “GOD” sits prominently between the man’s eyebrows, a letter disappearing with every furrowed expression.

The green ink draws sideways glances from nearby tables as he sips his cappuccino. Back home in Iran, it would get him arrested or killed, since apostasy is a crime of the highest order. But the British courts were not so convinced of his newfound religious beliefs.

The Iranian, who converted from Islam to Christianity and sought asylum in the U.K., has had a difficult time proving he really is Christian.

Immigration officials were skeptical when they read his application and saw the pictures of his permanent brow, said the man, whose name is withheld to protect his family members who remain in Iran.

“The home office thought it was fake,” he told Religion News Service, referring to the ink he got in 2017.

“They think he did that for some effect, but he didn’t,” said Maria Wilby, director of the Refugee, Asylum Seeker and Migrant Action group. “In the midst of ill health, of having an operation this year, he has not lost touch with the church. He is finding solace in God.”

His religious faith is “probably the only thing that’s kept him alive,” she added.

Converts fleeing religious persecution make up the biggest chunk of claims from Iranian asylum-seekers coming to her agency for help, Wilby said.

The Islamic Republic forbids anyone born Muslim from converting to another religion, with violations punishable by arrest and even death. There are about 1.25 million Christians in Iran and those born Christian are allowed to practice their beliefs in the shadows, but converts face increasing persecution, including mass arrests last summer.

In addition to government pressure, converts often are exiled from families or forced into Islamic marriages, according to Open Doors International, a watchdog monitoring global persecution of Christians.

Proving validity of faith proves difficult

But converts who have fled Iran are finding it much harder to prove their faith once they cross the border.

“How do you prove those things? Membership is something that’s prescribed,” Wilby said, arguing that the current requirements to be determined a “practicing Christian,” such as church attendance, are unreasonable.

“We’ve had Christian clients who were four miles from the church, and there was no transport on a Sunday. So, what are they supposed to do, how are they supposed to prove that they are still practicing?” Wilby said.

“If you’re living in a hotel on 9 pounds a week, you’re not going to spend the little money you have getting a one-way taxi into town to attend church, and it would be unreasonable to expect you to.”

There are, however, certain behaviors that strongly indicate authenticity, such as commitment to regular worship, to serving others, to being kind and sacrificially generous.

In most cases, a letter of recommendation from the local priest or pastor is not enough to move the needle. But in-person testimony sometimes takes applicants over the finish line.

Even more difficult in Germany and Austria

As challenging as it might be to prove religious conversion in the U.K., applicants can face even steeper barriers in Germany and Austria.

The U.K.’s grant rate for Iranian asylum-seekers is 80 percent. In comparison, data from the German government shows that just 22.3 percent of Iranian asylum claims in 2019 were successful in first decisions, dropping to 19.9 percent on appeal.

As in the U.K., German state officials report religious conversions to Christianity are the “most frequent reason for asylum claims by Iranians,” according to a 2021 study published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

The study, based on 36 asylum appeal hearings in Germany, found judges largely expect applicants to show church attendance is not motivated by a desire to form social bonds. As a result, joining an Iranian-only congregation with Farsi liturgy could be held against applicants—even though many do not know English.

In one case analyzed in a study published in the Journal of Legal Anthropology in 2021, an Iranian applicant forgot his baptismal verse and could not recite it in court. When his lawyer stated that she could not remember hers either, the judge rebuffed her.

“But we didn’t convert to Christianity under the threat of the death penalty. We also did not claim asylum based on our faith that is so strong, and so formative for our identity, that we cannot return to our country of origin,” the judge is quoted as saying.

State-sponsored or free church?

In Germany and Austria, there appears to be a distinction between state-recognized churches that receive tax funds, such as Roman Catholic and Reformed churches, and “free churches” financed with membership donations, including the Free Evangelical-Lutheran or Free Protestant churches.

Rumors about assembly-line baptisms at these free churches have been openly discussed in court, with one judge saying he did not believe there was “real spiritual conversion there.” The judge also suggested asylum-seekers often seek out these places of worship for the feeling of community rather than faith.

The U.K. has similar worries despite its relatively higher approval rate, Wallace notes.

“There is a concern that baptism as a sacrament could be being administered without due care and attention,” he said, that “people can be trying to play the system, and that if it is purely about a one-off sacrament that can be administered on one Sunday, that becomes a sacrament that could then be open to being exploited.”

