VALLEY FORGE, PA (10/02/2025)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) mourns the passing and celebrates the life of Rev. Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr. (1931–2025), a prophetic preacher, courageous pastor, and prolific author whose influence extended far beyond the pulpit. Pastor Emeritus of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California, and Professor Emeritus at the American Baptist Seminary of the West, now Berkeley School of Theology (BST), Smith embodied the belief that authentic Christian faith must always lean toward justice.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (09/24/2025)— American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) has received the Hope Partner Award from Hope for Tomorrow, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit serving Burmese and Chin refugee families.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 09/24/2025)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) invites nominations for five esteemed national ministry awards that recognize American Baptist chaplains, pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, and other specialized ministers who exemplify excellence in spiritual caregiving. Award recipients will be honored at the Chaplaincy & Specialized Ministry Luncheon during ABHMS’ Space for Grace & Spiritual Caregivers Conference, April 21–23, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio.

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 (ABNS 09/17/2025)—The 2026 Spiritual Caregivers Conference Poster Subcommittee of American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) is inviting chaplains, specialized ministers, pastoral counselors, and spiritual directors to submit proposals for poster presentations they wish to deliver at ABHMS’ 2026 Space for Grace & Spiritual Caregivers Conference, April 21-23, in Cleveland, Ohio. Applications to present are being accepted until 5 p.m. ET, November 21, 2025.

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.”