Author: Chris Boyd

Revelations of a scandalous amicus brief raise the question: Who’s driving the SBC?

There’s a story my family has told since before I was born about my great-uncle Johnny. When his four daughters were teenagers, the family took a long trip in which they had to stop in a familiar town for dinner.

About 30 minutes out, Aunt Betty Jane and the girls started talking through the variety of eating options and, after 10–15 minutes of deliberation, they agreed upon the best restaurant. But when they arrived in town, Uncle Johnny, who hadn’t said a word, pulled into a different restaurant, got out of the car, and walked silently inside, leaving five dumbfounded women looking at each other and wondering what had just happened.

That story—at least, a sinister reading of it—came to mind as I tried to process last week’s revelation of an amicus brief filed in April by legal counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention, the SBC’s Executive Committee, Lifeway Christian Resources, and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The case is Samantha Killary’s lawsuit against the city government of Louisville, Kentucky, where law enforcement employees allegedly enabled her years-long sexual abuse by her father, also a police officer.

No SBC entity is named in the lawsuit. But because it is similar to other lawsuits being brought against the SBC and the Executive Committee in Kentucky, legal counsel apparently advised these entities to file the amicus brief, encouraging the state Supreme Court to exclude “non-offender third parties” from Kentucky’s recent change in the statute of limitations for abuse claims.

This may protect the SBC from legal liability, but it harms Killary and excuses the institution that hurt her. It is an enormous betrayal to abuse survivors …

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The war has spurred millions in donations to ministries that provide everything from emergency supplies to security gear for future attacks.

When war broke out in Israel, organizations and ministries working in the country put crisis plans into action. They called up trained workers and volunteers, retrieved supplies from stocked warehouses, and drove bulletproof vehicles to deliver aid to victims and gear to first responders.

And they looked to Christians in the US and around the globe to help fund their efforts.

The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ) has received millions in donations since the war broke out, more than any other two-week period in its history.

Christians United for Israel (CUFI), which calls itself the largest pro-Israel organization in the US, sent $1 million to fund first responders within days of the October 7 barrage and continues to fundraise.

And The Joshua Fund, founded by Christian author Joel Rosenberg, has collected over $685,000 in donations. The organization is operating 21 aid distribution centers, delivering pallets of toilet paper, bottled water, and other supplies.

“We’ve had literally thousands of new donors, and giving to our Rapid Response Fund has never been greater,” said executive director Carl Moeller. “So many of our donors just want to know how to pray—and to let people over there know that believers in the US are praying and giving to meet their needs.”

Around half of US evangelicals consider support for Israel and the Jewish people to be an important priority in their charitable behavior. For years, giving to nonprofits that work in the Holy Land has been on the rise. Some rank among the biggest Christian charities in the US.

“We were able to mobilize immediately because of the partnerships we have,” said Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship …

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Former IHOPKC leaders bring forward what they say are credible allegations from several women over decades of ministry.

Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer of Kansas City (IHOPKC), is facing allegations of sexual and spiritual abuse spanning decades and involving multiple women.

Bickle, 68, has been accused of sexual misconduct “where the marriage covenant was not honored,” according to a statement released Saturday from a group of former IHOPKC leaders who investigated the claims.

They said, though they were initially shocked, they found the allegations credible based on the “collective and corroborating testimony” of “several victims.”

Bickle’s charismatic megachurch—which has offered round-the-clock prayer and worship since its founding in 1999—was informed of the allegations on Friday, according to The Kansas City Star, which obtained a recording of the announcement.

Stuart Greaves, executive director at IHOPKC, told staff that the leadership team is “taking the situation very seriously.”

The leaders who released the statement—former executive leadership team and board members Dwane Roberts and Brian Kim, along with former Forerunner Christian Fellowship pastor Wes Martin—said they first attempted to bring the allegations directly to Bickle, as the Bible instructs in Matthew 18. They said Bickle refused to meet with them and then tried to intimidate and discredit the victims.

The Kansas City Star reported that Bickle preached on false allegations last Sunday.

In the sermon, he discussed how, per Revelation 12:10, “Satan’s most effective weapon in the end times is accusation” and he turns “whispered innuendoes into hostile accusations that destroy lives and relationships,” according to sermon notes linked by The …

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Middle East Christians assert their rejection of violence as they relate frustration with lack of Western recognition of the reality of occupation and the collateral damage of bombing campaigns.

Since the outbreak of war after unprecedented terror attacks on Israel by Hamas, Middle Eastern churches, councils, and leaders have expressed their outrage over the killing of thousands of innocent civilians.

Many Arab Christian groups have issued public statements. Most emphasized the Christian call to be peacemakers. Several have been criticized for what some see as calls not specifically addressing the suffering of civilian Jews targeted for death by terrorists.

