Seminary Viewpoints

Pregnancy Centers: Realizing the Greatest Gospel Opportunity

This Viewpoint is a companion piece to the Theologically Speaking podcast episode posted February 3 with hosts Sam Horn and Stuart Scott and guest Michelle Benson, Director, Student Health Services, Bob Jones University, and member, board of directors, Piedmont Women’s Center, Greenville, SC.

A few years ago, my husband, a former pastor and Bob Jones University executive leading the launch of BJU Seminary’s commitment to put 500 pastors into the pulpit in five years, underscored how it would help empower churches to respond to a societal earthquake.

He zeroed in on “economic dislocation… a cancel culture characterized by deep division … political revolution … social upheaval” that “have all set this world on edge.” Of Satan on the loose “infusing fear, distorting reality, and multiplying anxiety.” But he saw God’s purpose: “the Greatest Gospel Opportunity since the Reformation.”

No “social upheaval” has created more division, infused more fear, been more distortive of reality nor multiplied anxiety more than abortion and all the circumstances that surround it. Not only have the lives of more than 60 million children been lost – lives that were precious to God and represented untold human potential. The pain of this godless practice has swept over traumatized mothers, broken relationships and shattered families, and into rancorous politics and a broken culture.

Yet addressing the tragedy of abortion and its destructive ripple effects can also be part of today’s historic Gospel Opportunity – with pregnancy resource centers on the front line as an extraordinary resource for women to find their Savior and pastors to involve their congregations in aiding that effort.

Many people simply think of pregnancy centers in line with the nomenclature and description employed by Wikipedia: “A crisis pregnancy center (CPC), sometimes called a pregnancy resource center (PRC) or a pro-life pregnancy center, is a type of nonprofit organization established by anti-abortion groups primarily to persuade pregnant women not to have an abortion.”

First of all, the word “crisis” has been left by the wayside. No pregnancy, no matter the circumstances, is a “crisis:” we know that every unborn child is being “knitted together” by God in her or his mother’s womb, with all that child’s days already written in His Book (Psalm 139:13-16).

But more important, pregnancy and women’s centers offer far more than simply arguments against abortion. The center I serve, Piedmont Women’s Center, is a resource center with trained mentors and medical professionals helping pregnant women address the entire array of life issues confronting them – a place in particular where pastors can send women in their congregations who are facing the momentous decision as to whether to keep their children or suffering the trauma of past abortions.

Our services begin with a pregnancy test and then an ultrasound showing women the child growing inside them and then women are paired with a trained mentor who presents the very real options before them.

So many women are pressured by life circumstances – career, financial, the burden of another child, inadequate or lost housing – but also shamed by husbands, parents and even grandparents toward the “convenience” decision of abortion. Because of these pressures, most women deciding for abortion simply say “it’s just not the right time” to have a baby.

We let each woman know that they have other options – an adoption plan but also having and keeping their baby. And do everything we can to make that last option possible, including:

1. More than 8565 parenting classes, 2500 pregnancy tests, 971 ultrasounds and 587 women’s health tests such as limited OB-GYN, pap smears, well-women exams and STD, testing and treatment last year alone.
2. 662 baby bundles, “baby showers in a bag” that provide hundreds of dollars of essentials such as crib sheets, diapers and wipes, along with car seats and portable cribs – everything a new mom making the decision to “parent” needs.
3. Help and support finding the wide range of resources available in the community from health insurance to housing.
4. Support in educating congregations not just on the activities of the center but also creating a culture in their churches to help address the issue of abortion.
5. And life-changing- and affirming support groups/Bible studies for women who have lost children, not just through abortion but miscarriage and child deaths, which culminate in a memorial service for the children. For centers that offer them, these are a particular resource for pastors with congregants quietly suffering through the psychological pain of a previous abortion.

Most important of all, every woman entering the center receives a tract and a full Gospel presentation. Which is where the opportunity for the church to advance the Gospel really comes in.

There are dozens of ways churches can directly and indirectly support women’s centers and thereby one of the most effective frontline evangelism efforts in society today. These include:

1. Involving local centers in Sanctity of Life Sunday observances and otherwise just keeping them in front of congregations
2. “Baby bottle” collections allowing every church member from oldest to youngest to contribute by filling bottles with their checks, cash and coins.
3. “Baby showers” through which women’s ministries in particular can gather items needed for the bundles and the other long list of needed items.
4. Sponsoring or participating in fundraising events such as 5K races or Night for Life event.
5. Actually including pregnancy centers in the church budget
6. Participating in prayer ministries not just for the Center but also for individual women in counseling and receiving services (Piedmont has a prayer text ministry providing ongoing updates)
7. Most of all, provide some of the thousands of volunteer hours required to keep a pregnancy center operating (nearly 10,000 for Piedmont last year), which often involves benefiting from first-class counseling training.

Where should pastors start?

1. Go to https://care-net.org and find the nearest pregnancy center.
2. Pick up the phone and find out
3. If you’re already involved in a pregnancy center ministry, keep that involvement in front of your congregation to support a pro-life culture, and encourage them regularly to get and stay involved. In particular, invite speakers from the pregnancy center and even offer studies and resources from the list provided in the Seminary’s last Viewpoint.

I can promise you this: there will be “kingdom impact” from these efforts!