Such concerns have been recently aggravated by an incident in South London, when a man attacked a woman and her two children with a corrosive substance, injuring 12 people.

Amid an ongoing nationwide manhunt for the attacker, believed to hail from Afghanistan, a spotlight has been fixed on the fact that he was rejected twice for asylum—and then accepted on his third attempt because of his conversion to Christianity. A body believed to be the chemical attacker’s was reportedly pulled out of the River Thames this week.

Growing fears

Fears over the ease of religious conversion claims appear to be growing. Forty asylum-seekers in a barge that arrived in Dorset, in southwest England, also recently made the news after claiming they were practicing Christians or were inquiring about their faith.

Six of them were baptized Feb. 4, according to The Telegraph. Weymouth Baptist Church has insisted the baptism requests were genuine, but the home secretary has asked for information on these conversions.

Nigel Farage, a former leader of the populist right-wing U.K. Independence Party who was a prominent Brexit supporter and is now a broadcaster, fanned the flames in a YouTube video from Feb. 6 in which he accused the Church of England of being complicit in the acid attack.

“How many hundreds or thousands of people who come from Muslim countries, who now claim they are Christian and have been allowed to stay?” he asked. “We must be mad.”

A day later, a conservative member of Parliament suggested taxpayers were being “scammed” by the archbishop of Canterbury, saying, “So, Christianity in the U.K. seems to be on the wane unless, apparently, you are from a Muslim country in the middle of an asylum claim.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak replied by stressing the importance of pushing forward his plan to deport migrants to Rwanda—a proposal the Supreme Court recently shot down, ruling it would be unlawful.

DALLAS—Rather than focusing on the size of obstacles, Texas Baptists should trust in God who is capable of overcoming any obstacle, Executive Director Julio Guarneri told the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

“Stay focused on God’s mission,” Guarneri said in his first report to the board as executive director.

He recounted the story of the 12 Israelites who scouted out the Promised Land, as recorded in Numbers 13 and 14. The majority acknowledged the land was fertile, but they chose to emphasize the giants who inhabited it.

“There will always be some among us who choose to focus on the giants in the land—who will be intimidated by the size of the obstacles,” Guarneri said. “We don’t have to be blind to the challenges that we face. We don’t have to ignore the giants in the land. But neither do we have to let them intimidate us.”

When the people of Israel heard about the giants who occupied the Promised Land, many embraced a distorted memory of past glory days and longed to be back in Egypt—forgetting the bondage they endured there.

“God doesn’t call us to go back to the past. The only reason God’s people should look back at the past is to remember that God is faithful, and he is able to bring us through hard times,” Guarneri said.

Two Israelite scouts brought a positive minority report, choosing to trust in God, who already had demonstrated his faithfulness.

“If the Lord is with us, it doesn’t matter how many giants are in the land,” Guarneri said.

“Our task as Texas Baptists is to occupy the land. What that means is that we are called to saturate our state with the gospel.”

‘Status quo won’t cut it’

Since 2020, the Texas population has grown by 9 million—an average of more than 400,000 new residents each year, he noted.

“How many churches will it take to reach that many people? How many pastors and leaders need to be equipped and prepared to lead those churches?” he asked.

“The bottom line is that the status quo won’t cut it. … Business as usual won’t get the Great Commission accomplished.”

Guarneri noted items on his “wish list” for Texas Baptists:

• Renewed sense of harmony.
• Robust dedication to prayer.
• Rekindled participation in evangelism.
• Reaffirmed commitment to church health.
• Rallying of kingdom partnerships.

Determining the ‘path forward’ for GC2

In his first months as executive director, Guarneri said he is focusing on emphasizing prayer, encouraging pastors, affirming presidents of institutions and organizations related to Texas Baptists, and identifying strategic partnerships to advance God’s kingdom.

He noted 62 churches in 17 states beyond Texas identify as GC2 congregations—an emphasis launched by David Hardage, Guarneri’s predecessor as executive director.

“I believe we are at a point now where we need to define more what GC2 means,” Guarneri said. “We need to talk about how those churches relate to Texas Baptists. How do we start them well? What are the opportunities that GC2 affords us to be able to network together to be on mission—not just in Texas but beyond Texas?”

Guarneri announced his intention to present at the May Executive Board meeting a suggested “path forward” for GC2. He noted some had asked if Texas Baptists—through the GC2 movement—are seeking to become a national convention.

