Virtual worshippers often satisfied, but more Americans choose in-person services
United StatesReligion News Service At the height of the pandemic, many Americans who attended in-person worship services turned to their computers and their couches instead for virtual viewing. Now, the Pew Research Center finds a third of Americans regularly attend in-person worship services while a bit more than a quarter regularly watch religious services on […]
Essay: A brief history of the Black church’s diversity, and its vital role in American political history
JASON OLIVER EVANS, a scholar of Christian theology and African American religion, looks – in an article first published on The Conversation, at the history and influence of the Black church in the United States…
In the US, 35 Black churches to receive total of $US4 million for preservation work
United StatesRNS Nearly three dozen historic Black religious sites in the US will receive a $US4 million infusion of funding to help them with renovations and preservation of their buildings across the country. The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund announced on Monday that 35 churches are the recipients of […]
In the US, Black church leaders say public lands should better reflect African American history
United StatesRNS Growing up in Charleston, South Carolina, Rev Carey A Grady heard about the history of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and its connection to a slave revolt planned by Denmark Vesey – long before it was the site of a 2015 massacre. And Grady knew of the church through his father, the late […]
Fund to preserve, assist Black churches in US gets $US20 million donation
Birmingham, Alabama, USAP A new effort to preserve historic Black churches in the United States has received a $US20 million donation that will go to help congregations including one that was slammed during the tornado that killed more than 20 people in Mayfield, Kentucky, last month. Lilly Endowment Inc, which supports religious, educational and charitable […]
Timothy Stewart, Progressive National Baptists’ international president, dead at 64
RNS Rev Timothy Stewart, the first international president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, has died, his denomination announced. The Bahamas pastor served three years of his four-year term and presided over the virtual annual session of the historically Black religious group in August. He died on 17th September at the age of 64. Rev […]
Women in leadership: In Black denominations, women making strides amid hesitancy
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports from the US on where Black denominations stand on women’s leadership…
‘Rolling Stone’ publisher planned to convert a Black church into his home, but residents fought back to preserve it
Los Angeles, USRNS On a recent Sunday, about 10 people sat outside the steps of the boarded-up First Baptist Church of Venice, a century-old congregation that, to many, remains a symbol of the thriving Black population that once existed in the seaside town of Los Angeles. They discussed potential uses for the church that would […]
In the US, Proud Boys leader pleads guilty for burning church’s Black Lives Matter banner
RNS Proud Boys national leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio pleaded guilty to two charges on Monday, including the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner taken from Asbury United Methodist Church, a historic Black church in Washington, DC. Tarrio, 37, also pleaded guilty in the DC Superior Court to one count of attempted possession of a […]
Essay: We need a better strategy to plant Black and brown churches
US pastors and church planting network founders THABITI ANYABWILE and JOHN ONWUCHEKWA, in an article first published on Religion News Service, argue that Black and brown communities need the freedom to plant churches responsive to their own contexts and needs…