LifeWay Archives - Baptist & Reflector

SOUTHERN BAPTISTS SEE HISTORIC DROP IN MEMBERSHIP

June 24, 2020

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay Christian Resources

click image for full chart

NASHVILLE — A growing number of Southern Baptist churches are home to a shrinking number of Southern Baptists.

Total membership in the Southern Baptist Convention fell almost 2 percent to 14,525,579 from 2018 to 2019, according to the Annual Church Profile compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources in cooperation with Baptist state conventions. The decline of 287,655 members is the largest single year drop in more than 100 years.

The number of churches grew slightly to 47,530, an increase of 74 from 2018. However, the number of church-type missions fell by 477 to bring the overall number of SBC congregations down to 51,138 in 2019. Multisite congregations reported an additional 505 campuses where local church ministry takes place. [Read more…]

TENNESSEANS REFLECT ON END OF WORLD CHANGERS

June 3, 2020

By Lonnie Wilkey
Editor, Baptist and Reflector
lwilkey@tnbaptist.org

-LifeWay photo

FRANKLIN — Though World Changers began as a program of the former Southern Baptist Convention Brotherhood Commission, it made a lasting impact on Tennesseans who both participated in the hands-on missions ministry and those who benefited from the work of countless teenagers and sponsors. [Read more…]

LIFEWAY CREATES CHURCH ASSISTANCE PACKAGE

May 5, 2020

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay Christian Resources writer

As churches adjust to ministry in a post-COVID-19 world, LifeWay has developed a collection of resources to help congregations.

The new Church Assistance Package from LifeWay is available for any congregation around the world and can be accessed at lifeway.com/churchassistance.

“LifeWay wants to do everything we can to help churches sustain their vital ministries during this time,” said Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources. “Because of this, we have been working on solutions for supporting local churches as they seek to grow together as disciples during this season and walk with them as they begin rebounding.” [Read more…]

LIFEWAY TO DISCONTINUE WORLD CHANGERS PROJECTS AMID COVID-19

May 1, 2020

By Carol Pipes
Director of corporate communications, LifeWay

World Changers participants perform a project in Chattanooga. — Photo provided by LifeWay

NASHVILLE — LifeWay Christian Resources announced this week they are canceling World Changers mission projects for summer 2020 and closing all future operations due to declining numbers and the inability to host projects this summer because of COVID-19.

“We are sad about the closing of World Changers, but we know now is the time to make this decision based on more than 10 years of decline in participants and the current financial impact related to the coronavirus pandemic,” said Ben Trueblood, director of Student Ministry at LifeWay.

Since 1990, World Changers has provided students and adults with opportunities to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others by making repairs for low-income homeowners at no charge. Volunteers donated a week of their time in the summer, often sleeping on classroom and gymnasium floors at local schools, while tackling projects like building wheelchair ramps, applying fresh coats of paint, and replacing windows and siding. [Read more…]

MORE CHANGE — BUT THE MISSION REMAINS

April 14, 2020

By Randy C. Davis
TBMB President & Executive Director

There are two things about which we can be certain in these uncertain days: God is on His throne sovereignly ruling over the universe, and change seems to be a regular occurrence and comes quickly.

About a year ago I wrote about a change that few Southern Baptists would have ever anticipated. LifeWay Christian Resources sent ripples through denominational life when it announced the closing of its 170 LifeWay Christian Stores and shifting exclusively to online sales. [Read more…]

SURVEY: MOST CHURCHES PREPARED FOR ACTIVE SHOOTER

February 4, 2020

Church security remains at the forefront; many congregations divided over armed attendees

Trainees Chris Graves, left, and Bryan Hetherington, right, participate in a security training session at Fellowship of the Parks campus in Haslet, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

NASHVILLE — In the aftermath of several high-profile church shootings, most Protestant pastors say their congregations have taken some precautions to protect those in attendance.

Since 2000, 19 fatal shootings have taken place at Christian churches, while gunmen have also taken lives at other religious sites like Jewish synagogues, a Sikh temple and an Amish school.

