Third Church and Abortion
A statement from The Session of Third Church
September 2016
Third Church stands in the evangelical Reformed tradition, which means we “recognize and honor the image of God in every human being from conception to natural death” (ECO Essential Tenets, Part E). Our vision of human life is grounded in the Imago Dei, the “image of God” that is imprinted in every human being from the very start of conception until the moment of death. We reject the vision of human life that grounds human worth in capacities, especially the capacity to make moral choices, to reason, and to live independently, which inevitably leads to discarding life that is too young, too old, or too mentally or physically handicapped. No! Every life is precious, every life bears the image of God, and every life is known by God from the very start (Psalm 139:13).
Because of our belief in the Imago Dei we stand against the widespread practice of abortion. We grieve and lament the way millions of lives have been destroyed through the misplaced vision of human life that grounds human worth in capacities. We position ourselves in the long tradition of Christians who have stood against abortion, infanticide, and the destruction of any life, especially life that is weak or vulnerable. We see abortion as a great evil of our age and we long to see justice and mercy for the unborn who have no voice of their own.
We also recognize that this Christian vision of life is a minority vision in a majority secular society. We seek to bear witness to the biblical vision of life in a way that practices “engaged difference,” modeling a counter-cultural vision of life even as we engage with the secular society around us in love. Knowing that true justice and healing will not come until Jesus consummates his Kingdom and renews all things, we seek to be the faithful presence of Jesus within our secular culture, sowing seeds that we know only God will one day harvest.
Here is how we will approach bearing faithful witness to the biblical vision of life:
We will continue to support Pregnancy Resource Center and other similar ministries that seek to give women viable options for alternatives to abortion.
We ourselves will seek to provide viable options to women by looking for ways to be a spiritually, emotionally and physically supportive family to those women who find themselves unprepared for pregnancy. We will also encourage our congregation to consider adoption and foster care.
On the Sanctity of Life Sunday or another Sunday, we may seek to highlight the creative work of a ministry partner or individual who is working in preventative abortion efforts and care for women, and pray explicitly in public worship about abortion and the sanctity of life.
We’ll seek to model and instruct on the “engaged difference” approach to this and other cultural issues through preaching, teaching, writing and prayer.
Here is what we will NOT do, out of our desire to not be an unfaithful witness to the gospel:
We won’t be a “single issue” church that focuses only on abortion to the exclusion of other important justice and imago dei issues. We are a church that cares for every kind of vulnerable person, especially the poor, the immigrant, the orphan, the widow, the racial minority, the immigrant and refugee, the elderly, the disabled, the sick, the imprisoned, and the unborn. This commitment to the sanctity of life in all its many expressions does not align with any modern political party or platform, and we will not be captive to political reductions or culture-war binaries.
We will have a tone and posture of love when talking about abortion, refusing to use words that violate the image of God in those who believe differently (James 3:9). We will not talk or pray publicly about abortion in a way that provokes shame or alienation in those who have experienced abortion, keeping in mind that for the church, this is often a pastoral issue and requires great compassion. We will take care with our tone and words, so as not to cause unnecessary offense to others and thus be a hindrance to the gospel.
—The Session of Third Church, September 2016