Originating from Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon—with most prompted by the tragic bombing of the Anglican hospital in Gaza—the public statements range in focus and intensity. Some assert the international community overlooks the context of occupation by the Israeli state; others remind the global church of the continued Christian presence in the land.

CT studied texts from nine Arab and four Western organizations, most of evangelical conviction, and queried the perspective of an Israeli Messianic Jew and a Lebanese Armenian evangelical. The review found that few Middle Eastern statements have named Hamas as the perpetrator of terrorism, while many specifically criticize Israel itself.

One of the most recent statements is from Musalaha, which names both.

The Jerusalem-based reconciliation ministry works with Israelis and Palestinians from diverse religious backgrounds using biblical principles to engage the issues that divide them in pursuit of peace. After two weeks painfully watching the widespread carnage, its public statement centered on “lament” and called for a reconciling response.

“We lament people who, in the name of justice, have allowed rage to perpetuate the cycle of dehumanization and excuse bloodshed; as seen with Hamas’ …

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Pastor Ronald Molmisa set out to write “Lovestruck” for high school students with love woes. Now it’s a nine-book series and a parachurch ministry.

While ministering to high school students in Metro Manila in 2005, Ronald Molmisa found himself in recurring conversations with students about love and dating. Some students were serial daters who dated girlfriend after girlfriend. Others struggled to deal with their heartache after a break-up.

With sex and dating being taboo topics in the majority Catholic country, young Filipinos often turn to the internet or Western media to learn about love rather than the church. So Molmisa sought Christian resources to help his students.

At the time, Christian books about love from the United States—like Joshua Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye—were popular, but Molmisa wanted a book that could speak to the lived experiences of Filipino students. While some Filipino authors had penned books on dating and love, he found them outdated and written in English, which many in the younger generation struggled to read. In everyday life, teens spoke, texted, and read articles in Taglish, a combination of Tagalog and English.

So Molmisa decided to write a book on relationships that would be both Bible-based and relevant to young people in the Philippines. With a background in research, he began conducting surveys and interviews to map out trends among Filipino teens. In 2010, he published Lovestruck: Love Mo Siya, Sure Ka Ba? (Lovestruck: Are You Sure You Love Her?), which mixes comical anecdotes on love and relationships with biblical stories and pastoral wisdom.

The short 80-page book, which was written in Taglish, quickly became wildly popular among young people in the Philippines. Lovestruck went on to become a nine-book series, including titles like Lovestruck: Sexy Edition, on sexuality and pornography; Lovestruck: Sakit Edition, …

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A report with proposals for new prayers and liturgy leave both sides disappointed.

Church of England clergy could soon be authorized to pray for God’s blessing over same-sex couples, though not quite affirming their unions as they would a marriage, according to a controversial paper set to be debated at an upcoming meeting of the church’s national assembly, General Synod. Services with liturgy to bless the couples wouldn’t take place until 2025.

In the 108-page document, bishops make the case for celebrating the “faithfulness, stability, fruitfulness, love, faith, grace” in same-sex relationships, with pastors “finding ways to help people move forward in holiness in a world that falls far short of ideals in every area, without giving up on the idea of the ideal altogether.”

They also speak of “acknowledging and celebrating what is good in same-sex relationships even if the Church is unable to commend every aspect of some relationships.”

Both conservatives and progressives have spoken out against the rationale for the proposals in the paper, calling it “bonkers theology” and “another fine mess.”

The report is the latest development in a lengthy and often painful process of discernment for the Church of England as it grapples with deep internal disagreement about same-sex relationships in what it describes as a “rapidly changing social context.”

In February, after eight hours of debate, the General Synod voted to welcome proposals by the church’s bishops to issue prayers to bless same-sex unions in church. This update, issued ahead of November’s gathering, sets out how difficult the bishops are finding it to bring the proposals to fruition.

The new paper explores how the prayers might be approved under canon law, …

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The path to restoring Christian credibility is paved with embodied action, not empty words.

It’s no secret that people today are questioning their faith and leaving the church because of religious hypocrisy—there’s even a recent study showing this to be the case.

The unbelieving world is paying more attention than ever to whether Christians’ beliefs and actions match up. If there’s anything we’ve learned in recent years, it’s that our simply knowing what is right doesn’t necessarily mean we will do it.

Of course, this kind of hypocrisy is not unique to religious people.

My sister, a nurse, once strolled by a couple of pulmonologists she knew as she was leaving the hospital. They were standing outside smoking cigarettes. She was struck by the irony: These doctors know all there is to know about lung disease and the toxic effects of smoking, and yet that did not prevent them from doing it anyway.

Similarly, there’s a world of difference between our intentions and our actions when it comes to doing the will of God. Yet many of us believe that if we think about the truth, theologize about it, and talk about it, we are doing God’s will. This is a mistake. Having a rational understanding of God’s will does not amount to true belief unless and until we act on that knowledge.

