Author: Marie Delph

A prayer guide in light of Dobbs v. Jackson WHO

Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case out of Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

You can find an explainer on the implications of this case here. Our goal in this piece is not to deliberate the intricacies of this case or to debate the legalese of Dobbs. Instead, as leaders in the pregnancy center movement, we want to encourage you to spend some time over the next few weeks and months in prayer for the justices, the attorneys, the organizations on the ground serving women, the unborn, and the women facing unplanned pregnancies who are walking through the doors of close to 3,000 pregnancy centers every single day.

So, if you would allow us, we would like to point out ways you can be praying. This guide does not provide an exhaustive list of needs, but we believe that it is a great launching point for God’s people to come together in prayer as we seek the end of abortion in our country and around our globe.

Justices

Please pray for the justices on the Court. Their job is one of ever-growing responsibility as they attempt to navigate the muddy waters of legislation, rights, public opinion, and the Constitution. It is easy for us to pile on when decisions don’t go our way, but it is far harder for us to realize that these men and women have families, friends, and normal life routines just like we do. Pray the nine justices will have courage, wisdom, and grace.

Attorneys

There are a number of attorneys and attorneys general who have prepared for this case. It is not lost on us that this case is a hinge point for our republic and for the rights of the unborn moving forward. We can’t imagine the pressure these men and women are feeling as they deliver arguments for which they have prepared and studied hard. Please pray for their peace, courage, and stamina.

Pregnancy centers

God’s Word tells us in Romans 12:21, “Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” There are thousands of pregnancy centers across the United States that are filled with people who work to overcome this evil with good. Pray for the staff and volunteers that populate these centers day in and day out. Pray for the nurses who view these precious lives via ultrasound. Pray for strength and stamina for these selfless men and women who choose to serve during these very trying times and face real spiritual warfare.

The unborn

Pray for these unborn babies. These lives represent image-bearers deserving of love, life, and an opportunity. Pray that the images we see on the ultrasound scans prompt action and heart change. Pray that these lives are given the care they need and deserve.

Women facing unplanned pregnancies

Pray for the women facing unplanned pregnancies. Pray that obstacles would be moved out of their way as they seek to choose life. Pray that abortion clinics close their doors and these women find their way to the door of a pregnancy center. Pray for healing, healthy relationships, and a desire to be an incredible mom. Pray for support from a church, friends, or family members.

We take prayer seriously at Hope Resource Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Portico in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. We start every day calling out to our God for his loving hand as we serve his image-bearers, both in and out of the womb. We don’t know how God is going to answer any of these prayers, but we believe that just as David boldly stepped up to confront Goliath in his day, we are called to boldly confront abortion in America in our day. God is calling us to pray courageous prayers. Will you join us in this call to action? We are grateful for your support and are honored to serve alongside you for the work of the gospel and for life.

This post originally appeared on the ERLC’s website.

Giving Tuesday offers prime chance to support SBC entities

INVERNESS, Fla. (BP) — The Psalm 139 Project donating ultrasound machines to pregnancy centers, one of several Southern Baptist ministries participating in Giving Tuesday Nov. 30, can rescue expectant mothers as well as the unborn, a program participant said.

Barb Gosa, executive director of the Citrus Pregnancy Center in Inverness, Fla., told Psalm 139 Project organizer the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of an expectant mother whose ultrasound might very well have saved her life. The mother visited the pregnancy center when a technician was training nurses in the proper use of the machine shortly after it was donated.

The trainer told Gosa, “This baby she is considering aborting may have very well saved her life,” Gosa said. “In the end, we recommended she get to her doctor’s office, gave her copies of her scans, and explained it was important to do it right away.

“But had we not received the blessing of the (ultrasound) machine, and had (the trainer) not been here on the very day she came in, we believe the outcome could have been very different.”

Giving Tuesday (Virtual HQ – GivingTuesday), a global charitable giving movement birthed in 2012, includes opportunities to support several Southern Baptist entities and related ministries, oftentimes with donations increased through matching gift allotments.

