VALLEY FORGE, PA (10/31/2025)—In this interview, Anna Piela, senior writer for American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) and associate editor of The Christian Citizen, speaks with Autumn Blalock, program coordinator of ABHMS’ Nurturing Children Initiative (NCI), a recently launched cohort-based effort helping congregations reimagine worship through the eyes of their youngest members.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (09/25/2025)—“Allelon” (Greek for “one another”) is the annual gathering organized by Massachusetts Baptist Multicultural Ministries (MBMM). This year’s event, held from September 18-20 under the theme “Listening to One Another’s Story,” was a space for listening across cultural, racial, and even faith boundaries. Listening was centered at the event as a “theological tool rooted in the character of God and in the ministry of Jesus Christ,” in the words of Rev. Dr. Mar Imsong, executive director of MBMM.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (09/16/2025)—“Eighty percent of sexual violence is committed by someone we know,” said Irina Sorrels, director of "Tu Refugio Seguro” (Your Safe Refuge), an Indiana-based ministry supporting Latino survivors of domestic and sexual violence as well as trafficking. “Usually the survivors know the abusers—they could be our parents, they could be our brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles—usually it’s somebody who is a part of or very close to the family.”

VALLEY FORGE, PA (09/16/2025)—“El 80 % de los casos de violencia sexual son cometidos por alguien que conocemos”, afirma Irina Sorrels, directora de Tu Refugio Seguro, una organización con sede en Indiana que presta apoyo a los latinos y latinas que han sobrevivido a la violencia doméstica y sexual, así como de la trata de personas. “Por lo general, las víctimas conocen a los agresores: pueden ser nuestros padres, hermanos, hermanas, primos, tíos... normalmente se trata de alguien que forma parte de la familia o es muy cercano a ella”.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (09/11/2025)—When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29, 2005, 80 percent of the city was flooded, leading to the devastating loss of 1400 lives (some sources suggest the higher number of 1833 lives). The Black residents of New Orleans suffered the most; many lived in low-cost housing below the sea level that was not sufficiently protected from flooding by the faulty levees. There also weren’t any evacuation plans for the poor residents of the city, many of whom did not have their own transportation or any place to escape to.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (08/11/2025)—“Currently, 26 percent of Puerto Rico churches are without pastors,” noted Rev. Abigail Medina Betancourt, national coordinator of Intercultural Engagement at American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) and associate program director of Creciendo Juntos, an ABHMS program that seeks to build capacity for Latino ministries. Building Bridges, a three-year collaborative program developed by ABHMS, Iglesias Bautistas de Puerto Rico (IBPR, Baptist Churches of Puerto Rico), and Unión de Jóvenes Bautistas de Puerto Rico (UJBPR, Union of the Baptist Youth of Puerto Rico) addresses the problem of a lack of intergenerational leadership development opportunities that would appeal to emerging leaders. In recent years, it has become painfully clear that the need for training intergenerational clergy in Puerto Rico is pressing.