That’s because our being is shaped by our doing, rather than the other way around like many assume. We might know we should trust Jesus, for instance, but that’s different from actively putting our trust in him. Wanting to obey God is not obeying him. As Jesus puts it simply, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15, NASB).

Our kinship with others flows out of our relationship with God because God has made us the keepers …

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The Israel-Hamas war is thousands of miles from my daughter—and on her phone. I can’t keep her from the world’s sorrows.

As we drive to school, the first streaks of pink and orange spill across the horizon. Cars change lanes beside me, and in this madly spinning world—everyone and everything moving—the expansive sky looks still. I turn the radio down and catch my 12-year-old daughter’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

We’re on the way to her middle school, and she’s sitting in the back seat, blissfully unaware of the fresh grief unfurling in the Holy Land on this October morning. It occurs to me that there are only a few letters separating ignorance from innocence. Wanting both to last a little longer, I let the space between my words stretch out. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

I am in a brutal bind. Tell her too little, and she’ll be caught off guard when—not if—she hears of the Israel-Hamas war from some source other than me. Tell her too much, and I needlessly rush her toward the end of childhood.

I fumble forward, words spilling out of my mouth despite my reticence. I tell her about the attacks in Israel this month and the rumors swirling as Israeli troops prepare their response. But I don’t tell her about the grandmother whose murder was livestreamed or that babies were reportedly burnt and beheaded. I don’t tell her that Hamas uses civilian Palestinians as human shields or that, because the Palestinian population skews young, hundreds of children have already died in Israel’s response, and that more will die even if Israel does its best to abide by the laws of war.

I’m telling her this news, I explain, because I want her to be careful—aware of what might be coming next when someone casually hands over their phone and says, Hey, look at this. …

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Threatened amid accusations of collaboration with an enemy state, implementation awaits more votes, presidential signature, and judicial review. UOC leader calls it “a struggle against God.”

Ukraine’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a preliminary vote last Thursday for a bill that could ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which has close ties to the Russian Orthodox Church, from operating within Ukraine’s borders.

Law 8371 would give Ukrainian authorities power to examine the connection of religious groups in Ukraine to the Russian Federation and to ban those whose leadership is outside of Ukraine. The draft law, approved by a tally of 267–15, with two abstentions, still needs to undergo a second vote, where it may be amended. It would then move to President Volodymyr Zelensky for his approval before it becomes law.

Since the outbreak of full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, Russian Orthodox priests in Ukraine and around the world have faced accusations of spying and otherwise working to advance Russia’s political interests. Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill, a close ally of the Putin regime, has provided religious justification for the conflict in sermons and public appearances.

“The Russian Orthodox Church’s connection to the Russian Special Services has a very long history,” Oleksandr Kyrylenko, a scholar of religion and Orthodox Christianity in Ukraine, told Religion News Service.

Last month, Bulgaria expelled three of the highest-ranking Russian Orthodox priests in the country. At the same time, the FBI warned Orthodox communities in the US that Russian intelligence services may be using their churches to recruit assets.

Since the 10th century, Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Christians had been part of one church. The Moscow Patriarchate itself began as the Metropolis of Kiev and all Rus, the people who formed the first Russian nation.

The relationship between the …

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Today’s resources aim to offer reassurance instead of adding to the weight parents already feel.

A majority of mothers with kids at home today—69 percent in a new survey from Barna Group—say they struggle to “feel like they are enough” as a mother. Only 19 percent said that they feel they are “able to contribute meaningfully to the world.”

What does it mean to be “enough,” and where do moms look as they try to figure it out?

Overwhelmed young moms see social media feeds filled with practical tips, assurance, and, at times, unrealistic expectations. Christian influencers suggest moms should be doing everything from building seasonal sensory bins to catechizing their kids at snack times.

“Moms are discouraged,” said Sissy Goff, cohost of the podcast Raising Boys and Girls and author of The Worry-Free Parent. “They feel defeated or like failures now more than ever in my 30 years of counseling.”

With those changes in attitudes, the tone of popular Christian parenting literature and advice has also changed over the past few decades. It’s less combative than what parents found in bestsellers like James Dobson’s Dare to Discipline (1970) or The Strong-Willed Child (1978).

Instead of emphasizing the importance of requiring good behavior and first-time obedience, newer resources encourage parents to look inward and consider how their beliefs, perceptions, and anxieties affect their ability to train up children in the way they should go.

And yet, Goff observed, this shift away from behaviorism to a gentler approach to Christian parenting guidance hasn’t done much to lessen the guilt and pressure many mothers feel. Books and podcasts can’t compete with the ever-presence and magnetism of social media. And on social media, moms find content …

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