“In some ways, we already are. We already have churches outside of Texas. We have 71 missionaries in 17 countries. We do conferences in Texas, and people come from other states and Canada to attend. So, our footprint is larger than our state,” he said.

However, he added, Texas Baptists are not in competition with the Southern Baptist Convention.

“We just want to take on our role in God’s redemptive plan,” he said.

Moving forward, Guarneri voiced his desire to:

• Engage in “strategic conversations that lead to strategic collaborations.”
• “Assess, refine and relaunch GC2.”
• “Determine a leadership strategy” to ensure a “pipeline” of pastors and leaders for the future.
• “Mobilize churches to be about the Great Commission.”

‘We exist to serve our churches’

Later during the board meeting, Guarneri was asked about the potential impact if the SBC votes to approve a constitutional amendment to exclude any church with a woman on staff who carries the title “pastor.”

Guarneri reiterated the BGCT affirms the autonomy of local churches and does not make whom they call as staff and leaders a test of fellowship.

“We exist to serve our churches. We don’t exist to serve the Southern Baptist Convention,” he said.

Some Texas Baptist churches point to the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, which limits the office of pastor to men, as their statement of faith. Others affirm the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message, which does not include that limit.

At the 1999 BGCT annual meeting in El Paso, messengers affirmed the unamended 1963 Baptist Faith and Message as the “unifying statement of our common faith and practice.”

The BGCT relates to all Texas Baptist churches that share its mission and broadly affirm Baptist principles, without imposing one version of the Baptist Faith and Message or another on local churches, Guarneri said.

He noted state convention executive directors, who met recently in Scottsdale, Ariz., generally voiced concern about the amendment to be considered at the SBC annual meeting and what impact it will have if adopted.

“We’re not trying to leave,” he emphasized. “But if we’re cut out, we’ll figure out how to move forward.”

Board conducts business

In its business session, the BGCT Executive Board voted to allocate $450,000 from the JK Wadley Endowment Fund earnings, with $150,000 dedicated to Baptist Student Ministries campus missionaries and $150,000 to BSM building maintenance, $50,000 for a cross-cultural mobilizer, $50,000 for western heritage ministries and $25,000 to MinistrySafe child protection.

The Executive Board also filled vacancies on various committees and boards, electing:

• Steve Mullen from First Baptist Church in Burleson to the Baptist University of the Américas board of trustees.
• Jeff Scott from Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene and Darin Wood from First Baptist Church in Midland to the Committee to Nominate Executive Board Directors.
• Scott Currey from First Baptist Church in Gruver and Shawn Shannon from Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston to the Committee to Nominate Boards of Affiliated Ministries.
• Jeff Warren from Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas and Raymond Sanchez from First Baptist Church in Weslaco to the BGCT Executive Board.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention’s abuse reform task force announced plans Feb. 19 to launch a new, independent nonprofit to host a database of abuse pastors and to implement other reforms.

They still need the money to run it.

The new nonprofit will oversee a proposed Ministry Check website listing abusive pastors, which has stalled since a website for the abuse reforms was launched last year. Currently, no names of pastors are included on the website, sbcabuseprevention.com.

Josh Wester, a North Carolina pastor who chairs the SBC’s abuse reform implementation task force, said the new nonprofit, which he called an abuse response commission, will be independent of the SBC’s current structure.

The job of abuse reform was too big for a task force of volunteers to accomplish on their own, he said. That led to the plan to launch a new organization.

“Given the current legal and financial challenges facing the SBC and the Executive Committee, the formation of a new independent organization is the only viable path that will allow progress toward abuse reform to continue unencumbered and without delay,” Wester told members of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. “To do this, we have to do this together.”

The Ministry Check website will include the names of Southern Baptists convicted of abuse and those who have had civil judgments against them, Wester explained. The task force has run into legal and financial delays in getting those names published, Wester said in his report.

The commission will also create an expanded Ministry Toolkit designed to help churches prevent abuse and to deal with cases of abuse when they happen. That toolkit will give a step-by-step plan for churches to address abuse, members of the task force said at Monday’s meeting. They plan to have video-based training materials for churches available in time for the SBC’s annual meeting.

“We really believe this could be a watershed moment for the SBC,” said task force member Brad Eubank.

