Article 2 of 4 in the "Culture Changing Church" Category

How church leaders can respond to the abortion crisis in the gospel centric manner God always wanted from us.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “This is our canary in the coal mine moment.”? It refers to an old practice once utilized by miners. Back in the early days of coal mining, some miners were falling ill and even dying from exposure to dangerous, odorless gases, undetectable by the human nose. After numerous poisonings and deaths, coal miners came up with the idea of bringing a caged canary into the coal mine with them. The idea was, if a small canary can survive whatever gases may be present, then it’s safe for the miners as well. The life or death of the canary acted as a signal.

I mention the canary in the coal mine concept because the church’s inability to change the culture on the issue of abortion is a signal that something has gone terribly wrong with the bride of Christ. Throughout our history, no matter the persecution or trial, wherever she spread she responded with a message and method that turned the world upside down. (Acts 17:6)  In contrast, since 1973 when the Roe v. Wade decision made the right to abortion the law of the land, over 60 million lives have been lost. It’s easily the greatest human rights crisis the world has ever known and yet we've been impotent on the matter. The numbers don't lie. They tell us what we’ve been doing simply hasn’t worked. It’s time we reinstitute what always did.

WHAT ABOUT THE DOBBS DECISION?

But before we go there you may find yourself saying, “Wait a minute. Doesn’t this Summer’s SCOTUS decision on the Dobbs case change everything?” In case you’ve been living under a rock, the Dobbs decision had the effect of overturning Roe now giving individual states the freedom to legislate those rights. This is certainly a significant legal victory however, as important as this ruling is, if we think “We’ve won!”, we need to realize this victory is tenuous at best. It's not just because our laws are passed and/or repealed by an ever-changing minority/majority electoral process, but because it’s never been the method God has used to change a culture. Changing a culture requires changing hearts and there's only one thing that can do that. You guessed it, it's the gospel. So, if we're not changing the culture with the gospel, were left with two conclusions. Either the gospel is no longer effective...or how we're presenting it is incomplete.

WHAT IS THE CANARY TELLING US?

I’ve been engaged in this issue for many years now and as a result, I’ve talked to quite a few pastors / church leaders. What I’ve concluded is there are basically two camps. There are those who haven’t given much thought to this issue mainly because they’re tired of the useless back and forth coming from both sides which I get, or they’ve dismissed abortion as “not a gospel issue, it’s mission creep, it’s lost people doing what lost people do and besides, it’s a legal, political, culture war issue, best left handled out there, in those realms.” The other camp believes it is an issue that should be addressed by God's people. They will address it from the pulpit and give to their local clinic but beyond that, their response has been to completely delegate it to our sidewalk counselors, pro-life clinics and related non-profits thinking, “they’ve got this, mission accomplished. It's the best we can do.” If you’d give me a few minutes of your time, I’d like to address both camps with what I think the canary would chirp to us.

As a jumping off place, I’d like you to know what the legitimate pro-life clinics and related non-profits consistently tell me. When I say, “legitimate” I mean those clinics / organizations not just trying to persuade moms to choose life, but feel called to go beyond that, genuinely wanting the abundant life for all involved. They are crying out for your help. If there’s one thing they’ve learned over the years by seeing repeat customer after repeat customer, by knowing the statistics of the vast numbers we're not reaching, those who never darken their doors, is that what they’re able to offer these moms rarely changes minds. They'll tell you, "Our offers of bottles, blankets and brochures listing numerous nonprofits that will help them, simply isn't enough. Ultrasounds, prenatal vitamins, etc are all good but what these desperate moms need, but we can't offer them, is the abundant life, a life of dignity, purpose, meaning....restoration. A second chance. A new life in a new kingdom. It's what these moms were made for, what they long for and we're not set up for that!" In other words, they need your help to effectively connect these moms to the one, long term, caring community God has always used to usher in that life, your church.

And therein lies the problem. To the first camp, I would say our expression of the gospel or how we "present" it, stops short when we can't connect them effectively to His bride. What the canary is telling us is the gospel is more than just a four point message of God's love, our sin, His solution and our decision. The gospel is also the tangible offer of and easy access to a community where you can move forward in the story God has written for your life. That kind of offer is especially relevant to moms tempted by abortion who are living at or below the poverty line and are stuck in cyclical generational patterns of destruction. Those moms account for over 500,000 abortions in our land every year. They need to know, without question, without hesitation that there is a loving community of people ready and waiting to help shepherd her and her child (and hopefully the dad) toward that new life and not just for nine months...but a lifetime. That’s the full gospel, the tangible invitation to citizenship in the new kingdom Jesus spoke of. It not only pursues and redeems…it also restores.

WHAT THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT NEEDS FROM CHURCH LEADERS

To both camps I would say, the problem is we unwittingly make it hard for these kinds of moms/families to join our fellowships. An invitation to church simply won't get it done. We don't understand or perhaps have forgotten how uncomfortable it is to be an outsider on a Sunday morning. The most naïve of us tend to think "our redesigned foyer that looks like a someone's home should put them at ease" or "a smiling face from our greeter should do the trick." But the more savvy of us know that people, especially lost people who come from the demographics we're talking about, the kind of people God is VERY concerned about in the scriptures, (the poor, the widow the orphan, the foreigner.*)...who often feel "less than" or ashamed of their position in life, they need an easier bridge to cross. What we need to understand is that regardless of what is true, perception is reality for these moms. If their perception is that we’re judgmental and/or condemning, expecting them to simply show up on Sunday and get “plugged in” is a bridge too far. It’s far too intimidating and frankly, a lot of what we do in corporate worship just doesn’t translate to an unchurched or unregenerate mind. However, what does translate and what God has always used throughout the history of His church to reach a lost and weary world is to have them witness smaller fellowships of believers, in everyday settings, loving one another in word and deed. We detailed how and why that works so well in the previous post so I won’t rehash that here but the Pro-Life movement needs you to facilitate and champion these kinds of fellowships. Those kinds of less formal, more intimate, authentic communities is what God has always used to turn the world upside down. To undervalue or underutilize them leaves our most persuasive evangelistic tool on the sidelines. (Watching these 2 videos will help explain what that looks like)

However, if you're still not convinced these fellowships would help these moms cross that bridge perhaps something else is holding you back. It may be fear.

