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Baltimore Rev. Jamal Bryant had strong words for the influential inner-city pastors who met with President Donald Trump on Thursday for a meeting about prison reform, job growth and other issues affecting inner cities. “This is a stain on the body of Christ. This is a stain on our community,” the pastor said in a 25-minute Periscope video Thursday night. “I need to know how all of ya’ll were smiling at that table while the whole world frowns at what this represents and what it looks like. The blood is dripping off your hands.” The pastors have been heavily criticized...

There is a dominant belief that Christianity and Christians are againt abortion. In point of fact, many Christian communities recognize several circumstances in which abortion is accepted. The fact that abortion is acceptable in some cases means that the real social question is not whether women can have abortions, but which women and for what reasons? Prenatal health, Rape, Incest, and health of the Mother – PRIM. Evidence indicates widespread consensus and acceptance among many Christian denominations that abortion for PRIM reasons is justifiable. Of the 11 Christian statements included in a 2013 Pew Research Center study, only Roman Catholics...

Over the last reporting decade the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has lost more than 1 million members or 25% of membership, now down to 3.5 million, from 4.7 million ten years ago. At this rate of decline the denomination won’t exist in 30 years or so. Newly elected ELCA bishops might be expected to address this existential crisis with fresh eyes and energy. But a recent Religion Service News interview, capably conducted by Emily McFarlan Miller, with six new women bishops shows no such interest. Instead, they seem determined to double down on the heterodox theology and political...

Glide United Methodist Church in San Francisco, California, may be on the brink of breaking away from the UMC. The church, as a whole, has systematically distanced itself from the governance and theological beliefs long held by the UMC, and yet has still clung to the title of being a United Methodist congregation, according to Bishop Minerva Carcaño. Bishop Carcaño addressed an open letter to the California-Nevada Conference, outlining issues within Glide that she found to be troubling. She described Glide’s “Sunday Celebrations” as “uplifting concerts,” which “lack the fundamentals of Christian worship.” She went on to write that the congregants don’t want...

Biblical worship invades the human soul. It is the soul that too often has been banished from modern worship. We are a people preoccupied with self-image, self-esteem, and self-gratification. Yet in all this we don’t even know what a “self” is. The human soul is in exile from our thinking. No wonder, then, that it is not considered relevant to worship. Heaven is too distant to contemplate. Our lives are lived within the restricted boundaries of our terrestrial horizon. We have so despised the notion of pie in the sky that we have lost our taste for it altogether. But...

The Uniting Church in Australia's Assembly voted Saturday to change the denomination's definition of marriage and allow ministers to officiate weddings for same-sex couples. In a statement posted on the Church's website, Uniting Church in Australia President Deidre Palmer announced the changes that were made by the 265-member assembly that gathered in Melbourne, saying: "To honor the diversity of Christian belief among our members, we will hold two equal and distinct statements of belief on marriage." The first statement of belief regarding marriage is one that the Uniting Church has been following for a long time. "The existing statement of...

LONDON -- The oldest Methodist chapel in the world is about to be the site of an LGBT “celebration,” in direct contradiction of Scripture and the chapel’s own founder. On Saturday, the pro-homosexual group Christians At Bristol Pride will hold a “Service of Celebration” at The New Room in John Wesley’s chapel in London, Christian Concern reports. The chapel was built in 1778 under the direction of English theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. The pro-gay group says the event will be “an affirming service with songs, prayers and symbolic actions,” after which attendees will be invited to attend...

LONDON, July 13, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The oldest Methodist chapel in the world is about to be the site of an LGBT “celebration,” in direct contradiction of Scripture and the chapel’s own founder. On Saturday, the pro-homosexual group Christians At Bristol Pride will hold a “Service of Celebration” at The New Room in John Wesley’s chapel in London, Christian Concern reports. The chapel was built in 1778 under the direction of English theologian John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. The pro-gay group says the event will be “an affirming service with songs, prayers and symbolic actions,” after which attendees will...

IV. Sin Boldly: A Detailed Analysis The Letter to Melanchthon ends with the famous “sin boldly” statement: “If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin. God does not save people who are only fictitious sinners. Be a sinner and sin boldly,  but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly, for he is victorious over sin, death, and the world. As long as we are here [in this world]  we have to sin. This life is...

