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What Can We Do?
The Ramsey family began to attend our church because a friend invited them to worship. Not having had ongoing church backgrounds, they were wondering what was in store for them if they committed themselves to the believing community.
However, it did not take them long until they felt right at home. Both Bob and Martha had had home backgrounds that were unstable. They also had been involved in alcohol and drug misuse. Further, this was their second marriage. In addition, they brought children from previous marriages into this new union. Now to this home were born still more children.
As their own youngsters matured, they came to know of their parents' pained childhoods and teen years. However, Bob and Martha were determined that their offspring would not repeat their agonies. The new generation would be happier and more balanced.
Unfortunately, as their own teens moved into adolescent friendships, they made some alliances which were not all that wholesome. This resulted in their daughter, Christine, becoming pregnant without being married.
What would be the reaction at the church when the parishioners found out? What would the pastor think? What would fellow teens do?
When our congregation knew of her pregnancy, we immediately gave support for the unwed mother and the child in her womb. We also surrounded both Bob and Martha with care.
Presently, Christine began to show that she was going to have a baby. This was a difficult time for her, especially when it meant continuing to attend the weekly Sunday school class and church youth activities. Nevertheless, rather than isolate herself from the church, she kept attending worship and social events.
The youth leaders approached the situation with maturity. They gave Christine the encouragement she needed to make right choices; they also used this circumstance to instruct the other teens as to how to respond to a companion youth who was expecting a baby.
All along our church has taken a strong pro-life stand. We have worked in the community with unwed mothers and their children. We have provided cribs, baby clothes, nursery equipment, prayer support, and friendship to all involved. We have also become involved in peaceful pro-life demonstrations to make public our position.
Regularly there are inserted in the church bulletin issues of Celebrate Life an international, ecumenical publication. Also, other pro-life information is circulated to worshipers consistently. Sermons are preached regarding the pro-life position. Bible studies accent this witness as well. The pastor and wife have adopted a child from an unwed mother. No one would attend our church for long without realizing that we defend the child in the womb as well as provide practically for both mother and child throughout and after pregnancy.
Therefore, when Christine was confronted with her own personal choice as to what she would do regarding her pregnancy, she told her parents that there was no hesitation about keeping the baby.
Here was a young girl who had parents with difficult pasts. She herself was in a home with children from two previous marriages. All was not that stable even in their own home due to several other teens in rebellion against the parents' standards.
Therefore, it would have been convenient for Christine to opt for an abortion. Some of her peers counseled her to "get rid of it." Yet she resisted their advice.
"It would be unthinkable," she told the church youth leaders and pastor.
"I believe that her conviction remained firm because the church had provided her with a reasoned pro-life environment," the pastor reasoned. "She was already convinced of the wisdom of saving the child rather than discarding the baby.
"It is of utmost importance that the church community continue its pro-life education year-round so that new persons coming into the congregation catch on early. Also, it is needed to firm up those persons already in the church."
Joseph Grant Swank, Jr., pastors New Hope Church in Windham, Maine. He is also a teacher at Alternative Learning School for at-risk youths and a regular columnist for many online publications.
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