Posts tagged Churches of Christ
Teens Mix Radio Show’s Humor With Bible’s Bold Message Of Faith

High school puppeteers mixed the radio show’s good ole boy humor with Romans 1:16’s bold testimony (“I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ”) to deliver an award-winning performance at the annual Lads to Leaders convention in Nashville.

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‘Midland Christian 5’ Say Wrongful Arrests Devastated Their Lives And Careers

Former educators at Midland Christian School in Texas open up about the federal lawsuit they filed and their desire for an apology after they were arrested and accused — wrongly and maliciously, they contend — of trying to conceal a student’s alleged sexual assault from police in 2022.

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Tornado Levels Indiana Church Building In Pre-Easter Tragedy

About 24 hours after the Winchester church met for its midweek Bible study, an EF3 tornado leveled its 50-year-old meeting place. The twister left a trail of destruction — but no deaths — across 25 miles of eastern Indiana, including Winchester, a town of 4,700 about 70 miles east of Indianapolis.

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Nebraska Conference Touts Hope For Revival Amid Political Polarization

Ministers and church leaders traveled to a Nebraska farming town to pray, fellowship and brainstorm ideas for revival at a time of declining numbers, post-pandemic challenges and political polarization.

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Oklahoma Church Invites Community To Serve With Food-Packing Service Project

On this Friday afternoon, an Oklahoma church’s usual, angelic a cappella gives way to the guitar riffs of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” Volunteers wearing hairnets, plastic gloves and T-shirts that say “Jesus ♥ You” congregate around plastic tables. In unison, the crowd proclaims, “PROTEIN! VEGETABLES! SOY! RICE!” as they fill and seal plastic bags labeled MannaPack.

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With Waning Sunday Night Attendance, Churches Look For Change

In recent decades, poor attendance led an increasing number of congregations to end Sunday night activities or try approaches such as small-group meetings or service projects instead of regular assemblies. For many, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that trend as churches stopped Sunday night services and never resumed them.

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Christians In Kansas City Love The Chiefs, But Hate The City’s Violence

Even before last week’s shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, Branden Mims was focused on reducing violence in this city that amassed a record 182 homicides in 2023. Mims, the 35-year-old minister for the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ, leads a nonprofit called Greater Impact that served more than 400 shooting victims last year.

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Magnolia Foundation Honors Legacy of 4-Year-Old Girl Killed By Tornado

Hattie Jo Collins was one of five children and 14 adults killed March 3, 2020, when an EF4 twister battered this community 80 miles east of Nashville. Despite Hattie’s death, Matt and Macy’s faith remained strong. They believe God has a purpose for them. As a result, the Magnolia Foundation was born.

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Christian Teen Who Lost Her Mom To Cancer Dreams Of Leading Australia

Jada Electra Black has a big dream. The Christian teen would like to serve as prime minister of Australia. “That’s my goal,” said Black, who attends Redlands College, a K-12 school associated with Churches of Christ. “I want to study law and justice. I want to be a lawyer. But ultimately, I really want to be a politician.”

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No Phones Allowed, But Machetes OK: Global Program Aims To Build Teens’ Faith

Despite the challenges, Redlands College exposes every student to Christianity through its Bible classes and chapel assemblies. Developing faith is a goal, too, of Project Vila — as the Vanuatu global learning program is dubbed.

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Texas Churches Partner To Form County’s Largest Food Bank

Harvest House now feeds an average of 300 families every week, providing them with about 5,000 pounds of food. That makes it the largest food pantry in Matagorda County, with a population of about 36,000 — nearly a quarter of whom live below the poverty level, according to U.S. Census data.

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‘Great Cloud Of Witnesses’ Helped Propel Harding To National Title

The 14-0 Colorado School of Mines, favored to win the game, jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. But the Orediggers wouldn’t score again. With its run-intensive “flexbone” offense, the Harding University Bisons dominated time of possession and scored 38 unanswered points, winning Harding’s first-ever Division II national title in front of more than 12,000 fans.

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Those In Need Find Clothes And Community At Michigan Church’s Giveaways

Inside the fellowship room, volunteers heave armfuls of clothing onto folding tables, organizing them as gospel music plays from the Bible class DVD player. Hymnals are stacked in the corner to make room for tables of children’s clothes. Shoes go in a side room, next to belts and ties. At the back are bins of Christmas decorations.

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Sister Of Botham Jean Shares Her Struggles With Forgiveness And Justice In New Book

Are memorials the best we can do in the face of injustice? When do laws need to change? These questions and more are what Allisa Charles-Findley has struggled with since 2018. The sister of Harding University alumnus Botham Jean, who was murdered in his apartment by an off-duty police officer, wrestled with the concept of forgiveness — and understanding where justice fits into the equation — after her brother’s death. 

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Ministry And Music Propel Cuban Devoted To Sharing Bread Of Life

The Versalles Church of Christ, about 60 miles east of Havana, hosted the joyous areawide gathering at a time of extreme economic crisis for this Caribbean island nation. In such a stressful time, minister Tony Fernandez, 50, said he focuses on sharing the bread of life with fellow Cubans who often do not have enough bread.

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In Muslim-Dominated North Ghana, Christians See An Explosion Of Baptisms

Ghana-Togo Missions seeks to follow the example of the apostle Paul, who sought to preach where the Gospel had yet to be heard. The nonprofit found plenty of those fields in neighboring Togo. But leaders wondered if there were any empty fields left in Ghana, where 71 percent of the population consider themselves Christian and 20 percent are Muslim.

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West Side Story: Diverse NY Church Represents 5 Continents

The Upper West Manhattan Church of Christ worships God in rented space at Hostelling International’s Victorian-style building at the corner of West 103rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The 25-year-old congregation began meeting in a small karate studio in 1998 — in the community that, four decades earlier, inspired the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim musical “West Side Story.” 

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Why Africa Needs Disciples, Not Just Converts

Churches of Christ in Accra, Ghana, are growing at such a rate that their members will account for 10% of the city’s population … in 1,273 years. That number may come as a shock to Western Christians who routinely hear reports of hundreds, even thousands of baptisms from evangelists in Africa — especially Ghana, considered to be an epicenter of Churches of Christ on the continent.

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