Choosing a Christian college • Continuing education for pastors • Special Section
Volume 108, No. 5
IB Insider
7 es Pag
- 11
MARCH 24, 2014
Small ones urged to dream big
Name your own Cooperative Program Sunday page 4
The BIG Pic: Baptists in the Holy Land page 3
Does your church really pray? page 5 B101: ‘Father’ God in a fatherless society page 14 Pat Pajak vs. Crabby Appleton page 15
News and updates Throughout the week:
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Kids try hands-on missions in nine cities Illinois | One by one, kids told their Children’s Ministry Day stories in brief, honest sentences. “We raked up gum balls, and not the kind you chew,” said Gavin. “It made me feel really happy, because I love cooking and I love helping people,” said Elana, who helped cook a meal for families at Springfield’s Ronald McDonald House. Ella, a volunteer from Pittsfield, answered a question about whether her
yard work crew had stayed positive during the day: “We mostly did it with a good attitude.” Kids and their leaders served across the state March 15 through Children’s Ministry Day, a one-day missions experience that culminates with a celebration service at each project site. In Springfield, Gavin, Elana, Ella and others shared about the projects they did this year, which marked the fourth annual Children’s Ministry Day in Illinois.
CHILD-LIKE FAITH – Kids serving on Children’s Ministry Day pray over baby Nina at Angels’ Cove Maternity Center in Mt. Vernon. Photo by Carla Donoho
Created by national Woman’s Missionary Union, the day of service for kids has taken on a life of its own in Illinois. Nearly 1,100 children, leaders and volunteers representing 75 churches served at nine locations around the state this year. Continued on page 6
Who’s leading the charge?
Gay marriage gains support in courts, public opinion Same-sex marriage is not being tried in the court of public opinion. It’s being tried in the courts and public opinion. And the latest evidence is it’s winning in both sectors. Same-sex marriage is legal in 17 states. And, one way or another, it’s pending in the remaining 33. Even in states where marriage is legally limited to one man/one woman, there is a growing sense that pending court decisions will force recognition of gay marriages performed in other states. At the same time, new polls show a majority of Americans support recognition of same-sex marriages. The ABC News-Washington Post poll shows 59% of Americans say they support same-sex marriage (34% are opposed), and 50% say the U.S. Constitution already guarantees homosexuals the right to marry (41% say it does not).
In states that prohibit same-sex marriage, 53% of those surveyed favored allowing it; 40% remained opposed. Support for same-sex marriage is lowest among Republicans (only 40% approve), and among conservatives and evangelical Protestants at one-third or less. The Post’s analysis of its polling is that “support for same-sex marriage has changed more rapidly than almost any social issue in the past decade.” In March 2004, only 38% of respondents said same-sex marriage should be legal, and 59% said it should not. In all this polling, the generation gap is noteworthy. Younger people of every political and religious view were more likely to favor legalizing gay marriage. For example, a Pew survey found 61% of young Republicans under age 30 supported samesex marriage. Continued on page 3
mission illinois
New goals sharpen 2015 IBSA planning
Springfield | When the air above is turbulent, you sometimes choose to fly at a little lower altitude for a while. That’s how IBSA Executive Director Nate Adams described his approach to the current funding and staffing challenges many state conventions are facing. While nationally Cooperative Program giving has continued a gradually downward trend, missions giving in Illinois has leveled out and started an upward tick since churches first felt the fallout of economic decline in 2009. And while other state conventions have found it necessary to cut staff and Continued on page 2