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Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.

 

In today's edition:

Church Disaffiliated from Baptist Convention for Welcoming Gays

 

The Houston Voice reports that Pastor Randy Haney, founder of Faith Harbour Church in Baytown, TX, said he allowed an upstart group that welcomes gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals to use his church’s facility as a personal favor to a friend. But as a result of Haney’s decision, Faith Harbour was disaffiliated this week from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention by the organization’s executive board. “I found out about it from a friend and read the article [on the Baptist Press website],” Haney said, noting that nobody from the Convention had contacted him even after the executive board voted unanimously Tuesday to disaffiliate the church. At issue: Haney allowed a group called Eklektos, founded by his friend Wendy Bailey, an ordained Presbyterian minister, to use the church’s storefront facility to meet. Bailey said her goal is to offer a safe place for gay people to learn about God. Haney doesn’t agree with homosexuality, “but I’m not going to cast someone out just because I don’t believe in it,” he said. Joe Stewart, board chair and pastor of FBC Littlefield, told the convention news service, “One cannot be presenting the life-changing Gospel to homosexuals and at the same time affirm the lifestyle. Although we want to reach out to people caught in sin, at the same time we can’t affirm the lifestyle.” Haney’s response: “How dare we defile the sanctuary by inviting sinners to come and be a part of hearing the message of Christ.”

 

Dissatisfied Jews, Christians Share Ideas on 'Emergent' Faith

 

An AP news story reports that frustrated Rabbi Dov Gartenberg and 15 other Jewish leaders met recently with evangelical Christians who set out on a similar path of forsakenness a decade ago and sparked a mini-revolution in the process. Over two days, representatives from Jewish and Christian worship groups talked about abandoning traditional worship in search of a more personal connection with God – one they believe can't be found in temple or church. Gartenberg said he became discouraged when he would see bored faces among the worshippers and wonder how long he could hold their interest. He quit his congregation two years ago and opened a nonprofit for Jews who felt as he did. "We've got to learn from what our Christian colleagues are doing," said Shawn Landres of Synagogue 3000, a progressive Jewish think tank that set up the meeting. "We told them, 'You guys are maybe five to 10 years ahead of us, and we want to know what you did right and what you did wrong.'" Speakers at the conference said both faiths are struggling to stay relevant – particularly to young people – in a culture that is increasingly fast-paced and global. They also shared their vision with more traditional Jewish leaders who hope this new "emergent Judaism" might help bring young Jews back at least to some style of worship.