Rescue Work

I want to take some of your time as you read this blog post, to expand on an idea that I had mentioned in my sermon yesterday. This idea can be summed up by this question: “For all we as the Church in America call for the end of abortion, what can we practically do that will honestly and compassionately minister to mothers, their unborn babies, and the fathers that are sometimes forgotten?”

This question is a hard one for us to answer, but let me give you a few things to think about as we consider this. First, couldn’t we, as local churches, partner with local crisis pregnancy centers to minister to women who are considering abortion, or who find themselves in an unwanted pregnancy? What if God were to raise up families who said, “We will take the pregnant mom into our home, care for her, feed her, make sure she gets her prenatal care, mentor, coach and encourage her as she goes through this time in her life.”? Do you think that if we, as a church, were known for this that more people would come to us to find answers?

Another idea is that the church be a place where we champion those who are willing to adopt children of unwanted pregnancies. If we were to have homes that were willing and able to not only support and nurture the baby after birth, but also to help support and nurture the moms who carry these children before and after birth.

What would these things look like? To be honest, I have no idea, but I feel strongly that the church should be leading this charge. We need to be proactive and not reactive as we have been.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to send me an email with your comments to jim.augustine1970@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing your ideas.

And we’ll see you on Sunday!

Life (Period) Matters--Part 1

Since January is Sanctity of Human Life Month, I thought it would be nice to spend some days talking about it. I mean for all of the talk we hear as Christians as to the heinousness of abortion, euthanasia and the like, we seldom consider what the Biblical ramifications of these things are, save to say that “God values all life” or “We are made in the image of God” or “All life comes from God, therefore all life matters.”

But what I want to suggest to you today is that when we look at our world, God does care about each and every life…not just one part, or one skin color, or one ethnic group, or one profession. He cares about all of it, and I hope that you will continue to read to see what I mean.

The Scriptures say that we are all made in the image of God because we all descend from Adam, the first man. We are, therefore, given the image of Adam, the nature of Adam and a body in like kind as Adam. Each and every one of us have been created in the image of our God, and as such, there is intrinsic value to each one of us.

But not only the image we bear gives us value, but the love that God has for us gives us value as well, and we’ll talk more about that tomorrow.

For now, be blessed, and we’ll see you on Sunday!