HITTING THE RESET BUTTON

Some church leaders are concerned if they encourage these off-site, small group fellowships, they may completely lose their people. I promise you won’t. If you promote and facilitate this, if you show this sort of open-handed leadership which fosters the kind of authentic community that meets the deep needs of your peoples’ hearts, they won’t leave. In fact, it’ll make them trust you more. Please know they will still see their need for regular, sound, biblical teaching. If you implement this as we recommend in our guidebook , meeting in people’s homes after church for a potluck meal, it’ll give them a chance to discuss that morning’s message, using it to segue into application, prayer requests, sharing struggles and needs, etc, etc. Again, these are all things the

lost can witness and your current people can only benefit from.  Furthermore, they’ll still need the encouragement that comes from corporate worship, to be able to look around the room, the church gathered, and realize they’re part of something bigger than themselves. They’ll still need you to be the information hub and to pool resources for larger local or global needs and of course they'll still need you to administer the sacraments. Finally, it’s not like you’re cutting them loose to chase the wind. Leading these groups isn't easy. They can be messy. These group leaders will need overseers and coaching, drawing from your pooled years of ministry experience and wisdom.  So don’t fall victim to the lie of losing them. All this does is ensure your people receive more of what they’ve been missing and helps create an appealing space where they can invite others such as friends from work, families from their sports teams, nosey neighbors wondering, “what’s going on over there?” and in our case, desperate moms in need.

One final objection you may have is, "Greg, you don't understand my people. I can barely get them to be parking lot attendants or serve in our children't ministry. What you're suggesting is a whole different level of commitment." What I’ve noticed in over 30 years of ministry is that our people actually want to be more than plug and play participants on Sunday mornings or simply being our church’s cash cows. Those roles are important but they want more than that. They want to know their lives have transcendent purpose and meaning, that their lives are making a difference in eternity. By developing lay leaders who can shepherd people well, by granting them ownership of these smaller fellowships you’re empowering them to do the work of the ministry, something the Spirit inside them longs to do. (Eph.4:12) When these communities see God show up, working in and through their fellowship, it grants them that purpose and the ever-deepening intimacy with the Father they long for. That makes them want more of Him and therefore more concerned about the things closest to His heart, namely the people groups mentioned above. As a result, experiencing the Father in this way, makes the things of the world “grow strangely dim,” less appealing and less able to lead them astray.

SOME ACTION STEPS

Because these kinds of communities that would be ready and willing to shepherd these moms/families are more the exception than the rule, we've garnered a bit of a reputation among the lost and it's killing us. This reputation is preventing them from coming to us in our their hour of need. The reputation says "we only care that the child is born and then will allow mother and child to struggle on their own." We need you to

help us change that reputation. You can help us take a huge step forward by creating these kinds of communities but also publicly proclaiming, loud and clear, that we will be there for them in a significant way, not just for nine months but a lifetime. You can do that by plastering it across billboards. You can do that by pledging to partner with churches in parts of your town who deal with this issue more regularly. You can do that by registering your church’s pledge on our site. Registering your church on our site along with any small group communities willing to shepherd these families, will put a marker on a map for these moms to see. It'll also help our clinics and nonprofits connect those they serve with the right kind of people...your people.

One last admonition. If we proceed as usual, expecting incomplete gospel applications and old ineffective law-based strategies to somehow change the course of this crisis, then we’re practicing the definition of insanity. When the church isn’t proactively taking ground, when the gates of hell are prevailing against it, hell takes back.  In this case, in the unlikely event that heartbeat bills do hold, and they start regulating access to the “abortion pill,”(that link shows you how easy it currently is) more and more children will be born into single parent, poverty-stricken homes which create more welfare needs, more crime, more drug and alcohol abuse…more despair. In other words, if we're not doing our job presenting a complete gospel, we’ll eventually be outnumbered, outvoted, overrun, rightly relegated to the sidelines, losing all the freedoms of worship we currently possess.

So let’s listen to the canary and also consider how it would be just like our Father to use the global abortion crisis, which claims 45-50 million lives every year, to reset the reputation of the bride He loves and gave Himself for.

If you’d like to help us change the reputation of the church on the abortion issue, please register your church and any small groups you currently have, willing to shepherd a family. This video explains how we can then connect your groups with these moms. Again, we need to proclaim loud and clear that if they choose life, we will be there for them not just for nine months but for a lifetime.

If you have questions, feel free to download and read our free “Completing the Circle of Care Guide” or by commenting in the section below or by contacting us at coaching@promomprobaby.org or at our parent organization, info@caringchurchnetwork.org. 

*Zechariah 7:10, Leviticus 19:9-10, Deuteronomy 24:19-22, Deuteronomy 26:12-13, Psalm 68:5, Psalm 146:7-9, Deuteronomy 10:17-19, Deuteronomy 27:19, Proverbs 14:31, Proverbs 19:17, Leviticus 24:22, Proverbs 31:8,9, Isaiah 1:12-17, Isaiah 58:6,7, Luke 4:18, Matthew 25:31-46, Acts 4:32-37, James 1:27, James 2:14-18