Do you see my children even as the resistance builds against My Body and Bride, ( ( ((Truly My blood has already claimed victory)) ) ) for as you recognize the lies of the enemy and "declare" victory by My blood it is then My Holy Fire overtakes the enemies encampments and I turn their swords on the enemies of My Heart . So be at peace at you declare victory for I AM your Melchizedek and even now I bring to you the Bread and New Wine for The Battle is mine and not yours. Rejoice for it sends...

The German Rebellion on Eucharistic Communion for Protestants: The Ground Opens Up Sandro Botticelli Punishment of the Rebels [Moses and the Sons of Korah] Sistine Chapel, 1482 And immediately as Moses had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us...

Not going to excerpt this as most of the good stuff (and the fireworks) are in the comments. This is very definitely an open thread. I think almost everybody is mentioned.

At a time when church attendance is shrinking in America, I, a pastor, am encouraging people to quit church. Why? The answer is birthed out of conversations and research I’ve been a part of over the last several years. Regularly, I meet and train pastors and church leaders from all over the country through my leadership platform, ChurchBOOM. The conversations carry a common theme – a lot of people who attend church are passive towards serving, giving and community outreach. In most churches, 80 percent of the work is being carried out by 20 percent or less of the people....

A 'worldly mindset' caused divisions in Christianity, the Pope saidNot only God, but today’s broken, divided world is begging for unity among Christians, Pope Francis said on an ecumenical pilgrimage to Geneva. “Our differences must not be excuses,” he said, because as Christ’s disciples, Christians can still pray together, evangelize and serve others. On his 23rd apostolic journey abroad on June 21, the Pope spent several hours with Christian leaders at the headquarters of the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 350 ecclesial communities, including many Orthodox churches. The Pope came to help celebrate the 70th anniversary of the...

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has announced a joint venture with the Vatican to co-host a meeting next September on “migration, xenophobia, and politically motivated populism.” The WCC said it is partnering with the Vatican department for Promoting Integral Human Development in preparing the conference to be held September 17-20 as part of ongoing work toward “peace-building and migration.” The General of the WCC, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, said the meeting would be a “very useful and significant workshop to dig a bit deeper” into the problems of xenophobia as an expression of populism, as well as its links...

The Church of England has joined the war on plastic as vicars buy cassocks made from recycled bottles. A clerical clothing manufacturer has launched the first-ever plastic cassock in a bid to make priestly clothing more eco-friendly. Butler & Butler has begun selling a men's cassock made from 100 per cent recycled polyester made from reclaimed PET bottles. The company, which specialises in fair trade and organic clerical outfits, first began selling the clothing a fortnight ago and Mr Butler says it has been popular with ethically-minded clergy. Director of the company the Rev Simon Butler said it had come...

Chicago, Ill., Jun 9, 2018 / 04:28 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A U.S. appellate court has ruled against a self-described Satanist from Chicago who had filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the motto “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency. The ruling, released May 31, found that “a reasonable observer would not perceive the motto on currency as a religious endorsement.” Kenneth Mayle, who describes himself as a non-theistic Satanist, filed the original lawsuit in May 2017. A lower court had dismissed the suit, and Mayle appealed. The 36-year-old told the Chicago Tribune that carrying and using money with the motto...

Landmark new research that involves analyzing millions of DNA barcodes has debunked much about what we know today about the evolution of species. In a massive genetic study, senior research associate at the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University Mark Stoeckle and University of Basel geneticist David Thaler discovered that virtually 90 percent of all animals on Earth appeared at right around the same time. More specifically, they found out that 9 out of 10 animal species on the planet came to being at the same time as humans did some 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. "This conclusion...

German Lutherans meet LWF member church and Pope Francis in Italy (LWI) - "We have experienced a lot of encouragement for the ecumenical journey of Lutherans and Catholics worldwide," the chairman of the German National Committee (GNC/LWF) of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Bishop Gerhard Ulrich, said following a private audience of the GNC with Pope Francis.“With God's help, we hope for a future that aims at a complete overcoming of divergences. We have to go on.” Pope Francis told the German Lutheran delegation, according to the Vatican. “The Joint Commemoration of the Reformation anniversary has confirmed to us that...

We have all heard evangelists quote from Revelation: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Usually the evangelist applies this text as an appeal to the unconverted, saying: “Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart. If you open the door, then He will come in.” In the original saying, however, Jesus directed His remarks to the church. It was not an evangelistic appeal. So what? The point is that seeking is something...