Opinion
When Your World Turns Upside Down, You Can Relate with Others
The global coronavirus pandemic has taken all our normal lives and turned them backwards on themselves. However, we can be in solidarity in a small way with people who have already have their lives turned upside down.
Vulnerable People Too Easily Overlooked in COVID-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 virus is straining health systems around the world, raising questions and forcing decisions regarding how best to care for those who are sick. Faith leaders must ensure vulnerable groups are not overlooked in the process.
How Can You Beat Depression? Engage Mind, Body and Soul
With many of us practicing social distancing, COVID-19 is taking a toll. For some, depression will inevitably set in. Should you begin to feel depressed, practice some of these steps to engage your mind, body and soul.
What Liturgical Worship Provides You: Tradition and Direction
Many Baptists are wary of liturgical worship. While we were not made for ritual, we were made to follow Christ. The rituals remind us of who we are, where we came from and where we’re headed. The traditions give us direction.
To Flaunt COVID-19 Warnings, A Failure of Biblical Proportions
As the COVID-19 virus rages across the globe, some Christians flaunt the threat to public health, believing they will be spared when they assemble. But Jesus was crystal-clear: Don’t put God to the test.
LONG DISTANCE CALL: Church votes on new pastor few have met in person
By John D. Pierce, Executive Editor, Nurturing Faith Journal GAINESVILLE, Ga. — For the first time in its storied history the First Baptist Church of Gainesville, Ga., called a pastor and hardly anyone showed up. Jeremy Shoulta, who accepted the call to become pastor...
It’s a good time to talk
By John D. Pierce When moving last year I set aside some old, personal family stuff for a rainy day. Or, as it turned out, for an unexpected time of isolation. Digging through old photos, news clippings and other artifacts on a recent secluded evening was an enjoyable...
Think Your Life Won’t Return to Normal? You Can Get Close
Your world is spinning out of control. Massive changes, shutdowns, chaos and fear increase your insecurity. Life may not return to normal, but you can strengthen your mental health so you can get close enough to get by.
Lenten Lectionary | Grief and Presence Amid COVID-19 Virus
Many people are wrestling with the loss of loved ones as COVID-19 spreads around the world, but the final cruelty of the pandemic is its forced separation from those we love, just when we need togetherness the most.
To Move Past Coronavirus, We Must All Be in This Together
As we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, people of good faith must set the example by offering a hopeful vision that unites the generations. We won’t make progress by leaving others behind. We’re all in this together.
Lessons from Robert ‘Bob’ Stephenson
Robert ‘Bob’ Stephenson passed away on March 20. A man with a great sense of justice and decency, Bob sought to keep Baptist institutions free and detested fundamentalism. Free and faithful Baptists owe him a debt of gratitude.
Backward Philosophy: Elevating Economy Over People’s Lives
As a Texas politician proposed elders sacrifice themselves to stave off an economic collapse, his words expose a pervasive idolatry of our world: elevating money over the lives of people. Instead, let’s heed the words of Oscar Romero.
6 Steps to Navigate ‘Rush Hour’ of Your New Emotional Anxiety
During these days of quarantine or ‘physical distancing,’ all of our emotions are ‘all over the map’ during the COVID-19 crisis. Our emotional flow is like a four-way intersection, but the pandemic has turned off the traffic lights.
Drive-In Church Fosters Community During Quarantine
The COVID-19 virus has been forcing churches to adapt their regular routines. For one Virginia Baptist church, the solution to meeting as a congregation was as close as their parking lot. Set up a drive-in church on Sunday.
In Age of COVID-19, One of Two Futures for Your Church – Part 2
The church, across the ages, has often been at its best in the face of its most challenging moments. The COVID-19 virus will be no different. In our darkest moments, the lights of faith, hope and love shine brightest.
While Powerful Pursue Greed, Let’s Support the Common Good
With moneyed corporate interests seeking an opportunity to cash in on a federal government economic relief package, let’s remember what we can do to benefit the common good and the average citizen. Here are 4 ideas.
Essential services
No one needs reminding that life is currently different from anything we've known before. With large gatherings banned, in-person church meetings have been called off with no clear end in sight. As more and more states impose "shelter in place" guidelines, everyone is...
In Age of COVID-19, One of Two Futures for Your Church – Part 1
With the COVID-19 virus spreading a global crisis, congregations face a future radically different from what they imagined at the dawn of 2020. This dual crisis of health and finances could hit churches hard where they are weakest.
6 Lessons That Will Keep Your Church Moving Forward
As long as people gather and interact, emotional processes are at work. Some interactions can be inherently anxious, which will keep churches from moving forward and distract them from accomplishing their mission and purpose.
Maybe Some Churches Need a Different Kind of Leader
Some folks believe the church needs to be run more like a business. It’s a comfortable and familiar role, but is it really what the church needs? Maybe churches don’t need a CEO; maybe they need a wise fool to lead them.
In Global Crisis, Our Growth from ‘I’ Thinking to ‘We’ Thinking
In this Lenten season, as humanity faces a global pandemic, we are witnessing a timeless human paradigm of response to crisis, moving from self-centered ‘I’ thinking and believing to a more community-centered ‘we’ perspective.
9 Steps You Can Take Now to Battle the ‘Silent Enemy’
COVID-19 has altered our routines and reduced our social contact. Add that together with the loss of corporate worship for people of faith, we have a situation that could lead to depression. Here are 9 steps you can take to beat it.
Let’s get a grip … on something other than guns
I confess to having been a bit surprised by the outright panic many people seem to be experiencing in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. It is a crisis: don't get me wrong. We need to take it seriously and pay attention to advice from health authorities. We need to stay...
When You Become Part of Solution to Scarcity of World’s Water
While the US consumes over 300 billion gallons of water daily, about 800 children worldwide die due to lack of water. Access to clean water is a crisis with life-threatening consequences. You can be part of the solution.
Look Back | The Looming Storm: Taking Climate Change Seriously
The weather is changing globally. People of faith must take climate change seriously, especially since we are stewards of God’s creation. How we treat the world often offers evidence to the kind of theology we believe and practice.
When We Can No Longer Access Water Conveniently
We have grown accustomed to thinking that clean water provision is simply a matter of access, distribution or technology, but the reality of climate change has changed the game. More than ever, water is becoming a double-edged sword.
During Our COVID-19 Exile, Will Churches Listen to God?
As many churches cancel their services to help curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, is it possible this period of forced exile from our normal routine may in reality lead to strengthening and renewing us?
All Ethical Issues Depend on How We Deal with This One
At a time when the world is on fire and the web of life is fraying, the theology and ethics of creation care make up the most important issue facing followers of Jesus and the Church of Jesus Christ.
Judson-Rice Award Dinner among “change of plans”
By John D. Pierce Regretfully, we are cancelling the Judson-Rice Award Dinner sponsored by Nurturing Faith. The event was set for April 16 in Anderson, S.C. We will keep you posted as alternative plans develop. Once those are determined, we’ll address dinner...
Water: An Actual Element of God’s Grace and Redemption
Water is fascinating. And when you have patience to listen to the water, it speaks to you. Yet water is not only a source of an aesthetic or even a spiritual experience for nature lovers. Water brings life.