Around 4 in 5 Protestant pastors (80 percent) say their church has some type of security measure in place when they gather for worship, according to a survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research. [Read more…]

NEW POLICIES, LEADERS DRAW MOST ATTENTION

January 7, 2020

‘Year of transition’ in SBC tops headlines

By Tobin Perry
Baptist Press

Paul Chitwood, seen here during a recent press conference, was elected president of the IMB last November. Chitwood is a Tennessee native and was reared in First Baptist Church, Jellico.

NASHVILLE — Southern Baptists marked a year of transitions at several national entities in 2019, and they launched an initiative to help churches care for individuals affected by sexual abuse and harassment.

These five news stories, selected by the editors of Baptist Press and a poll of Southern Baptist state publication editors, represent their picks as the most important stories of 2019:

Southern Baptists take action to curb sexual abuse

In February, Southern Baptist leaders expressed brokenness over the findings of a series of Houston Chronicle articles focused on sex abuse in Southern Baptist Convention churches.

After 10 months of work, the Sexual Abuse Advisory Study initiated by SBC President J.D. Greear issued a 52-page report in hopes it would “spark a movement of healing and reform.”

The report called for the education of SBC churches to understand abuse and its impact, the equipping of SBC churches to care for abuse survivors, and the preparing of SBC churches to prevent abuse. Southern Baptists overwhelmingly approved bylaw and constitutional changes at the 2019 SBC annual meeting to specifically deal with systemic issues the report addressed. [Read more…]

MOST-READ STORIES OF 2019 COVER WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS

January 7, 2020

Stories about Lifeway’s change to pension plan and the “I Stand for Life” initiative had the most views on the B&R website

Baptist & Reflector Staff

FRANKLIN — The Baptist and Reflector website serves multiple purposes for the newspaper.

The website not only runs stories that are published in the print edition of the B&R, but also is the go-to place for breaking news pertaining to Tennessee Baptists.

This past year, the B&R website experienced several significant increases in readership (see chart). In looking at the year-ending numbers, it is interesting to note that the most-read stories of 2019 involved a wide range of topics, from economics to abortion to elections.

Listed below is a look at the most-read stories (based on website views) from the past year:

1. Lifeway to freeze pension plan for pension-eligible employees

• Date posted: July 31, 2019 • Written by: Lonnie Wilkey • Position: B&R editor

This story focused on LifeWay Christian Resources announcing changes to its retiree life insurance and pre-65 retiree medical benefits, including freezing its LifeWay Pension Plan (effective Jan. 1, 2020) for current pension-eligible employees. LifeWay shared the changes in letters to current and future retirees on June 29. The changes were approved by LifeWay trustees at their February meeting. [Read more…]

PASTORS LESS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT ECONOMY’S IMPACT

December 11, 2019

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

NASHVILLE — As retail stores hope the holiday shopping season gives their bottom line a lift, American Protestant pastors are less sure the economy is helping their congregations this year.

Around two in five pastors of Protestant churches in the United States (41 percent) say the economy is having no impact on their church, according to a new survey from Nashville-based LifeWay Research.

The rest are nearly split on whether the effect is positive (30 percent) or negative (26 percent).

“Fundamentally, the U.S. economy is in a similar place that it was a year ago,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “Yet pastors are less optimistic about this outside influence on their church than they were in 2018.” [Read more…]

RETIRED PASTORS SATISFIED, SEE ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

October 31, 2019

By Aaron Earls
LifeWay News Office

NASHVILLE — Most retirement age pastors and missionaries say their current life is close to ideal, but some who have entered retirement say they could’ve been better prepared.

In a survey sponsored by Shepherd’s Fold Ministries, Nashville-based LifeWay Research asked 2,451 pastors, ministers and missionaries who were retired or at least 67 years old about their life, health, relationships, reflections on ministry, and how they’ve adjusted to their current life stage.

“Our number one goal is to provide relevant resources to help retired ministers,” said Brent Van Hook, director of Shepherd’s Fold Ministries. “The results of this study show specific ways retired ministers can experience genuine higher well-being related to social, spiritual, physical and financial health.” [Read more…]

Church security remains at the forefront; many congregations divided over armed attendees

‘Year of transition’ in SBC tops headlines

Stories about Lifeway’s change to pension plan and the “I Stand for Life” initiative had the most views on the B&R website

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