CBFblog
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This blog is an online community for Cooperative Baptists. A Christian network of individuals and churches partnering together to renew God's world. This place is designed with Fellowship people in mind. It's a place where people who are involved in, or interested in the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship can network, learn, and discuss.
CBFblog
5d ago
By John DeWitt
Danny Steis is the Children and Youth Pastor at Yates Baptist Church in Durham, N.C. Like so many other youth ministers, Steis was challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. “COVID Zooms were awkward. Many youth, children and families didn’t fully return, and something was just ‘lost’ when we resumed.”
However, the youth ministry at Yates was given new life through one student. “We had a youth who lives in the neighborhood surrounding the church join the group several years ago. She was facing some challenging things at the time. Her biological mother had just passed away, she ..read more
CBFblog
5d ago
By Jennifer Colosimo
Rev. Dr. Alan Shaw and his wife Michelle have found their footing. After several years as a part of a bigger church, their small group decided to plant their own. They founded Christ First Community Church inside rented space in Stone Mountain and grew from there. While that growth has seen them bouncing from location to location, it’s helped ground them in their mission to put ministry first.
This congregation felt called by God to serve their community, and nothing else matters as much. Two church members, Paul and Jeri Austin, founded Hugs & Hope ..read more
CBFblog
5d ago
By Marv Knox
After the United States military withdrew from Afghanistan in late summer of 2021, a wave of Afghan refugees began heading toward the San Francisco Bay Area, where Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Lita and Rick Sample prepared for them.
The Samples didn’t have to ask who might need help; their local Afghan friends would tell them. And they didn’t need to ask how to get ready; they had been serving newly-arrived Afghans almost 20 years.
Such is the benefit of long-term presence for CBF field personnel. Working alongside the same people for decades enabled the Samples ..read more
CBFblog
5d ago
By Andy Hale
Much has been made in the last decade of the “Nones” and “Dones.” However, well before these words entered our lexicon, the church was already experiencing rapid decline.
According to Gallup, religious participation in the United States hovered around 70% or higher from 1937 through 1999. However, religious participation has steadily declined at the turn of the century, with 9.2% of adults exiting each decade. To make it even more clear, the U.S. Mainline Protestant population was 31% in 1967 but 12% in 2022.
“Almost every large religious tradition has been trac ..read more
CBFblog
5d ago
By Jennifer Colosimo
Throughout January’s Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend, youth groups from CBF churches in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee converged at First Baptist Church Huntsville for the 2024 Winter Youth Summit (WYS)—the sixth since its inception, and possibly the best yet.
Through meaningful worship, impactful speakers and informative, deep-study breakout sessions, this year’s Let Your Light Shine theme challenged students to be Christ’s light in their world back home. With 23 churches represented and nearly 500 attendees, the resulting light was bright and the future sho ..read more
CBFblog
1w ago
By Marv Knox
After the United States military withdrew from Afghanistan in late summer of 2021, a wave of Afghan refugees began heading toward the San Francisco Bay Area, where Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Lita and Rick Sample prepared for them.
The Samples didn’t have to ask who might need help; their local Afghan friends would tell them. And they didn’t need to ask how to get ready; they had been serving newly-arrived Afghans almost 20 years.
Such is the benefit of long-term presence for CBF field personnel. Working alongside the same people for decades enabled the Samples ..read more
CBFblog
1w ago
By Andy Hale
Much has been made in the last decade of the “Nones” and “Dones.” However, well before these words entered our lexicon, the church was already experiencing rapid decline.
According to Gallup, religious participation in the United States hovered around 70% or higher from 1937 through 1999. However, religious participation has steadily declined at the turn of the century, with 9.2% of adults exiting each decade. To make it even more clear, the U.S. Mainline Protestant population was 31% in 1967 but 12% in 2022.
“Almost every large religious tradition has been trac ..read more
CBFblog
1w ago
By Jennifer Colosimo
Throughout January’s Martin Luther King, Jr., weekend, youth groups from CBF churches in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee converged at First Baptist Church Huntsville for the 2024 Winter Youth Summit (WYS)—the sixth since its inception, and possibly the best yet.
Through meaningful worship, impactful speakers and informative, deep-study breakout sessions, this year’s Let Your Light Shine theme challenged students to be Christ’s light in their world back home. With 23 churches represented and nearly 500 attendees, the resulting light was bright and the future sho ..read more
CBFblog
1w ago
By Chris Hughes
Twenty-three crosses were hammered into University Heights Church’s front lawn in
remembrance of those lost in a shooting in Uvalde, Texas in May 2022.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— For Christians across the ages, Advent is the season to keep vigil for the light that shines against the world’s deep darkness. In December, one Cooperative BaptistFellowship church shined the light of Advent in a different kind of way by bearing witness to those lost to gun violence.
On a blustery December afternoon on the corner of National Avenue and Grand Street—right in the heart of Springfield, Mo.—a few ..read more
CBFblog
1w ago
By Andy Hale
It is the Octave of Easter. We are coming out of Holy Week, examining Jesus’ journey to the cross and death.
The journey of discipleship, especially during the season of Lent, is considering taking up our cross to follow Jesus. The early church quite literally took up their cross, and many were martyred for their faith.
“But for many American Christians, martyrdom is viewed not only as unthinkable but perhaps even as disgraceful. Americans are so smitten with the lore of cowboy justice, where all wrongs are set right by a hero with a trusty six-shoot ..read more