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Those who haven’t heard of NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo before this week, will surely hear about the man known as the “Greek Freak” who lead his Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA Finals championship win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday. And while his life story is fascinating, heart-warming and remarkable, the religious life of Giannis is less well known. The now 26-year-old Giannis became a Christian and devout member of the Greek Orthodox Church as a young person and continues to acknowledge his Christian faith.

It was a midsummer Sunday and the often sparsely populated sanctuary at Lakeview Moravian Community Church on Tulane Avenue on Madison’s east side was pretty much full with about 60 people present. It was not just the Moravians, though. The crowd included people from Zion Lutheran Church, which has been on the near East Side since 1890 – people who had just left their church building on Linden Avenue near the Barrymore Theater. Read more of this story.

A Wisconsin baby born at 21 weeks and two days has set the Guinness World Record for being the most premature baby to survive in an amazing story that is being celebrated by the pro-life community.

ROXBURY — Bishop Donald J. Hying of Madison celebrated Mass for the faithful at St. Norbert Church in Roxbury on June 6, the day marking Corpus Christi and the Feast Day of St. Norbert, but also special this year as St. Norbert celebrates its 175th Anniversary. Recognized as the oldest parish in Dane County, St. Norbert has a continuous history dating to 1846, back when James K. Polk was the 11th President of the United States and 12 years before Wisconsin officially became a state. The current church building saw its cornerstone laid in 1856.

Over the past 8 months, I’ve been part of a cohort of learners in an initiative called “Missio Madison” or Mission Madison. The goals of Missio Madison are to bring together pastors and church leaders from a variety of denominations to build kinship, learn from one another, and foster collaboration.  During our time together we’ve focused on discerning 3 questions: “Where are we?”  “What is God up to here?” “What might He be inviting us into?” When I think about my church, the answer to the “Where are we?” question is an area of Madison known as the Triangle.

It began in 1980 as a “Middleton Outreach Mission” to all the apartment dwellers moving to the westside of that Madison suburb. Soon the mission became more than one church could handle. So, in 1984 its founding church, St. Luke’s Lutheran, welcomed St. Dunstan’s Episcopal, Middleton Community Church UCC, and St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in reforming itself as a nonprofit, named “Middleton Outreach Ministry” or, more fondly, MOM. It is now a major organization in the community focusing on providing food and housing security through both action and advocacy so that, as it says in its mission statement, it helps create “a community where everyone…

(RNS) — Jeff Weddle, a 46-year-old, wise-cracking, self-deprecating, Bible-loving, self-described “failing pastor” from Wisconsin, was already thinking of leaving the ministry before COVID and the 2020 election. He was, as he put it, fed up with church life after two decades as a pastor. Then, what he called “the stupid” — feuds about politics and the pandemic — put him over the edge. People at church seemed more concerned about the latest social media dustup and online conspiracy theories — one church member called him the antichrist for his views on COVID— than in learning about the Bible.

After a one-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual National Day of Prayer Observance returns to the Wisconsin State Capitol on the first Thursday of May. A full schedule of events has been released by the Wisconsin National Day of Prayer State Coordinator.

Rev. Karla Garcia, pastor of S.S. Morris Community AME Church in Madison, was stunned in February when a contact with Rev. Marcio Sierra, Jr. of Lighthouse Church led to an unexpected financial gift to her congregation. Now, almost three months later, she continues to be stunned by the generosity of several other congregations whose gifts have accelerated a campaign to meet some of the urgent physical needs of the far east side congregation located at 3511 Milwaukee Street.

Last year’s Wisconsin Film Festival was essentially canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizers hope that in spring 2022 the Wisconsin Film Festival will return to theaters, but for 2021 film-lovers will be able view at home. Nathan Clarke is part of the team that created “The Passing On,” praised as “intimate and loving” by Wisconsin Film Festival judges. Born in Madison, Clarke grew up on the East Coast. In 2002, he and his wife moved back to Madison when he got a position in the communications department at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Clarke is a video producer and filmmaker whose…