VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/12/2025)—Rev. Dr. Marie Onwubuariri, director of Intercultural Ministries at American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS), has received a Reflective Leadership Grant from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, a non-degree-granting initiative of Duke Divinity School funded by Lilly Endowment Inc. and located in Durham, North Carolina.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/11/2025)—The Board of Directors of American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) gathered November 3–4 at the Leadership and Mission Building in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, for its semiannual meeting, which included a time of reflection and forward-looking conversations about opportunities that lie ahead.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/11/2025)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) has selected twelve “best practice” congregations to form the inaugural cohort of the Nurturing Children Initiative (NCI), a five-year nationwide project supported by a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/11/2025)—A new missional effort is gaining momentum at American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) as the Church Starters Initiative (CSI) nurtures its first cohort of faith leaders working to build new and re-emerging congregations across the United States.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (12/11/2025)—Through the Nurturing Children Initiative (NCI), American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) hopes to fuel a culture shift that embraces children’s natural curiosity, creativity, and forms of physical expression in the corporate, intergenerational worship environment. NCI will convene a total of 36 congregations in three cohorts (12 congregations per cohort) from 2025-2029 and provide them with child-development experts, youth programmatic leadership, and resources. NCI encourages participating churches to create opportunities within the context of corporate worship and prayer for the youngest among us to be affirmed and nurtured in who they are, encouraged in their faith, empowered in their gifts, and incorporated fully into the body of Christ.

VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 12/05/2025)—American Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) is pleased to announce that Rev. Ciarra Smith-Bond, senior pastor of Faith Community Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia, has been selected to receive the 2025 Beyond the Stained-Glass Ceiling Grant.