A congregation in Illinois raised money to pay off more than $19 million in medical debt for residents living in the Chicago metropolitan area.

VIVE Chicago, a nondenominational church that is one of many VIVE campuses across the country, raised $100,000 to pay off area residents’ medical debt, according to an announcement shared with The Christian Post.

The church partnered with the New York-based nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which was able to use the donation to pay off $19 million in medical debt.

VIVE Lead Pastor Adam Smallcombe said in a statement shared with CP that for many people, financial debt “is a type of modern-day slavery imprisoning whole families and even generations into a cycle of poverty.”

“As the church and as Christians our mandate is to liberate people from all kinds of oppression because only free people can truly free people,” Smallcombe said.

“That’s why we felt as leaders it was necessary to bring this initiative to our church and they responded with bold faith and generosity.”

The church’s donation was part of the overall “For Chicago” campaign, which aims to abolish $78 million in medical debt for approximately…

Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.

Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, and everything in between.

Here are three things that happened this week, Sept. 13-19, in Church history. They include the arrival of a missionary to a region in China, the birth of a pioneer in the Sunday School movement, and a violent secularization law being passed in France.

A new study has revealed that 22% of U.S. evangelicals appear to reject the Bible’s teaching that the gender of a person as male or female is given by God, the Creator, and instead believe in “gender fluidity.”

While 73% of American evangelicals disagree that “gender identity is a matter of choice,” 22% say they believe in that statement, according to the LifeWay Research “State of Theology” poll released Sept. 8.

The survey, sponsored by Orlando-based Ligonier Ministries, and conducted by surveying more than 3,000 Americans in March, also showed that Americans with evangelical beliefs (73%) are more likely to disagree that “gender identity is a matter of choice” than those without evangelical beliefs (47%).

The survey found that Americans in the Northeast are the most likely to agree with gender fluidity, at 44%, and so are those in the age group of 18 to 34, at 50%. However, Americans age 50-64 are the most likely to disagree (64%).

Further, the poll reveals that Americans in a rural area (56%) are more likely to disagree with gender fluidity than those in a large city (45%).

Attending…

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Friday, September 11, 2020

A year after resigning as senior pastor of Forest Hills Baptist Church in Nashville due to inappropriate relationships, longtime preacher Sam Boyd officially launched a new “simple” church on Wednesday with core beliefs that include “mercy, grace, forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation and restoration.”

“After a year of waiting….praying ….listening…..and healing…I’ve become convinced the ‘next right thing’ in my life is to start a ‘simple’ church emphasizing: inspirational music, intentional prayer, biblical teaching, and communion through the Lord’s Supper,” Boyd said on Facebook a week ago in announcing his New Life Fellowship Franklin church.

“Friends near and far who have been praying for me, have encouraged me to take this step as well. We will have a local gathering, and a larger group by way of our live streaming and web site,” he said.

The new church’s Facebook page lists Sept. 9 as the launch date. Formal memberships will not be required and it’s also listed as “non-denominational.”

“There is no formal membership except in the church universal. Membership in the church or family of God…

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Friday, September 11, 2020

Fred Evers, the longtime pastor of Northside Baptist Church in Tifton, Georgia, passed away Monday after a months-long battle with esophageal cancer. He was 64.

Evers’ widow, who was married to him for 45 years, made the announcement of his passing through the church’s social media as well as a webpage that had been chronicling his battle with the disease.

“Today has been the most challenging and heartbreaking day of my life. Today at 10:25 AM, I kissed the love of my life, for 45 years, goodbye and walked him to the end of where the LORD would permit me to walk him home. I have discovered there is sacred holiness in walking a child of God home. It is an incredible privilege, and one that is not without heartbreak for those of us who are left behind,” Cindy wrote.

“I spent last night and this morning holding Fred’s hand, reading scripture, and playing praise music. It just seemed a fitting way to walk a child of God home. I will treasure the time I had with him in these last months as precious, because they were every minute! When he left this Earth, his hand went from holding my…

HYDERABAD, India, September 10, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Harassment of Christians by hard-line Hindus in northern India ended in police coercing a pastor to agree to stop holding worship in his home after an officer threatened to make false charges against his son, he said.

The pastor said the coercion by police in Uttar Pradesh state came after his son, 19-year-old Pawan Kumar, on Aug. 25 asked intoxicated Hindus to stop yelling disparaging remarks about Christianity outside their home in Tarkulwa village, Maharajganj District.

“The officers at Shyam Deurwa police station joined hands with the assailants and forced us to sign a document vowing that we would never conduct prayers in our home, and that we would not share gospel with anyone,” the house-church leader, identified only as Pastor Sugriv, told Morning Star News. “I was forced to sign it. What kind of justice is this?”

On the night of the triggering incident, the group of Hindus were on the verge of attacking but in their drunken state ended up fighting among themselves, he said. He took his son back inside and locked the door to the Hindus’ taunts of, “Hallelujah, Hallelujah,” which continued into the night, Pastor Sugriv said.

The next morning he informed the Tarkulwa village president about the harassment, and the official summoned the Hindus to his office and warned them to make no further disturbances, he said….

Country Music star Dolly Parton has partnered with popular Christian Music artist Zach Williams to make a new hit song titled “There Was Jesus,” a song about hope in troubled times and how Jesus is always there, especially when things seem darkest.

According to The Christian Post, the song topped 10.5 million impressions on the Christian airwaves, which put it in the number 1 spot on Billboard’s Christian Adult Contemporary chart for the week starting September 6, 2020. The song surpassed “Together” by For King And Country, which had held the number 1 spot for 4 weeks running.

In a statement to Billboard Magazine, Dolly Parton commented “Having a No. 1 record at any time is a great thing, but having a No. 1 faith-based record during these crazy times is even greater. I feel humbled and blessed to be part of this wonderful song with Zach Williams. It does my heart good to know that we have touched the lives of so many people.”

The song’s lyrics about Jesus always being there are shown in the powerful bridge and pre-chorus:

There was Jesus / On the mountains / In the valleys / There was Jesus / In the shadows / Of the alleys / There was Jesus / In the fire, in the flood / There was Jesus / Always is and always was, oh / No, I never walk alone / Never walk alone / You’re always there.

Songwriters Casey Beathard and Jonathan Smith collaborated with Zach Williams to write the…

The US Senate failed to approve a coronavirus relief package on Thursday.

Democrats in the Senate said the Republican-sponsored rescue package doesn’t provide enough relief.

The Senate voted 52 to 47 in Thursday’s vote.

All the present Democrats voted against, while conservative Rand Paul, R-Ky., cast the only GOP vote against the measure.

The Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, was campaigning in Miami and missed the vote.

Last week Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the bill wasn’t enough to help parts of the hard-hit nation.

“Republicans may call their proposal ‘skinny,’ but it would be more appropriate to call it ’emaciated,’” he said in a letter to the caucus. Their proposal appears to be completely inadequate and, by every measure, fails to meet the needs of the American people.

“With no money for rental assistance, no money for nutrition assistance, and no money for state and local services, the census, or safe elections, [Majority] Leader [Mitch] McConnell and Senate Republicans would be making another unacceptable and ineffective attempt at providing relief,” he added.

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the third-ranking GOP senator, told reporters last week that the Republican proposal was a “focused, targeted” solution.

This is not the first proposal the Senate has considered for coronavirus relief as Democrats and Republicans have differed on how best to…