March 27, 2013
VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/27/13)—Dan Brockway has been awarded the ABCUSA Theological Fellowship for 2013 by the Emerging Theologians Task Force for American Baptist Churches USA. Brockway is a Ph.D. at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, focusing in Systematic Theology with a minor in Theology and Culture, expecting to graduate in 2015.
The purpose of the American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) Theological Fellowship is to foster emerging theologians...
It has been a long winter for most of the country. Spring has come in fits and starts this year. Winter reluctantly surrenders her icy grip over creation. But spring is irrepressible. Crocuses and daffodils push through the snow, heralds that the darkness of winter is ending as new life erupts.
Our observance of Easter joyously celebrates the new life in Christ erupting through the pall of death that overshadows all of creation. The resurrection of Jesus is the pivot point on which...
Each Wednesday throughout the season of Lent in 2013, a reflection including bible verses and prayer suggestions is available on the ABCUSA website. The following reflection is posted on March 27, 2013, for Holy Week.
Psalm 70 (NRSV)
1 Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
O Lord, make haste to help me!
2 Let those be put to shame and confusion
who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
who desire to hurt...
March 26, 2013
Originally introduced in June 2011 during the American Baptist Biennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Transformed by the Spirit invites American Baptists to name and address challenges they identify in their local congregational environments. Identification then leads to a process of “adaptive changes,” changes that are in response to the Spirit’s leading. These changes help to unleash our Baptist DNA for innovation and embrace the transformative work of the Spirit in the life of the...
VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/ 26/13)—American Baptist Women’s Ministries announces the release of the newest volume in the G.I.R.L.S. discipleship resource series. Who Am I? Grades 3-5 contains four session plans to help young girls explore issues of identity. The four sessions address: understanding that God has created them with individual worth and purpose; their responsibility as unique creations of God to be true to themselves as they follow God’s...
March 25, 2013
The reflection below was written by Rev. Carol Sutton. This is part of a new featured series, “Proud to be an American Baptist.” Check the ABCUSA website and other publications in the near future to see more stories! View the archive and learn why others are proud to be American Baptist by clicking here.
Like many American Baptists, I chose this family, having been raised in another denomination...
March 22, 2013
VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/ 22 /13)—American Baptist Women’s Ministries announces that the Rev. Barbara Jim-George of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California, will be honored as the 2013 recipient of the Shine the Light Award.
The Shine the Light Award, established by American Baptist Women’s Ministries, ABCUSA, recognizes a woman or a women’s ministry group that serves as outstanding light-bearers for Christ. The award highlights a specific...
VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/ 22 /13)—The Burmese army continues to use chemical weapons, heavy artillery and jet fighter planes to bomb civilian villages in the Kachin State in northern Myanmar (Burma) causing heavy casualties and great hardship on the people, despite a cease fire order by Myanmar’s president.
Moved by these atrocities, the Board of Directors of American Baptist International Ministries (IM) has issued a resolution calling for action....
March 21, 2013
VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 3/ 21 /13)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) encourages mission volunteers and those offering mission opportunities throughout the United States and Puerto Rico to connect via the ecumenical website MissionalNetworking.org.
The purpose of the website, according to its home page, is “to connect missional faith communities with volunteers, resources, and one another...
March 20, 2013
Pictured above: Trip participants sing, reflect on experience visiting Tijuana, Mexico.
Each quarter, the International Student Fellowship of Palmer Seminary highlights the Seminary’s current international mix in the form of a variety of worship experiences. On Tuesday afternoon, March 19, Palmer Seminary’s International Chapel focusing on“Walking in someone else’s shoes,” met in the side dining room of the American Baptist Churches USA Mission Center. The event...