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Baptist Message

"Helping Louisiana Baptists Impact the World For Christ"

EVANGELISM 101 (Part 8): A trauma-informed church will win souls

By Ryan Johnson, special to the Baptist Message EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a pair of articles about how to share the Gospel with people who have experienced trauma. NEW ORLEANS (LBM) -- Obedience to the Great Commission requires churches to be ready for the complex realities of ministry, including the kinds of situations where trauma has fractured trust, distorted identity, and left people wary of both God and others. Preparation for these situations is the focus of a new field known as trauma-informed evangelism, which equips believers with strategies to respond with grace, truth, and intentional relationships, as they invite those who have experienced trauma to find healing in Christ through spiritual formation, conversion, and discipleship.  COMMON SCENARIOS It's Wednesday night, and a 9-year-old first-time guest hits another child in line for snacks. You’re told he has “anger issues.” Will you let him return next Wednesday? A new visitor to your women’s group won’t make eye contact during the Bible lesson on forgiveness. Will anyone notice her detachment, or will they dismiss her as being introverted? A teenage boy in the youth group constantly jokes, derails conversations, and never opens up. … [Read more...]

SCOTUS rulings, other court cases impact Louisiana Baptists

By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor WASHINGTON (LBM) – The U.S. Supreme Court recessed from its 2024- 2025 term on June 26, having voted on 58 cases, decided another nine without ballots, and moved two to the 2025-26 term (which begins October 6) with a number addressing public policies that touch the homes, workplaces and ministries of Louisiana Baptists. VULNERABLE CHILDREN In United States v. Skrmetti, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2023 Tennessee ban against “performing on a minor or administering to a minor a medical procedure if the performance or administration of the procedure is for the purpose of enabling a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” The Court’s ruling will impact 25 other states with similar statutes, including Louisiana whose lawmakers overrode a veto, by then-Governor John Bel Edwards, to make HB648 a law (Act 466). This 2023 legislation, authored by Rep. Gabe Firment, a deacon with the First Baptist Church, Pollock, prohibits “procedures to alter the sex of a minor child” and was largely influenced by the 2022 Louisiana Baptist Convention RESOLUTION 2: ON PROTECTING CHILDREN FROM THE PERMANENT PHYSICAL HARM OF SEX CHANGE … [Read more...]