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News & Mission Stories

News / Mission Story
Mission Story Peter Bickel Mission Story Peter Bickel

From grief to hope: ABHMS partner supports children and youth in Philadelphia through basketball

VALLEY FORGE, PA (02/18/2026)—Garry Mills lost 18 family members and friends to gun violence in Philadelphia, and to process his grief, he played basketball. One day in 2010, when he invited friends to play, 400 people showed up. That was when Garry realized that people in his neighborhood—especially young men—really need a safe, positive space.

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Mission Story Peter Bickel Mission Story Peter Bickel

ABHMS partner brings people of different faiths together to protect children’s welfare

VALLEY FORGE, PA (02/18/2026)—On the morning of September 11, 2001, a group of 400 Georgia religious leaders representing different faith traditions gathered for breakfast. Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund, was the keynote speaker. She forcefully argued that people of faith must unite to advocate for all children across Georgia. As the leaders prepared to leave, news of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C reached them. Hearing it, everyone in the room committed to stay and work together for Georgia’s children.

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Mission Story Peter Bickel Mission Story Peter Bickel

A pastoral lament for Minnesota

By Dr. Jeffrey Haggray

VALLEY FORGE, PA (01/26/2026)—My heart grieves the tragic deaths of Alex Jeffrey Pretti and Renee Nicole Goode. They were both law-abiding citizens killed while exercising their civic and moral duty, along with their constitutional rights to peacefully resist the ruthless conduct of federally appointed agents that were visibly violating the rights of their neighbors.

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Mission Story Peter Bickel Mission Story Peter Bickel

Oasis: How American Baptist youth are reviving the church

VALLEY FORGE, PA (12/25/2025)—“I matter. My story matters.”

These are the words that many young American Baptists wrote again and again, claiming the power of storytelling, at the American Baptist Youth Convention on November 7-9, 2025, in Lyons Falls, New York. They came together for renewal, reflection, and new friendships. The gathering’s theme was “Oasis” — a place in a “desert of life where participants can find Living Water.”

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Mission Story Kristine Neil Mission Story Kristine Neil

When the church listens with a child’s heart: Rediscovering wonder, joy, and belonging in worship

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.

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Mission Story Kristine Neil Mission Story Kristine Neil

Multicultural ministry—listening to one another

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.

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