Not ‘move on from the abuse crisis’ too soon

During his remarks, Wester recounted the recent history of the SBC’s abuse crisis, including the 2019 “Abuse of Faith” investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, a follow-up investigation and report from Guidepost Solutions, and a series of reforms passed in 2022 aimed to help prevent abuse and to care for survivors.

The reforms might lose momentum if Southern Baptists try to move on from the abuse crisis too quickly, he said.

“But after some time passes from these events, we’re tempted to move on,” he said. “We grow fatigued and weary of the issue. In extreme cases, some of us like to pretend like we never really had a problem at all.”

Wester mentioned two recent high-profile cases that show the scope of the problem—the settlement of a lawsuit against legendary SBC leader Paul Pressler, who was accused of decades of alleged abuse, and the recent story of megachurch worship pastor and author Aaron Ivey, who was fired for allegedly exchanging inappropriate texts with men and, in one case, a teenager.

Abuse is not a big-church or a small-church problem—and not a theology problem, he said.

“It’s heroes from the past like Paul Pressler,” he said. “It’s heroes from the present like Aaron Ivey.”

Wester’s report did not include any plan to permanently fund the new nonprofit. Currently, the task force’s work is being paid for by funds set aside by the SBC’s two mission boards. Brent Leatherwood, president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, plans to ask ERLC’s trustees to contribute to the new group, he noted.

SBC president Bart Barber and leaders of the SBC’s national entities have been supportive, he said, and he was confident a plan would be in place in time for the SBC’s annual meeting in June.

“We are asking President Barber and other SBC entity leaders to assist the ARITF in securing the financial resources required to launch this new organization,” he said.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—For most of their history, members of the Southern Baptist Convention have fought over the Bible, politics, race, sex, gender roles, music, dancing, Calvinism and almost anything else they can think of.

All that feuding has overshadowed their remarkable ability to work together. The SBC Cooperative Program—which pools money to fund missions, evangelism and seminaries—has successfully collected more than $20 billion since 1925 and become the lifeblood of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.

But as the Cooperative Program approaches its 100th anniversary in 2025, the trust that made the program possible has frayed.

Southern Baptists have faced a sexual abuse crisis that has undermined confidence in denominational leaders. Feuds over politics, race and the role of women in the church—which parallel the polarization of American culture—have dominated recent denominational meetings and caused some churches to withhold their mission giving.

More may follow suit, angered at a proposed rule change—known as the Law Amendment—that would bar churches with any women leaders who hold the title of pastor, whether they are a children’s pastor or a church’s senior pastor. Passing the amendment could lead hundreds of churches to be expelled or to leave because they disagree.

Not passing it could also lead to an exodus.

“We are going to lose some people regardless of what happens,” said Adam Wyatt, a Mississippi pastor and member of the SBC’s Executive Committee. “What does that mean long term? I don’t know.”

Law Amendment vote will impact CP

Whatever happens will likely affect the Cooperative Program, which is already facing pressures as churches have reduced the percentage of money they share with the denomination.

In the 1980s, SBC churches gave about 10 percent of their income to the Cooperative Program. Today, they give less than 5 percent, meaning national ministries like the SBC’s seminaries and mission boards—which get about a quarter and a third of their income from the Cooperative Program, respectively—have to rely more on direct giving.

For example, in fiscal year 1982, the SBC’s national entities received $102 million from the Cooperative Program, or the equivalent of more than $300 million today, when adjusted for inflation. In fiscal year 2022—reported in the SBC’s 2023 annual report—those entities received $195.9 million from the Cooperative Program.

Giving to the Cooperative Program for this year is currently down about 2 percent—and 3.6 percent under budget, according to the SBC Executive Committee. A pair of special offerings that go directly to the denomination’s mission boards also have dropped, resulting in a combined decrease of about 4 percent in giving from last year.

The number of Southern Baptists has also declined significantly over the past two decades, from a high of 16.3 million members in 2006 to 13.2 million members in 2023. That decline includes nearly half a million members from 2022 to 2023 and 1.5 million since 2018. Fewer members means fewer givers.

The number of churches giving to the Cooperative Program has declined in recent decades. In the mid-2000s, about three-quarters of churches gave to the program. Today, less than 60 percent give, according to data from the Executive Committee.

