An Alabama megachurch has opened up a facility made of a bowling alley and six giant interconnected domes to the public as a community outreach.
Faith Chapel Christian Center near Birmingham, Alabama has opened the center they call “The Bridge” to the public after opening it last year for the 6,400 members of the church.
The church says the delay came in getting staff in place for the entire facility, which beyond the bowling alley has basketball courts, fitness center, banquet hall and more.
Pastor Michael D. Moore says the goal of “The Bridge” is to “bridge people from the world to the kingdom.”
“People may not want to come to a church, but they’ll come to a bowling alley,” he told the Christian Post. “People have needs other than spiritual needs. There’s a need for safe, clean, uplifting, family-oriented entertainment.”
Moore founded the church with his wife, his mother and a friend in 1981.
Islamic extremists attacked a church in the Central African Republic Monday, killing at least 17 and leaving dozens wounded.
Reverend Thibault Ndemaguia told the Associated Press the attackers came at St. Joseph Cathedral of Bambari because a Muslim youth had been killed in the area and they were claiming a Christian did the killing.
A statement from the Seleka Muslim militia appears to back the pastor’s view: the group said “all we did was retaliate.”
The church has been a refuge for thousands of Christians attempting to escape the ongoing civil war in the country. Rev. Ndemaguia says the church averages between 4,000 and 6,000 people seeking refuge from the battles.
The civil war in the nation began last year when a Muslim extremist group attacked and overthrew the country’s government that was mainly run by Christians. They tried to set up strict Sharia Law but eventually bowed out of power because of international pressures.
Congregants of the Church of Christ in the Thiba Al Hamyida area of Khartoum stood by helplessly as Sudanese government officials destroyed their church building.
A church member told CNN that the government came in during Sunday mass and said they would be destroying the building. About 70 security personnel, some armed with guns and tear gas, used a bulldozer to destroy the building.
“They wanted to beat us or throw tear gas on us,” the church member said.
Reverend Kwa Shamal told the Morning Star News that government officials made it clear they were to not ask questions about why they were destroying the church. The government also gave no compensation to the church for the destruction of their building.
The pastor said the church’s congregation will meet in a tent this Sunday.
Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram launched a major offensive against churches in northern Nigeria Sunday, leaving dozens dead and injured.
Witnesses say the terrorists descended during worship services and set fire to church buildings with Christians inside. When the Christians attempted to flee the flames, the terrorists would gun them down with automatic weapons.
A vigilante group in the village of Kwada said that at least 30 victims have been confirmed dead and the death toll was likely to rise significantly because a number of people fled into the bush and were chased by armed terrorists.
At least four churches were burned to the ground during the assault, including one church that was started by American missionaries in the 1920s. In addition to the churches, the terrorists set fire to the homes of Christians in at least two communities.
Officials say the terrorists also attacked the village of Kautikari to continue their assault but they have not been able to get a count of the dead and wounded.
A group of Chinese Christians who could not stop the government from destroying their church building stood and sang hymns as the workers stripped crosses off the building.
The Chinese government continued their crackdown on any Christian emblems in Wenzhou City. The city had been the source of a major movement of Christianity that the government claimed was illegal and sought to end.
The government has gone as far as to destroy a multimillion dollar church building that took five years to build within weeks of the church’s official opening. The government claimed that the building violated building codes and had to be destroyed.
The government is now blocking any website that makes mention of the crackdown on churches in Wenzhou, saying that the information in violation of Chinese law and that they are nothing more than propaganda which is aimed to overthrow the government.
Local Christians have told aid organiztions that over 360 churches have been destroyed in the last few weeks in the Zhejiang Province which includes Wenhzou City. All of the buildings were destroyed for “illegal construction” and are going to be replaced with government buildings aimed at “urban development.”
The Bible tells us that if we do what God says, we will be a nation that will lend and not borrow. The Bible says that! And if we disobey God and rebel, we will be a debtor.
Guess what? We are the number one debtor nation in the world! But because we are not studying those Scriptures, we don’t realize that America is under judgment. And the only way we can change it, [the Bible] says “If my people will humble themselves and pray, turn, He says I’ll hear in heaven and heal their land.
