A divinity school professor has said that recent talk about gender-neutral revisions being  made to the Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer has been influenced in part by the MeToo movement.

The Rev. Ruth Meyers, a scholar and professor at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California, told Sojourners in an interview Monday that the prayer book should be revised to reflect the changing world around believers.

“It’s important because our worship needs to speak to this world that’s on fire today and needs to tell this incredible Gospel story that we have and draw people into that Gospel proclamation,” Meyers said.

“When I was doing some work with this ‘Me Too’ committee preparing for general convention, one of the women on my committee talked about being in conversation with one of her peers. And their image of the church was, you know, God is this old white haired old man with a beard and what does [H]e have to do with me? This kind…

China is in the midst of an “ambitious new effort” to lesson or even eradicate the influence of Christianity and religion from the country, according to an investigation by the Associated Press.  

An in-depth story by AP described churches being shut down, Bibles being seized and restrictions being placed on other religions, too. Crescents have been removed from mosques and Tibetan children removed from Buddhist temples and placed in public schools.

One Christian named Guo described an incident in which Chinese officials interrupted a church meeting and told everyone to leave. They then ordered church leaders to remove a cross, a Bible verse and a painting of the Last Supper off the wall. Guo didn’t give his full name out of fear of government repercussions. 

“I’ve always prayed for our country’s leaders, for our country to get stronger,” he told AP. “They were never this severe before, not since I started going to church in the 80’s. Why are they telling us to stop now?”

In recent months, Chinese authorities have:

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  Shut down hundreds of Christian house churches.
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  Seized Bibles and forced e-commerce retailers to stop selling Bibles.
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  Prevented children from attending church in some areas.
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  Urged Christians in one location to replace posters of Jesus with pictures of President Xi Jinping.
• 
  Raided church…

Willow Creek Association announced Monday that it will soon release details of a new independent advisory council that will oversee another investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against embattled Willow Creek Community Church founder Bill Hybels.

The details will be revealed at its annual Global Leadership Summit set for Aug. 9–10. 

The announcement comes after The New York Times reported a fresh allegation Sunday, this time from Hybels’ former executive assistant, Pat Baranowski. She said while she worked for Hybels at the South Barrington church in Illinois, and at one point lived with him and his wife Lynne, she was subjected to back rubs, pornography and one incident of oral sex with her pastor.

“Let us be clear, the behavior Bill has been accused of is reprehensible. For many weeks we have been working together with Willow Creek Community Church in seeking an independent investigation as requested by the victims to examine any and all accusations made and any others in the future,” Tom De Vries, president of Willow Creek Association, said in a statement.

“We will be announcing more details at The Global Leadership Summit about the formation of an advisory council made up of external…

Nearly 70 percent of American churchgoers believe that God wants them to prosper financially, although far fewer say they will be blessed only if they are generous, according to a new LifeWay Research survey on beliefs about the prosperity gospel.

The poll of 1,010 Americans who attend a Protestant or non-denominational church found that 69 percent believe “God wants me to prosper financially,” while 20 percent disagree.

Additionally, 38 percent agree that “my church teaches that if I give more money to my church and charities, God will bless me in return.” Fifty-seven disagree with that statement. But there is a divide among denominations. A majority (53 percent) of Pentecostal and Assemblies of God churchgoers agree with the statement.

Finally, among all churchgoers, 26 percent believe that “to receive material blessings from God, I have to do something for God.” Seventy percent disagree with the statement.

“A significant group of churches seem to teach that donations trigger a financial response from God,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.

The survey was released July 31.

“A number of high-profile evangelical leaders have condemned the prosperity gospel,” McConnell said. “But more than a few people in the pews have embraced it.”

Photo Courtesy: LifeWay Research

Michael Foust is a freelance…

A real estate company advertising for Greg Laurie’s SoCal Harvest event has removed billboards for the event at an Orange County mall.

The billboard at the outdoor mall, Fashion Island, depicted Laurie holding a Bible and promoting SoCal Harvest. Harvest Crusade hired real estate company, Irvine Company, to advertise for the event, but the company later said the billboard drew complaints and one “serious threat.”

Harvest changed the artwork of the ad and pulled the Bible from the picture, but the Irvine Company still removed all the ads for the event, according to CBN News.

“There was nothing overtly religious about it,” John Collins, Harvest Executive Director told CBN News.

“We changed it to a more simplified ad that simply said ‘Harvest,’ giving the dates and some of the musical artists that are going to be with us. Then they came back and said they just wanted the ads completely removed and they refunded us,” he added.

SoCal Harvest is slated for Aug. 17-19 at Angel Stadium

“We’re certainly not upset with The Irvine Company. Obviously, they’re catching heat for allowing us to run these ads. We feel it is just unfortunate that people are complaining,” Collins said. “It’s sad that our culture is at this degree of intolerance…There’s such intolerance against Christianity that we aren’t allowed to state that or to publicly advertise this…

Willow Creek Community Church announced it will commission an independent investigation of sexual harassment allegations against founding pastor Bill Hybels, a day after one of the two pastors who succeeded Hybels resigned over the church’s handling of the matter.

Heather Larson, lead pastor at the influential evangelical Chicago-area megachurch, announced the investigation Monday (Aug. 6) in an email to church members. The inquiry will be led, Larson said, by an advisory council of Christian leaders from across the country and funded by an anonymous outside donor.

Steve Carter, who was named lead teaching pastor alongside Larson in April, announced his resignation on his blog Sunday (Aug. 5) over differences with how the church has handled the allegations against Hybels. Carter did not appear at Sunday services  at Willow Creek’s main campus in South Barrington, Ill.