Denominational loyalty at low point

Denominational loyalty is also at a low, said Thom Rainer, former CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources. Rainer said the loss of confidence in denominations is part of a larger societal distrust of institutional leaders, which has an impact on denominational funding.

“If you don’t trust the leadership, you are not going to trust the funding model,” he said.

The SBC Executive Committee is meeting this week in Nashville to set the Cooperative Program budget for 2024, which will be voted on at the SBC annual meeting this summer.

They’ll do so while not knowing what the outcome of the vote on the Law Amendment will be. They’ll also have to deal with the Executive Committee finances—which have been under stress due to legal costs related to sex abuse lawsuits, as well as discussing options to permanently fund a series of abuse reforms.

Some churches, like New Song Fellowship in Virginia Beach, have had enough of the Cooperative Program. Last month, New Song ended its giving to the Cooperative Program in protest of an amicus brief filed by the Executive Committee and other SBC entities in a Kentucky sex abuse case.

The lawsuit in question was over whether a change to the Kentucky statute of limitations in abuse cases would allow third parties like churches or schools to be sued for past abuse.

Brent Hobbs, New Song’s pastor, said the church already had concerns about the SBC before the brief was filed. The amicus brief, which was denounced by abuse survivors and surprised SBC leaders working on reforms, pushed them over the edge.

Hobbs said the SBC lacks leadership on a national level—and that means churches no longer trust those national leaders to do the right thing on abuse or other issues.

“We have to do the right thing or it is not worth keeping together,” he said.

Vote this summer may determine CP future

Steve Bezner, pastor of Houston Northwest Church in Houston, said his congregation still gives to the Cooperative Program as well as to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, an annual appeal that supports the SBC International Mission Board.

While entities like the IMB can accept donations directly from churches, in general they are barred from making direct appeals, which are seen as competing with the Cooperative Program. The Lottie Moon offering, and the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering that benefits the North American Mission Board—are two exceptions to that rule.

Some of their Cooperative Program giving goes to support ministry in Texas—funding things like humanitarian work at the border. Under the program, churches send their donations to their state conventions. Those conventions then forward a percentage of those funds to the Executive Committee.

Bezner suspects the future of the Cooperative Program will be determined during the SBC’s annual meeting, set for June 11-12 in Indianapolis.

“Lines of cooperation and lines of division will be drawn,” he said. “People will respond accordingly.”

Lifeline of support for mission boards

Chris Kennedy, chief advancement officer for the IMB, said the agency currently gets about a third of its funding from the Cooperative Program—currently about $100 million a year.

“And as Cooperative Program declines, which it has consistently for a number of years, that requires more dependency on offerings like Lottie Moon,” he said. “It’s definitely a point of concern.”

When churches have decided to give directly to the IMB, rather than the Cooperative Program, that can have unintended consequences, Kennedy said. The program, he said, supports the seminaries that train many of the IMB missionaries. Less funding for seminaries could mean fewer missionaries. Giving directly to the IMB could end up undermining a church’s good intentions, he said.

Replacing Cooperative Program funding would be difficult if the program declines. But something more than money would be lost if churches stopped participating and the program collapsed, said Kennedy.

“The Cooperative Program is one of the most beautiful mission programs out there,” he said. “Grieving the loss of something like that would take a toll on our denominational soul in so many ways that we would struggle to recover from.”

Currently, about two-thirds of the Cooperative Program funds go to the International Mission Board (50.41 percent) and the North American Mission Board (11.79 percent), while almost a quarter (22.16 percent) goes to the SBC’s six seminaries. About 3 percent goes to the Executive Committee (2.99 percent) while less than 2 percent goes to the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (1.65 percent).

A proposal to use Cooperative Program money to fund abuse reforms was shot down in 2022. Currently, the reforms are being funded by money set aside by the two mission boards. No permanent plan is in place.

Financial squeeze at Executive Committee

The SBC’s Executive Committee also faces a financial squeeze, largely due to a series of lawsuits related to abuse reform that have led to “unsustainable” legal expenses, according to the group’s auditor. Last fall, the committee laid off five staffers and two contractors to cut expenses.

Malcolm Yarnell, a professor of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the Cooperative Program will have to adapt. But it is unlikely to go away, he said, in large part because churches have written it in their budgets for years and may be reluctant to change that.

“There will be noticeable change,” he said. “But it will not be cataclysmic change.”

Overseeing the Cooperative Program money collected by the Executive Committee also has become complicated, Yarnell said. While SBC entities depend on those funds, they are also fiercely independent.

