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Adelle M. Banks

Adelle M. Banks is a national reporter for Religion News Service.

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Women ministers resist misogyny with mentors, training, resilience, study finds

With a total of six decades of ministry between them, Liz Ríos and Liz Mosbo VerHage were not surprised to learn that the vast majority of women ministers have faced misogyny....
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Around DC, congregations aid those who've lost the 'good government job'

On most mornings, Zenobia Bingham sets her alarm for 6:55 a.m. so she can join the prayer call at Washington’s Shiloh Baptist Church, where she has attended for 53 years....
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Federal judge approves partial settlement for lost AME Church retirement funds

A district court judge granted final approval August 18 to a partial settlement for clergy and staffers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church after a substantial percentage of funds from their ...
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Church membership may be declining, but many churchgoers are double-dosing

After Becky Hope left the evangelical church she had been attending in Portland, Oregon, four years ago, she began watching online services at an ecumenical church in New York City—just for a littl...
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AME clergy, staff await possible return of some lost retirement funds

Jimmy Thorn was counting on a retirement spent enjoying time with and providing support for the next generations of his family....
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Black church leader says Target boycott won't ease until DEI programs return

A collective Lenten fast from making purchases at Target has been lengthened into a “full-out boycott,” Jamal Bryant, pastor of an Atlanta-area megachurch and one of the leaders of the campaign, an...
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Abyssinian Baptist Church welcomes dismissal of pastor candidate's discrimination suit

A federal judge has dismissed a gender discrimination lawsuit brought against Abyssinian Baptist Church by a onetime candidate to be the historic Harlem church’s senior pastor, the sole female cand...
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Documentary highlights the tensions, isolation of being 'Black + Evangelical'

A new documentary is shedding light on a group of people who are part of the evangelical Christian tradition in a way, said Wheaton College theology professor Vincent Bacote, “that’s not just White...
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Jimmy Carter, beloved Sunday school teacher, former president, dies at 100

Jimmy Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, was known most as the 39th president of the United States. But he also will be remembered as the world’s most famous Sunday school teacher....
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Historical 'twin pillars' of US Black communities partner to boost vote

Soon after Vice President Kamala Harris shifted from vice presidential candidate to presidential nominee, 44,000 of her supporters dialed into a call dubbed Win With Black Women that quickly became...

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E. Anne Henning Byfield, former president of AME bishops' council, dies at 74

Bishop E. Anne Henning Byfield, a leader of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, has died two months into her retirement, the denomination announced on Thursday....
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National Baptists choose Connecticut pastor Boise Kimber as next president

After an unusual election that gave voters the choice on the ballot of a name or a “no,” members of the National Baptist Convention, USA, lined up behind a new president, Boise Kimber, senior pasto...
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AME Church announces retirement settlement agreement during general conference

The African Methodist Episcopal Church announced a settlement agreement with a number of its clergy who had sued the denomination, accusing it of mishandling their retirement funds....
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As AME Church meets for general conference, retirement plan questions continue

When Carieta Cain-Grizzell reached age 75, she had expected to retire after a lifetime as an African Methodist Episcopal Church member who became a pastor of several of its churches....
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Amos Brown, pastor to Kamala Harris, known for civil rights, reparations activism

Amos Brown, a longtime pastor of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, was specific when he described Vice President Kamala Harris’s connection to his church....
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Voter protection training begins as clergy, secular groups look toward election

Faith leaders are making plans to provide a de-escalating presence at the polls months ahead of another deeply contested presidential election in an increasingly polarized country....

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