How Lottie Moon changed the way Southern Baptists viewed Christmas
All across the world, Southern Baptists are preparing for Christmas Eve services with their local congregation. But there was as time in American when most Protestants, including many Southern Baptists, did not consider Christmas to be a holiday worth celebrating.
A Message From Our Friends at The Good Book Company
The Adventure of Christmas
These simple 10-minute family devotions for Advent, with graphic-novel-style illustrations, explore the Gospel accounts of the first Christmas in an engaging way, and will help families keep Christ at the heart of their celebrations. An accompanying Advent Calendar is also available.
This Week in Washington, D.C.
Last week on Capitol Hill, two important events for international human rights and religious freedom took place.
- Congress unanimously passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. This will prohibit goods made with Uyghur forced labor from entering the U.S. market and instruct the U.S. government to impose sanctions against any foreign person who knowingly engages in the forced labor of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
- The Senate also confirmed Rashad Hussain to the post of ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom in a vote of 85-5. Hussain garnered support from a wide range of religious liberty advocates including former Ambassador Sam Brownback. He fills a vacancy at a crucial time as religious rights are threatened around the globe.
2021 has been filled with significant challenges for international human rights and religious freedom. Sadly, many people around the world have faced intense persecution, assault, and death this year. Here are 10 significant international human rights events of 2021 that you should know about.
Help us save preborn lives
Most women who see an ultrasound of their preborn child choose life. But ultrasound machines are expensive, and most pro-life clinics can’t afford them.
That’s where you come in. With your help, we can continue to donate lifesaving ultrasound machines to pro-life centers across the country. We’ve already placed 25 lifesaving machines, and we’re working to place 25 more by January 2023.
Click here to help us give vulnerable women a chance to choose life.
From The Public Square
Across US, houses of worship struggle to rebuild attendance
Associated Press
Among evangelical Protestants, 37% now say they are attending services in person at least weekly, while 42% said they did that in 2019. In the May 2020 poll, just 11% said they were attending services in person that often.
Duke University Study Finds More Sin in the Rain
Christianity Today
When it rains on Sunday morning, fewer people go to church. When fewer people go to church, more people buy drugs, commit forgery, and embezzle money.
F.D.A. Will Permanently Allow Abortion Pills by Mail
New York Times
The decision will broaden access to medication abortion, an increasingly common method, but many conservative states are already mobilizing against it.
Churches Starting to See Cryptocurrency in the Collection Plate
Christianity Today
As digital monetary systems go mainstream, ministries weigh pros and cons of accepting donations.
Featured Podcast
On the ERLC Podcast, Brent and Lindsay discuss Southern Baptist Disaster Relief after the tornadoes, Omicron’s arrival to the U.S., and efforts to crackdown on unruly airline passengers. They also discuss the Christmas blues, the U.S. missionaries freed in Haiti, and the bipartisan deal on China’s human rights violations.
What You Need to Read
Daryl Crouch with How to join the Christmas story
Joseph refused to simply watch the Christmas story from a distance. He gladly abandoned his plans to join God’s redeeming work to make Jesus known. Whatever story, whatever plan, whatever platform, whatever future we think we are building for ourselves, Jesus can build a better one because he is simply a better Savior of the world than we are.
Jason Thacker with How the Chinese Communist Party is committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims
As Christians we stand up against the abuses of power based on our foundational understanding of human dignity rooted in the imago Dei and the Christian ethic of neighbor love. Right now, the church has the opportunity to speak up and advocate for the vulnerable and abused among us even if they live across the world under the heavy hand of a repressive regime like the CCP.
ERLC Staff with How the ERLC stood for life in 2021
As we look ahead to 2022 and then to the 50 year anniversary of Roe, we are more committed than ever to standing for life. And that means, by God’s grace, seeking to save preborn lives, caring for vulnerable mothers, and proclaiming in the public square the unswerving proclamation of the dignity of life found in God’s Word.
