LONDON /Christian Newswire – The Lausanne Movement announced today it has appointed Dr. Michael Oh, a 41-year-old Korean-American serving in Japan, as its new executive director/chief executive officer, effective March 1. “Michael is a cross-cultural bridge-builder, from East to West and across generations; he knows the overall Movement well and understands the complexity of this […]

Attorney Michael Peregrine’s January 14th article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy highlights the need for charities to implement stronger safeguards in handling matters related to conflicts of interest and compensation-setting. Peregrine’s article explains how a prominent charity in New York City ended up with a $5.5 million price tag from the state attorney general’s office […]

(RNS) The Obama administration on Friday unveiled new rules on its controversial birth control insurance mandate that broaden religious exemptions and give greater flexibility to faith-based organizations that have moral objections to providing contraception insurance. The proposals do not, however, offer relief to privately-owned businesses that make conscience claims. The latest accommodation was a long-awaited […]

Washington, D.C. – Growing at a faster rate than the overall U.S. economy, the nonresidential construction industry is expected to see solid, yet measured, increases in activity this year. The religious sector is expected to post a 2.6 percent increase of spending this year and 4.9 percent in 2014. High demand for hotels and retail […]

By David Gibson (RNS) Retired Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has been stripped of his official duties in an unusual public rebuke by his successor that followed the release of thousands of pages of internal church documents showing how Mahony and aides for years conspired to cover up the sexual abuse of children by clergy. […]

By Bob Allen A decision by the Boy Scouts of America to drop its ban on openly gay Scouts and volunteers could prompt churches to find an alternative in Royal Ambassadors, a Southern Baptist missions education program for boys, according to a Jan. 29 story in Baptist Press. “Royal Ambassadors espouses many of the same […]

By Russ Rankin NASHVILLE, Tenn. — While the majority of pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention have a will, nearly 40 percent possess no type of estate planning document at all. A recent survey conducted by LifeWay Research on behalf of the Southern Baptist Foundation found 37 percent of SBC pastors do not have a […]

With the “Big Football Game” coming up, many churches are gearing up to hold viewing parties. You may have heard in past years that the National Football League (NFL) cracked down on church parties showing the football championship game on large screen TVs. After a national outcry and threatened Congressional action, the NFL backed down […]

SEATTLE/Christian Newswire – Right now, 49 year-old Steve Spear is training for the run of his life. The Chicago-area pastor recently quit his job as a Willow Creek pastor after 15 years to focus on raising $1.5 million to provide clean water for 30,000 people living in Kenya. It’s the adventure of a lifetime, a […]

By Tobin Perry Jan 23, 2013 ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — The number of non-Anglo congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention has jumped by more than 66 percent since 1998, according to the North American Mission Board’s Center for Missional Research. Just over 10,000 congregations (10,049) of 50,768 congregations in the convention identified themselves by an […]