So Long New York: American Bible Society Heads to Philly
A year after putting its iconic building on the market, ABS exits the Big Apple after nearly two centuries.
After nearly 200 years in New York City, the American Bible Society (ABS) is departing for Philadelphia, one of an increasing number of religious institutions selling once iconic urban properties.
A 12-story building located blocks away from Central Park, ABS’ headquarters have also housed other evangelical ministries, including Q Ideas, Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s Center for Faith & Work, the Museum of Biblical Art, and Young Life.
American Bible Society president and CEO Roy Peterson announced the move in a joint press conference with Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter on Wednesday morning. “On behalf of the City of Philadelphia, we’re honored to welcome American Bible Society to its new home,” Nutter said.
Peterson cited strategic collaboration opportunities, affordability and livability as reasons behind ABS’ relocation to downtown Philadelphia, though he called the decision to leave New York “heart-wrenching.”
“People can afford to live here [in Philadelphia], it’s walkable, there’s public transportation,” Peterson told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Our staff commutes an hour or two…from Long Island, the Bronx.”
ABS also revealed plans to create a Bible Discovery Center, Scriptures Depository and scholarly working library in its new home, which will be located several blocks away from Independence Mall. The organization hopes to be fully moved in by the end of the summer, just ahead of Pope Francis’ Philadelphia visit in September.
ABS hired Peterson, who formerly led The Seed Company and Wycliffe USA, as its new CEO last January. In March, ABS broke the news that it would be selling its Upper West Side property after …
YWAM Missionaries Won’t Be Deported over Visa Issue
With 300 missionaries at risk during sponsorship suspension, organization learned “hard lessons” about record-keeping.
Hundreds of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionaries whose visas were suspended last month get to continue ministry work in England and Wales after government officials reinstated the organization’s sponsorship status today.
In December, Britain suspended licenses for 300 YWAM missionaries and their families due to issues with the organization’s sponsorship paperwork. Without the authorization to sponsor visas, YWAM would have been forced to send the missionaries home as soon as April, cutting its presence in the two countries in half.
“We are extremely grateful for this positive outcome, but admit that we have had to learn several hard lessons about our internal processes and our approach to record keeping,” YWAM stated.
The UK Visas & Immigration office discovered errors in YWAM paperwork following an audit last September. While the missions organization said it immediately submitted a corrective action plan to the government, the office warned that YWAM could be downgraded, limited in its visa sponsorship capacity, or lose its license over the errors. On December 23, YWAM learned that its license had been suspended for 20 business days. The missionary organization, which has operated in the UK for more than 40 years, released a statement Tuesday praising God for the resolution to its visa issue and thanking supporters for their encouragement.
Mark Vening, a missionary at YWAM’s Wrexham office, told CT earlier this month that immigration concerns might have affected their audit. “The British government has said they want to reduce immigration by one third. So they are going to have to find organizations that currently have licenses and potentially take them away in order …
YWAM Missionaries Won’t Be Deported over Visa Issue
With 300 missionaries at risk during sponsorship suspension, organization learned “hard lessons” about record-keeping.
Hundreds of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) missionaries whose visas were suspended last month get to continue ministry work in England and Wales after government officials reinstated the organization’s sponsorship status today.
In December, Britain suspended licenses for 300 YWAM missionaries and their families due to issues with the organization’s sponsorship paperwork. Without the authorization to sponsor visas, YWAM would have been forced to send the missionaries home as soon as April, cutting its presence in the two countries in half.
“We are extremely grateful for this positive outcome, but admit that we have had to learn several hard lessons about our internal processes and our approach to record keeping,” YWAM stated.
The UK Visas & Immigration office discovered errors in YWAM paperwork following an audit last September. While the missions organization said it immediately submitted a corrective action plan to the government, the office warned that YWAM could be downgraded, limited in its visa sponsorship capacity, or lose its license over the errors. On December 23, YWAM learned that its license had been suspended for 20 business days. The missionary organization, which has operated in the UK for more than 40 years, released a statement Tuesday praising God for the resolution to its visa issue and thanking supporters for their encouragement.
Mark Vening, a missionary at YWAM’s Wrexham office, told CT earlier this month that immigration concerns might have affected their audit. “The British government has said they want to reduce immigration by one third. So they are going to have to find organizations that currently have licenses and potentially take them away in order …
Robert P. George to Saudi Arabia: Whip Me Instead of Raif Badawi
Offering to take 100 lashes each, 7 of 9 USCIRF commissioners ‘would rather share in’ blogger’s punishment than ‘watch him being cruelly tortured.’
Following Saudi Arabia’s decision to flog a dissident blogger 50 times on a weekly basis for the next five months, seven of the nine members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) have asked the Muslim nation to whip them instead.
“Compassion, a virtue honored in Islam as well as in Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths, is defined as ‘suffering with another,’” wrote vice-chair Robert P. George and his colleagues in a letter addressed to Adel bin Ahmed Al Jubeir, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States. “We are persons of different faiths, yet we are united in a sense of obligation to condemn and resist injustice and to suffer with its victims, if need be.”
In May 2014, the Saudi Arabian government sentenced Muslim blogger Raif Badawi, 31, to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for operating Free Saudi Liberals, a website which sought to encourage debate on religious and political matters. On Thursday, for the second week in a row, a medical commission postponed his scheduled Friday flogging on health grounds.
“If your government will not remit the punishment of Raif Badawi, we respectfully ask that you permit each of us to take 100 of the lashes that would be given to him,” the commissioners stated. “We would rather share in his victimization than stand by and watch him being cruelly tortured. If your government does not see fit to stop this from happening, we are prepared to present ourselves to receive our share of Mr. Badawi’s unjust punishment.” [Full letter below.]
George, a Princeton University professor, posted a copy of the letter to his Facebook page. The letter has not been published on USCIRF’s …
Tending the ‘Stolen’ Sheep in Latin America’s Booming Bible Belt
Catholics may be fast converting to Protestantism, but beliefs and maturity vary.
For most of the past century, almost all (more than 90%) of Latin Americans were Catholics. But decades of attrition have resulted in a record 1 in 5 Latinos now identi…
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