News

Far too often, the Black Christian students’ response to what’s happening in this country and on their campus, have been overlooked. As a staff member on UW-Madison campus with the Impact Movement, a ministry that serves students of African Descent, I have come to realize that many Black Christian students encounter and struggle with this reality differently than students who are not of the Christian faith. After it was announced that Donald Trump has been elected as the 45th president of the United States of America, I was flooded by messages from my students and peers. A leader in the…

The idea came from an Immanuel Mennonite church in Harrisonburg, Virginia, that designed the sign for its own congregation after an uptick in racist incidents across the country post-election. After several incidents targeting minorities in Madison in the last two weeks, Madison pastor Michael Winnowski decided to promote the signs locally. The sign reads: “No matter where you are from, we’re glad you’re our neighbor” in English, Spanish and Arabic.

Matthew McCormick was administering a test to a social studies class at Monona Grove High School earlier this fall when, upon reviewing the test questions, he came across one that stirred his conscience. The question asked students to complete the sentence, “Gender is defined by _____.” The correct response, according to the answer key was “culture.” But, McCormick, a Catholic, didn’t believe it.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican legislator has been holding weekly Bible study sessions for lawmakers in his state Capitol office for the past three years, raising questions again about where the line between church and state lies in the building. Administrative rules require state employees to use state buildings only for official work. Critics say the meetings are inappropriate, even though praying before legislative session days and religious displays in the Capitol rotunda have been upheld as legal.

Two Catholic students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have sued the university after being denied credit toward mandatory community service for the time they spent teaching their religion at a local parish. Their attorney, from the Gerogia-based group Alliance Defending Freedom, says the policy amounts to an unconstitutional “animosity toward and discrimination against religion.”

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship officially began its campus ministry in the United States on November 14, 1941, the day the ministry was incorporated. Campus fellowships had already been active at several U.S. colleges for a few years, however. In 1941 InterVarsity’s founder, Stacey Woods, directed a three-person staff, operating out of a Chicago office that was shared with the Christian Workers Foundation. Today, 75 years later, InterVarsity’s national office is in Madison, Wisconsin, and staff workers and volunteers across the U.S. total more than 2,000. InterVarsity has 1,011 chapters on 667 U.S. college campuses, working with more than 40,000 core students…

“Labels matter. So do definitions. Evangelicals are best defined by their beliefs,” says Ed Stetzer on his blog at Christianity Today.

The SSM Health Fall Gospel Fest, originally set to take place this Saturday at Blackhawk Church, has been rescheduled for Saturday, December 10 at High Point Church in Madison.

Catholic Charities Madison has chosen Judith Metzger as the director of the planned day resource center for the homeless, scheduled to open in Madison next summer. Metzger spent the last 22 years as outreach coordinator at the Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel and Student Center at UW-Madison. Prior to that, she was a case manager and therapist.

Representatives of at least 45 Madison area churches made up the 400 people who attended Care Net Pregnancy Center of Dane County’s annual banquet, November 3rd, at the Marriott Madison West. Roland Warren, the CEO of Care Net’s national organization challenged those congregations to take up the job of ending abortion. “Fifty four per cent of women who have abortions identify as Christian,” Warren said. “If a woman has a positive pregnancy test, who is she going to talk to in her church?” If there is no one, he suggested, the woman might easily choose to go to an abortion…