Tim Challies has a post today about his encounter with the Louisville abortion clinic when he was in town for T4G last week. Tim says that he observed some Christians standing outside the clinic encouraging young women not to abort their unborn babies. You can read the narrative of Tim’s experience here, but I want to tell you a little bit about the people who are outside of that abortion clinic every week.
A few years ago, Dave and Stacy Hare of Immanuel Baptist Church were inspired by a sermon from their pastor to begin a ministry called “Speak for the Unborn.” The ministry was to be a kind of last line of defense for the unborn. They got together some other volunteers and went to the abortion clinic every Saturday morning to talk to young women as they approached the clinic. The message was pretty simple. They would encourage them to keep their babies, to come to the crisis pregnancy center next door, and (when there’s opportunity) to consider the gospel.
My church got involved with the ministry a couple of years ago, and I have been out there many times myself. Over the years, the volunteers of “Speak for the Unborn” have seen many women walk away from the abortion clinic and into the crisis pregnancy center. Babies have been saved as a result of this ministry, and countless mothers and fathers have heard the gospel. It’s not an easy work. The escorts from the clinic can be really hostile. But it is nevertheless a good work.
This ministry is still in need of volunteers. I have observed that the women from our church were the most effective at engaging the women who were coming in for abortions. The ministry needs more women who are bold to speak to mothers in crisis. But that doesn’t mean there is no role for men. I can’t tell you how many conversations that I had with husbands and boyfriends who accompanied young women to the clinic. Many of these women are looking for just one person to support their decision to keep their baby. So convincing these husbands and boyfriends is crucial work. Male volunteers also have opportunities to engage the clinic’s escorts, many of whom are men. Our folks did as much evangelizing the escorts as we did those visiting the clinic.
If you want more information about this ministry, I encourage you to visit the “Speak for the Unborn” website. It provides information and resources not only for those who want to get involved in Louisville, but also for those who would like to start a ministry like this in their own city.
Jürgen Moltmann is rightly described as the father of the theology of hope. Whether or not you agree with him on everything (and I don’t), he is a theologian to be reckoned with. His new book Ethics of Hope is an English translation of his 2010 German work Ethik der Hoffnung. Moltmann argues that “hope in the future decisively reconfigures the present and shapes our understanding of central Christian convictions, from creation to New Creation.” In this book, Moltmann applies his theology of hope to the ethics of life, earth ethics, and political ethics. Though I am disappointed that there appears to be very little about sexual ethics, this is still an important book.
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