Breakpoint, a ministry founded by the late Chuck Colson, recently featured Rolley Haggard’s open letter to pastors asking them to consider using their pulpits for a “one minute strategy” to end abortion.

Laura Hope Smith, a Christian mother who died on an abortion table

Commenting on this strategy, someone representing themselves as Steven E. Ray, Director of Messiah Missions and pastor for over 30 years, defended the silent pulpits, saying “When confronted on an issue, we should have a Godly response, but to use the pulpit or our efforts to proclaim or rally against the ills of society as an end in itself, such has been the misdirected purpose and ruin of the church….  As for me and my house, we choose not to get consumed by spiritually blinding tangents, but preach only Christ and Him crucified.”

The comments attributed to Pastor Ray motivated me to write what follows below.  I posted this on the Breakpoint website and also sent a message to Messiah Missions requesting a response from Pastor Ray.  Later that day, I received an email from Messiah Missions, stating “I am Pastor Steven Ray, and am appalled that someone used my name….  We do not need this type of negative commentary associated with our ministry.”

Sadly, the comments of whoever represented themselves as Pastor Ray do accurately reflect the position of many pastors, so my response below is still valid:  

Too often we see abortion as a societal “issue.” But in today’s world, it is first and foremost a church issue. I say this because of the overwhelming number of babies being aborted among our own sheep, those who sit in our pews.

I have seen it firsthand, so many times that I have almost become numb to it. A woman enters the abortion center saying “Our God is a loving God…. He will forgive me…. I prayed about this…. Jesus said ‘judge not’….” etc. etc. ad nauseum. Christian women and men act as judge, jury, and executioner judging innocent children with the death penalty, reassuring themselves by the teachings of their shepherd, and by the pulpit’s silence on abortion.

The distorted gospel which is rampant in today’s churches leads innocent sheep daily to “sin that grace may abound.” Yet the shepherds continue to feed themselves (Ezekiel 34). Ichabod!

Today’s distorted gospel is built upon an out-of-context reading of God’s Word. The remedy is to restore context. For example, too often we hear Ephesians 2:8-9 used as a justification for abortion. But is not verse 10 a part of this context? If women and men in the pews truly understood not only that we are saved by grace and not by works, but also that we are created for good works (not for evil) how could they continue to comfort themselves with scripture on their way into killing centers?

The Great Commission is not simply a call to save souls, but to make disciples. Jesus said that part of this job is “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” Doesn’t the Golden Rule belong at the top of the list of what Jesus commanded? Doesn’t a faithful preaching of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” include preaching against abortion in a culture where so many Christians abort their babies?

Certainly the responsibility of pastors extends beyond their congregation, if we believe what Jesus said about loving our neighbors. Certainly pastors have a responsibility to preach against abortion even if their own sheep were not aborting innocent children, if we are to be salt and light as Jesus commanded. Even if abortion were not an epidemic within our churches we would still have a responsibility to speak out, especially in a nation where we elect our own leaders.

While the one-minute strategy is, in my opinion, only a small step toward becoming the Church God calls us to be in today’s world, it is an important step, especially when pastors realize that they are not stepping outside their primary shepherding role but fulfilling it.

For a deeper understanding of the Gospel issues relating to abortion, please read Part One of my book God’s Plan: Transforming the Gates of Hell into the Gates of Heaven, available online for free reading.