Resources from 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Only 51 percent of Americans age 18 and older are married, compared to 57 percent a decade ago, according to a new study, and while young adults aspire to marry, it’s not a priority. The median age when women first marry is at a new high of older than 26, and […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: Baptist Press asked the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board to select 10 of their key news and feature stories from 2011 to be posted afresh as the year comes to a close and 2012 begins. This story contains the selections by the North American Mission Board. ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — […]

BANGKLA, Thailand (BP) -- She uses a silver pen to sketch miniature figures of the wise men from the Christmas story and then cuts out the velvet ornaments that will hang on trees in countless American homes during the holidays.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Baptist Press asked the International Mission Board and North American Mission Board to select 10 of their key news and feature stories from 2011 to be posted afresh as the year comes to a close and 2012 begins. This story contains the selections by the International Mission Board. RICHMOND, Va. (BP) — During […]

MAYFIELD, Ky. (BP) -- Baptists of the South and the faith community of Southern Baptists after 1845 originally did not attach much significance to Christmas. The holiday is not recognized as a special day of worship in any of the historic Baptist confessions, allusions to it are rare in Baptist history volumes before the 1880s, and the holiday possessed an association with worldliness and even paganism in the minds of many Baptist ministers. Such opinions can still be found among some Baptists today who voice, "The New Testament does not command us to celebrate a festival commemorating the nativity." [QUOTE@left@160= After the Civil War, Southern Baptists began a slow process of incorporating Christmas themes and activities into their church programs and services.]Nevertheless, according to Southern Christmas historian Emyl Jenkins, the people of the South had a long tradition of celebrating the holiday as a popular festival to honor the birth of Christ. At a time when Christmas was slow coming to New England (Boston did not celebrate Christmas until 1856), Southerners had made it a legal holiday in most states beginning with Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana in the 1830s. Southern communities and families observed the holiday with great enthusiasm. Included in these celebrations were distinctive regional customs such as the popular consumption of pork (over poultry); the broader use of almost anything green in nature for decorations besides holly, evergreens, and mistletoe; discharges of firearms; fireworks; and bonfires. These celebratory activities took place alongside more thoughtful observances of the Lord's nativity. It is probable that while most Baptists in the South before the Civil War largely downplayed the observance of Christmas in their churches, they participated in Christmas activities with their families and in their communities. These Baptists exercised their Christian liberty about special days that Paul cited in Romans 14:5-6 and found festive but temperate activities and customs to celebrate the birth of Christ. [QUOTE@right@180= A second reason for the embrace of Christmas in Southern Baptist culture was the influence of missionary Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon.]After the Civil War, Southern Baptists began a slow process of incorporating Christmas themes and activities into their church programs and services. One reason for this was the growing popularity of Christmas during the Victorian Era. Churches sang carols, implemented Christmas-themed nativity plays and holiday events staged for and by children, and created a series of sermons based on the Matthew and Luke accounts of the birth and early childhood of Jesus as valid means for proclaiming the Gospel and teaching the doctrine of the incarnation to all ages of Believers. For instance, in 1867 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Basil Manly Jr. wrote a letter to his children relating how his church's Sunday School program celebrated the holiday with a decorated tree and the exchange of inexpensive gifts. Manly specifically stated that this custom had only taken place in his church after the Civil War, and the letter itself bore evidence of the growing tolerance for Christmas activities in church programs. A second reason for the embrace of Christmas in Southern Baptist culture was the influence of missionary Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon. In 1887 she wrote a letter to the Foreign Mission Journal suggesting that Southern Baptist women set aside a season of prayer and giving to international missions. She pleaded that the "week before Christmas" be chosen. "Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of the Gift laid on the altar of the world for the redemption of human race, the most appropriate time to consecrate a portion from abounding riches … to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?"

[QUOTE@right@180="Santa, can you make Mommy love Daddy again? They've been fighting a lot lately and I'm afraid."]LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (BP) -- Jenny watches television as her dad again comes home from work late -- hours late. He plops in his favorite chair and tries to read the newspaper as Jenny's mom goes off, ranting about her husband missing dinner and the long hours he's working.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Sudan's militant Islamic regime again is terrorizing its own people based on religion and ethnicity, driving about 280,000 people from their homes and producing another humanitarian crisis, according to a United States watchdog for religious liberty.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- American churchgoers are just as likely to use Twitter, Facebook and the Internet as non-churchgoers, according to a new study that shows the impact that technology can have on spreading a church's message.

ATLANTA (BP) — Counseling student Jennifer Keeton will not be returning to Augusta State University while she fights against the school’s attempt to make her complete a remediation plan designed to change her views on homosexuality. In early December, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Keeton’s request for a preliminary injunction, which would […]

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article first appeared in Baptist Press on Nov. 21 of this year. ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — In January, Southern Baptists are again being called to a time of prayer and spiritual awakening. The Southern Baptist Convention Call to Prayer is an opportunity to focus on praying missionally. “I can’t think of a […]