“The entities don’t necessarily like to see themselves as responsible to the Executive Committee,” he said. “It’s a very delicate dance of a relationship.”

Any permanent funding for abuse reforms or assistance for the Executive Committee will need the cooperation of the SBC entity heads.

SBC President Barber answers questions

During a question and answer session at First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., SBC President Bart Barber was asked if the SBC was facing a financial crisis because of sexual abuse lawsuits against it.

No, he said, but the SBC’s legal costs are rising because of those lawsuits—and those costs were being borne by the Executive Committee, which runs on a shoestring budget, as Southern Baptists have always tried to send as much money as they can to missions.

“They are feeling the financial pinch right now,” he said. “But Southern Baptists are not out of money, and Southern Baptists are not anywhere close to being out of money.”

Barber, whose second term in office expires in June, said leaders are trying to be wise in how money is spent. He also said lawyers and legal fees are part of the costs needed to run the SBC and do mission work.

“So, the decisions that we’re going to face are not decisions about whether we have enough money to continue to operate,” he said. “The decisions we’re going to face are how to allocate our money to be able to cover the things that we need to do.”

In a follow-up interview, Barber said the SBC churches have enough money to fund their shared ministries. And he was optimistic about the SBC’s future, saying the Cooperative Program will make its 100th anniversary and beyond.

“Yes, it is going to survive for another 100 years,” he predicted. “I would not contemplate otherwise.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The Christian production company Revelation Media will unveil its new animated Bible project on Easter, with the first segment aiming to depict the stories of the Book of Genesis in a child-friendly way.

Watching the iBible will appeal to digital natives more than reading Scripture, said Steve Cleary, executive director and producer of the series.

“We want kids to read their Bible, but if we don’t reach them in a visual manner, we’re seeing the result. They don’t. They’re not reading their Bible,” he said.

He believes short attention spans and a growing aversion to reading are making it impossible for kids to get interested in the Bible. Churches are late to the party when it comes to finding creative ways to interest internet-savvy kids in biblical texts, Cleary said.

His solution is to reach young kids where they are—on screens. From the creation story to the death of Joseph, the 42 episodes will tell stories from the Old Testament in hopes of increasing a younger generation’s biblical literacy.

This animated Bible translation, the first of its kind, he said, strives to be a “legitimate Bible translation.” All scripts of the seven-minute episodes are approved by the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an evangelical nonprofit that rates the accuracy of Bible translations.

‘You’ll never forget what you see’

The episodes, which are planned to depict the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, were also reviewed by Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal and Methodist clergy members. The entire project is expected to take years to complete.

In the meantime, an episode titled “The Real Story of Jesus” is already available for users who want to skip to the Gospels. Each episode is also followed by a discussion prompt for kids to consider.

With a background in animation—Cleary co-produced the animated “The Pilgrim’s Progress” in 2019—he said he’s seen the power of visual learning for Generation Z and Generation Alpha.

 “You can read something dramatic and easily forget it. But you’ll never forget what you see,” said Cleary, who has recruited around 50 people to work on the project now.

The 500,000 viewers who watched “Pilgrim’s Progress” during the COVID-19 lockdown were also the first to hear about the iBible project via email, and their monetary donations supported the project’s early days. According to a Revelation Media press release, the entire iBible project will require $25 million in funding.

Touching on taboo topics

Cleary said translating the Bible in short animation clips allows pastors and parents to touch on taboo topics with kids.

For a long time, the iBible team was torn on how to tell stories of violence and abuse appropriately for kids. The first feedback from parents on the episode depicting the rape of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, convinced the project team that showing these parts of the Scriptures was essential. It also forces churches to have tough but essential discussions with kids.

“If we’re going to do the whole story, we can’t shy away from that,” said Cleary, before adding, “The hard stories ended up being the biggest benefit, honestly, to getting churches involved.”

The first episodes will be available in English, Swahili, Hindi, Spanish, Farsi and Bulgarian. Cleary hopes it will be translated into more languages soon and distributed in hundreds of countries.

Translators from all over the globe joined the project. The Ukrainian team working from Lviv since 2022, before the war with Russia broke out, said it has pursued its efforts despite being psychologically impacted by the war.

