Pro-life Christians often focus on those outside the church when they talk or think about the future of abortion in America. That’s a mistake. Abortion is inside the church, too.
As many as 1 in 6 churchgoing Christians have had, funded or somehow encouraged an abortion.
We must begin here—in the pews of our own churches, turning to the men and women sitting next to us—to heal and prevent the terrible wounds abortion inflicts on those it touches.
How do we, God’s hands and feet, propose to end the abortion machine’s slaughter of innocents when it is successfully deceiving and preying upon those who ought to be safe in God’s house? We need to start by helping prevent fellow Christians from making the blind, desperate stagger into abortion clinics. And if we are too late to stop them, we must show them God’s love, that they might heal.
This looks in practice like proactive biblical teaching, and support for pregnant women in our churches—as well as an intentional post-abortive ministry. An important part of the presence of abortion in the church is, after all, confusion about when life begins.
Two-thirds of the churchgoers surveyed in the poll I mentioned earlier affirmed that the Bible clearly indicates when life begins. Why isn’t that 100%?
One in 10 of them even said that abortion was “up to the couple involved,” and 7% thought that disabilities in the preborn child made abortion biblically permissible. Neither of these positions are biblical.
The fact is that abortion kills a child and often leaves a mother stricken with grief, shame, doubt and regret. It aggrieves God and mangles those made in His image. It’s a core responsibility of pastors to make sure their congregants understand what the Bible says about abortion—and why.
Loving but clear education from within the church on the moral and physical stakes of abortion will help prevent churchgoers from obtaining abortion at the same time it helps dispel the shame and secret guilt of post-abortive women among us.
God personally suffers the loss of each child, and grieves with every post-abortive mother. He desires her reconciliation with him. This desire in no way diminishes the tragic loss of her child—but it does dictate how we should minister to women who’ve aborted a child, or are considering doing so.
and/or 
to help.
As ministry leaders, how can we move beyond the idea of soul rest to actually incorporating soul rest regularly in the rhythms of our life with Christ? In this week’s conversation on FrontStage BackStage, host Jason Daye is joined by Curtis “CZ” Zackery. CZ has served as a church planter and pastor, and he has written a number of books, devotionals, and other resources on the topic of soul rest. CZ is the founder of a gospel-centered ministry called Find Rest. Together, CZ and Jason look at digging beneath the surface level of Sabbath and really discovering the design and desires that God has for each of us to experience true soul rest and refreshment in our lives.
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