Changes

'''LifeWay Christian Stores''' is a chain of Christian bookstores.  They have (as of 2018) over stores throughout the [[United States]].  They are one of the two largest Christian bookstore chains along with [[Mardel]].

'''LifeWay Christian Stores''' is a chain of Christian bookstores.  They have (as of 2018) over stores throughout the [[United States]].  They are one of the two largest Christian bookstore chains along with [[Mardel]].

LifeWay is a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, a ministry of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] which also publishes religious materials and operates two conference centers.  LifeWay was started in 1891 as the "Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention".  The Board started opening retail outlets in 1925 under the name "Baptist Book Store".  In 1971 they began to use the LifeWay name on some products and on a few of their stores, as by that time their offerings had expanded beyond SBC-published materials.  In 1998 the Board officially changed its official name and rebranded all of its stores as LifeWay Christian Stores.<ref>https://www.lifeway.com/en/about/history</ref>

LifeWay is a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, a ministry of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]] which also publishes religious materials (notably the [[Holman Christian Standard Bible]]) and operates the Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina.  LifeWay was started in 1891 as the "Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention".  The Board started opening retail outlets in 1925 under the name "Baptist Book Store".  In 1971 they began to use the LifeWay name on some products and on a few of their stores, as by that time their offerings had expanded beyond SBC-published materials.  In 1998 the Board officially changed its official name and rebranded all of its stores as LifeWay Christian Stores.<ref>https://www.lifeway.com/en/about/history</ref>

Although LifeWay sells books and other materials by authors who are not Baptist, it maintains a policy of only selling materials which are in agreement with traditional Christian beliefs, and has not hesitated to cease doing business with authors who do not; for example, in 2016 it discontinued selling books by liberal Christian author Jen Hatmaker after she publicly endorsed [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/october/lifeway-stops-selling-jen-hatmaker-books-lgbt-beliefs-chris.html</ref>

Although LifeWay sells books and other materials by authors who are not Baptist, it maintains a policy of only selling materials which are in agreement with traditional Christian beliefs, and has not hesitated to cease doing business with authors who do not; for example, in 2016 it discontinued selling books by liberal Christian author Jen Hatmaker after she publicly endorsed [[same-sex marriage]].<ref>http://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2016/october/lifeway-stops-selling-jen-hatmaker-books-lgbt-beliefs-chris.html</ref>