“Our mission transcends the challenges we face,” said the team’s manager, according to a Revelation media press release.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Laura Hepker, a 50-year-old single IT manager, has felt like a unicorn in the evangelical Christian churches that she knew from a young age.

“The structures of the church are very much designed for family,” she said.

Data suggests Hepker is anything but a unicorn. Almost half of American adults are now single (including the widowed and divorced), and a Pew Research Center study a few years ago suggested the majority of unmarried men and women aren’t looking to date—and if they are, it’s complicated.

Meanwhile, many churches suffering a decline in attendance tend to focus on traditional families. Studies have shown parents choose churches with their children’s Christian formation in mind, and many pastors are charged with providing ministries that attract these parents to help their congregations survive in an increasingly secular culture.

Why marginalize a large group?

The emphasis on family ministry, however, is stuck in the demographics of mid-century America, when houses of worship were thriving.

“The church model that worked in 1960 doesn’t work anymore,” said Peter McGraw, a professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Colorado at Boulder and author of the recently published Solo.

In an environment where churches are hoping to attract and retain members, McGraw argues, “Why do anything that marginalizes a large group of your congregation?”

McGraw advises churches to look closely at their demographic. Singles, he said, are more prone to be involved in their communities.

“If your goal is to build community, recognize the ways that singles are involved in building community,” McGraw said. “It’s not a dramatic shift, but it requires a shift for people to feel like they belong.”

That includes, he suggests, not only creating inclusive congregational groups, but details like making sure that promotional materials such as emails and newsletters target everyone.

Invite singles into ‘normal spaces’

Evangelical churches seem to be the most dedicated to pursuing families as members—or creating families out of their unpaired members.

Katelyn Lettich, a 28-year-old director of the evangelical Christian organization Young Life, said it seems as if the best the churches she has attended can offer young single members is dating opportunities.

She advocates putting more unmarried people on church boards and planning committees to make sure singles’ voice are heard, but also to signal they are as welcome as marrieds.

“Invite single people into normal spaces,” Lettich said.

Younger singles aren’t the only ones looking to be included. Lindy Dimeo, 68, a retired crisis pregnancy center director, is a member of Blue Ridge Community Church, a small evangelical church near Charlottesville, Va. Dimeo and her husband played in the worship band together, but after he died, she took a few months off.

“At the time it was hard living a single life in a family-oriented culture,” she said.

But she added it’s possible to grow into a churchgoer in one’s own right. Almost 20 years after her husband’s death, Dimeo said: “It would be nice to have somebody special, but it doesn’t impact my life at church anymore. My church is a very close community.”

Christian communities playing catch-up

Mainline Protestant churches, while perhaps less focused on the theology of family, also have room for improvement, said Pastor Jennifer Schultz of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Los Alamitos, Calif.

Schultz is divorced and said her congregation, largely retired adults, has never known her as anything but single. It has never been an issue, she said.

“We provide a space for single people, but don’t dwell on it, and don’t make them feel any different,” Schultz said.

But she believes Christian communities are playing catch-up when it comes to welcoming singles, whether young adults, widowed or divorced.

“One of the gifts of the church is that it has the potential to be a community for a variety of people. But I do think maybe we’re kind of behind the ball on that,” she said.

McGraw suggests congregations reevaluate their tactics and to redefine “family” to include broader feelings of community.

Until moving to a new church a few months ago, Kenny Champagne, 39, ran a large young adult ministry at a multicampus congregation in northern Virginia. Most of his charges, who ranged in age from early 20s to upper 30s, were single, he said, but he added, “I don’t think any of them got involved in the ministry with the idea of looking for a significant other.”

One of the primary aims of the group was nurturing friendships and a sense of community, he said, instead of trying to pair them up.

There are signs that some churches are intentionally forming with all types of members in mind. Recently, Hepker found The Table, an Episcopal congregation in Indianapolis that she described as “one of the more relaxed and accepting churches I have ever attended.”

‘Just accepted for being a person’

At The Table, a multigenerational congregation, “you’re just accepted for being a person, and not for your marital or relationship status,” she said.

Nathan Baker, 33, another evangelical who found his way to The Table after a period of “deconstructing” his faith, said he grew up with the expectation that a full life would involve marriage and a “godly family.”

Now on the vestry at The Table, he said single people are part of the fabric of the social and discipleship groups.

“While God intended us to be in relationship with other people,” Baker said, “the pinnacle experience of that isn’t marriage, it’s vulnerable community life together.”

