EDITOR’S NOTE: Some Missouri Baptist churches have partnered with Baptists in Ukraine, working with UBTS and its president, Yaroslav Pyzh. Read more here and here. LVIV, Ukraine (BP) – In the early days of Russia’s full onslaught of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary (UBTS) transitioned its classrooms into temporary shelters, halting instruction to house internally displaced persons as they fled their homes for safety. Thousands of refugees found beds, … [Read more...]
USCIRF cites Russia’s ‘blatant’ religious freedom violations as Ukraine peace talks stall
WASHINGTON (BP) – Russia continued to persecute pastors and shutter churches within its borders and in territories it occupies in Ukraine in 2025, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said June 30 in an updated report on Russia. Russia imprisoned, tortured and levied monetary fines against many religious leaders, including Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU) and others this year, USCIRF said in the update to its Russia Chapter of the 2025 … [Read more...]
Israeli Jews asking for New Testaments as wars usher in Gospel, Israeli pastor says
TEL AVIV, Israel (BP) – D’vora was rushing her two children to the home of her father Avi Mizrachi, founding pastor of Adonai Roi Congregation in Tel Aviv, when overhead missiles from Iran forced her to seek cover. She had hoped to secure her 5-year-old daughter Hadas and 2-year-old son Noam in her father’s bomb shelter before she responded to a call for search and rescue volunteers. “And when the missiles started falling, my children and I were not in a safe room. We were outside in … [Read more...]
Ten years after Obergefell: Can the U.S. reverse course on marriage?
WASHINGTON (BP) — More than 425,000 same-sex couples had already wed in the U.S. when the Supreme Court approved such unions in the historic Obergefell v. Hodges decision June 26, 2015. Ten years later, the number of gay marriages has risen by at least 55 percent, reaching 774,553 in 2023, based on U.S. Census Bureau data as reported by Pew Research Center. The number of households headed by same-sex cohabiting couples has also risen over this period. It started at 433,539 in 2015 and … [Read more...]
Iranian people love Israel, U.S., says Iranian American church planter
TEHRAN, Iran (BP) – Christians in Iran are between a rock and a hard place as tensions flare internationally, but an Iranian American church planting director at The Summit Church in North Carolina wants his Southern Baptist family to keep a few things in mind. Succinctly, the Islamic Republic, not the people of Iran, are fighting Israel. And the people of Iran themselves love Israel as well as the U.S., Central Asia Church Planting Director Nathan Rostampour told Baptist Press ahead of … [Read more...]
State of the Bible: Scripture aids human flourishing, but U.S. lags globally
PHILADELPHIA (BP) – Scripture engagement, church involvement and an active faith increase human flourishing, the American Bible Society (ABS) said in its latest chapter of the State of the Bible utilizing Harvard University’s human flourishing index. But the United States ranked 15th among 22 countries studied on Harvard’s Global Flourishing Index, trailing the top five countries of Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Israel and Nigeria. The U.S. rose to 12th place when factoring in … [Read more...]
200 displaced Nigerian Christians slaughtered in ‘worst atrocity’ in Middle Belt
YELEWATA, Benue (BP) – The 500 Christians had already fled terrorism at home and found temporary shelter in storefronts transformed into living quarters in downtown Yelewata. But as they slept overnight June 13, men identified as militant Fulani attacked from multiple sides. Shouting “Allahu Akhbar (God is great),” militants commenced an ungodly attack, using fuel to burn the small living quarters, shooting people and attacking with machetes any who tried to escape, multiple … [Read more...]
Barrett Duke retires as Montana exec, search team begins work
EDITOR'S NOTE: For several years, the Missouri Baptist Convention has had a missions partnership with the Montana Southern Baptist Convention. BILLINGS, Mont. (BP) – Barrett Duke has retired as executive director of the Montana Southern Baptist Convention (MTSBC) after more than eight years in the post, having served since January 2017. He has worked on a contract basis since May 15, he told Baptist Press, allowing a newly formed search committee to find a new leader. “I believe … [Read more...]
Pew: A fourth of Christians eye astrology, tarot cards, fortune tellers – most for fun
NEW ORLEANS (BP) – Greg Mathias, who teaches global missions at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS), told Baptist Press that while in Jackson Square this past weekend, he likely walked past five fortune tellers and tarot card readers, common sights there. But according to Pew Research, many Christians in the U.S. are not just passing by such phenomena. More than a quarter of Christians engage with such psychic phenomena, most often astrology in the form of printed … [Read more...]
Texas outlaws NDAs in childhood sex abuse settlements, following Missouri
AUSTIN, Texas (BP) – Texas lawmakers banned nondisclosure clauses in sexual abuse settlement agreements May 26, following Missouri’s passage of similar legislation weeks earlier. The Texas legislature approved the final version of its bill on Memorial Day, first approving it in the House in April, before the Senate’s nod to a similar version of the bill May 15, with the House’s final approval yesterday. The Missouri General Assembly moved swiftly to pass its bill, with the House … [Read more...]
House-passed budget bill defunds Planned Parenthood, affirms many Southern Baptist aims
WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. House passed a budget bill early on May 22 to defund Planned Parenthood, end transgender interventions and help Christian nonprofits and families, all Southern Baptist-supported measures the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) supports this fiscal year. ERLC President Brent Leatherwood praised the passage of the Reconciliation Budget Bill in a press release, pointing out that if passed by the U.S. Senate, it would also defund any of Planned … [Read more...]
State of the Bible shows U.S. outlier in biblical reverence in ‘secular west’
PHILADELPHIA (BP) – From a global vantage point unique to its study of the Bible’s impact on U.S. adults, the American Bible Society (ABS) said Americans revere Scripture, faith and church more than others in a geographical cluster described as the “secular west.” Including the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the cluster, the ABS said only 37 percent of secular west residents say the Bible is personally relevant, save the U.S., an outlier with 51 percent of … [Read more...]
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