The thing I keep saying is one day, I will say it on TV; “Order your food today,” and, that will be the last time I will ever be able to say it. And, the food will all be gone. And, those who have it, then they will have life at least a little simpler than having to go out and find food somewhere. Continue reading →
A Texas appellate court has found a Texas pastor and a member of his congregation that had been arrested for crossing a police line at an event where they were protesting not guilty.
Pastor Joey Fault and members of the Kingdom Baptist Church in Venus, Texas were protesting at an event in Fort Worth Texas in October 2012. When some of the event’s attendees were upset the Christians were passing out information and pamphlets that disagreed with the event’s mission, the police formed a human barricade to keep the Christians from being able to reach attendees.
Pastor Faust told the Christian News Network police told them that they could go no further and they were forbidden from even crossing the street.
The pastor and his group continued their protest but then noted police were allowing those who were not part of the church group to pass through their line and across the street. The pastor then attempted to cross the street and was immediately seized upon by the police and arrested for “interfering with public duties.” He was jailed for 20 hours and released on $1,500 bail.
Last May, a judge said the pastor and another member of his congregation who arrested on the same charge were guilty. The case was appealed to the Second District of Texas Court of Appeals that ruled the men were not guilty and that the police had infringed on the First Amendment rights of the church.
“The skirmish line prohibited all member of the church from exercising their right of free speech merely because of their association with the church,” the court rules. “This is too far a limitation.”
A new study has shown that giving to charity has been increasing among Americans but that overall giving to churches is in decline.
The Giving USA Foundation released their annual research report Tuesday and said that Americans gave about $335 billion to charity in 2013, a 3 percent increase after adjustments for inflation. In the same time period, giving to churches was down 0.2 percent, 1.6 percent if adjusted for inflation.
Gregg Carlson, chair of the Giving USA Foundation, told The Christian Post that just 10 years ago giving to churches accounted for 57 percent of all giving. Now that total is just 31 percent and falling.
“It continues to be a pattern trend of giving being a lower and lower percentage of the overall philanthropic pie,” Carlson said. “It’s not that [churches] haven’t had some years of increases but it is to say that religion is a smaller and smaller percentage of the philanthropic pie.”
Carlson noted that overall, the giving by Americans was higher than the Gross Domestic Product of some entire nations like Denmark and Ireland.
The members of Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Charleston, South Carolina received a shocking awakening on Sunday morning when a man decapitated a statue of Jesus.
Witnesses say that a man with a Kobalt sledgehammer approached the statue outside the church around 5:45 a.m. and then lopped off Jesus’ head. The witnesses called police who found Charles Jeffrey Short, 38, walking near the church a short time later and he admitted to committing the crime.
Police found the sledgehammer covered in dust and residue in the man’s backpack.
Short told police that he did so because of the Ten Commandments.
“I think I used a sledgehammer to strike that statue about six or seven times, because the first or second commandment states to not make an image of a male or female to be on display to the public,” Short told officers.
Police are investigating if Short was behind a similar attack on statues last week at a different church. The head and hands of a statue of Jesus and a child were broken off and missing.
The Supreme Court declined in a 7-2 decision to hear the appeal of a school district that held their graduation ceremonies inside a church building, allowing a lower court ruling to stand that holding such an event inside a church is unconstitutional.
The anti-Christian group Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in 1990 against the Elmbrook, Wisconsin School District which had been holding their graduation ceremonies inside a non-denominational church facility. The anti-Christianists said the mere existence of Christian symbols in the building meant the school was promoting Christianity over all other religions.
While multiple lower courts ruled in favor of the school district, the anti-Christian group continued to file appeals until the full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a three-judge 7th Circuit panel and ruled in their favor. The Supreme Court before their formal refusal to hear the case shelved the case for two years.
Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented from the majority. Justice Scalia wrote that while a school district may have to act to soothe angry people, it doesn’t mean it’s the constitution’s job to soothe hurt feelings. The justices also noted the flawed 7th Circuit ruling was in conflict with the Supreme Court’s decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which stated that mere offense does not equate to coercion.