Lettich said more than being OK, singlehood ought to be seen as “a gift.”

“There is something very cool about this time of life,” she added. “I can truly invest in God and the people around me. I’m actually content. I’m not just pining for my next relationship.”

While many people don’t take her at her word, she said: “I think the church is coming around to the idea that single people hold value. They’re not just waiting for marriage, and they don’t have to be waiting for marriage to be a pillar in the church or to be treated as an equal partner, in ministry or in life.”

For those concerned Christians who ask uncoupled friends why they are still single, Lettich has a pithy riposte: “The Bible says not one thing about dating.”

WACO—Racism permeates human history, but racial justice finds its roots in biblical truth, a national evangelical leader told a conference at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary.

The teaching in Genesis that “every single individual carries the dignity of God’s image” not only is a foundational ethical principle, but also offered a prophetic challenge to a culture that believed only the king bore the divine image, said Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“By democratizing the image of God, by removing it from the power structure of the king and the royal propaganda of the king, this is not just a bland theological proposition. This was a revolutionary statement—a prophetic challenge to society,” he said. “It is a rebalancing of what I would call image inequality.”

Kim offered the closing keynote address at a conference on Racism in the World Church. Truett Seminary sponsored the Feb. 15-17 event, supported financially by the John and Eula Mae Baugh Foundation.

Racism—the failure to recognize the inherent dignity of each person as made in God’s image—is not just a personal failing, but also a systemic problem, he asserted.

‘A matter of cultures and systems’

“It’s not just a matter of individual image inequality. It’s a matter of cultures and systems,” Kim said. “There’s a concentration of power and imbalance of image in our personal dynamics, but also in the ways we organize culture.”

The story of the tower of Babel in Genesis is both an indictment of human pride and of cultural imperialism as seen in ancient Babylon, he asserted.

“It is the habitual sinful expressions of individuals when they get the upper hand and of dominant cultures to set the terms of what it means to be normal,” Kim said.

Because racism is rooted in human depravity and deeply entrenched in society, Christians who seek to counter racism must commit to “long obedience in the same direction,” he said, borrowing a phrase from Eugene Peterson.

God’s plan always has involved multiple races, ethnic groups and nations, he noted. The people God delivered from Egyptian slavery was “a mixed multitude” that was not limited only to Israelites.

“They had to deal with the challenges of multi-ethnicity right from the get-go,” Kim said.

When God reversed Babel at Pentecost, it involved people representing multiple ethnic and racial groups, he noted. Paul wrote many of the epistles in the New Testament “to address cultural tensions” in churches, he added.

Five factors to keep in mind

As Christians commit to the good work of combating racism, Kim offered five elements to keep in mind:

• Transformation. Changing the human heart is a “supernatural work” of the Holy Spirit. Those who want to see hearts changed about matters of race need to “humbly depend on God.”
• Trust. Shared experiences foster relationships and build trust he said. “You cannot move forward faster than the speed of trust,” Kim said.
• Time. Changing hearts and minds is a slow process that requires persistence.
• Temperature. “Know when the system is overheating and you need to slow down or when it is cooling too much and you need to speed up. That takes extraordinary wisdom,” he said. Recognize collaborative work involves all sorts of people with a variety of gifts and dispositions.
• Trajectory. “We will put into long-term plans what we think is truly important.”

Hearts can change, and lives can be transformed, Kim said, telling the story of a former Ku Klux Klan leader and neo-Nazi who developed a relationship with a Black Holiness preacher that led to his Christian conversion.

“Tell the stories of redemption,” Kim said. “And I suspect that all of eternity will not wear out our wonder at the glorious work of redemption that we—in our small way—can be part of.”

‘A comprehensive ethic’

In a dialogue with Todd Still, dean of Truett Seminary, Kim described the “compelling apologetic” of transformative relationships that bear witness to the truthfulness of the Christian faith.

Christians can persist in the work of confronting racial injustice even when they do not see immediate results if they redefine success in terms of faithfulness, he asserted.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 offers a good model for “comprehensive discipleship” that begins with whole-hearted love for God that is expressed in love for one’s neighbor, as commanded in Leviticus 19:17-18. Discipleship has both individual and social dimensions, he asserted.

“There is no bifurcation,” Kim said. “Discipleship is never just individual. … It is a comprehensive ethic.”