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is offering an unspecified match to Giving Tuesday donations to For the Mission (https://www.forthemission.com/givingtuesday/), with a goal of receiving gifts from 500 Great Commission Givers. For the Mission is SEBTS’s four-year fundraising campaign to raise $20.5 million for student aid endowments, academic faculty endowments, campus construction and renovation, and the Southeastern Fund.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is seeking to raise $250,000 on Giving Tuesday for its Providence Fund, which helps students preparing for fulltime ministry. The NOBTS Foundation Board has pledged $100,000 on the day, marketed at nobts.edu (https://nobts.edu/givingtuesday/default.html) as NOBTS and Leavell College’s Giving Day, and is challenging donors to collectively match the gift.

Among the most generous matching gifts is the $500,000 to match donations to the Mission:Dignity benevolence ministry of GuideStone Financial Resources ((https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/sbc-digest-missiondignity-gifts-matched-lifeway-online-christmas-store/). A Mission:Dignity endowment covers all administrative and overhead costs, allowing 100 percent of gifts to go directly to retired Southern Baptist workers, ministers and widows near the poverty line, GuideStone said.

“We would encourage anyone interested in giving this year to consider multiplying the effectiveness of their gift by giving it on Tuesday, Nov. 30,” GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said. Giving is available at GuideStone.org/GivingTuesdayhttps://app.mobilecause.com/vf/MDTuesday).

The Psalm 139 Project is accepting donations at erlc.com/50by50 (https://erlc.com/50by50/), a site launching Tuesday to accept donations supporting ERLC’s goal to place 50 ultrasound machines at centers by the 50 anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January, 2023. Already, ERLC is on track to place 25 machines by the end of 2021, Psalm 139 Placement Manager Rachel Wiles said.

“When you partner with the Psalm 139 Project, 100 percent of your gift goes directly to placing ultrasound machines. All of our admin costs are covered by the ongoing generosity of Southern Baptists through the Cooperative Program,” Wiles said. “That’s what makes us unique — and that’s why partnering with us will make a real, tangible difference.”

Among other outreaches, J.D. Greear ministries is seeking to raise $60,000 to support ministry in an undisclosed location to Afghans. The ministry will provide matching funds up to $30,000, Greear announced today (Nov. 28), and a copy of Greear’s discussion guide “Be the Movement.” Donations will support a training facility, housing for local ministry leaders, language education support, a medical project for pregnant Afghan women, and other outreaches.

Send Network churches make up one quarter of Outreach Magazine’s reproducing churches list

LAS VEGAS — When Heiden Ratner started WALK Church in Las Vegas, he had an ideal model for reproduction in his sending church. Las Vegas’ Hope Church has started more than 60 churches since its 2001 founding.

Ratner served as an apprentice at Hope Church before planting WALK Church in 2014.

“It was in that season where I got to learn under Pastor Vance Pitman about the Kingdom of God and how the Kingdom of God is so much bigger than just one church,” said Ratner, who also serves as the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) city missionary for Las Vegas. “He showed me that it’s going to be churches planting churches that actually reaches the city. That shifted our thinking. We didn’t come to start something. We came to be a part of something God was already doing in Las Vegas.”

Ratner and WALK Church clearly learned what Pitman taught. Since its launch in 2014, WALK has planted two churches—and supported another eight churches in just seven years. Outreach Magazine recently recognized the church as one of its 100 Reproducing Churches.

At least a quarter of the magazine’s list of reproducing churches came from Send Network, a Southern Baptist network of churches committed to reproducible church planting. Send Network churches include both long-standing, established churches and relatively young church plants.

The list is one of three published in the magazine’s September/October issue. The magazine also highlighted the fastest-growing and largest-participating churches. Outreach Magazine partners with Lifeway Research to create the three lists.

“It’s easy to focus on larger churches, but we are committed to looking at churches that plant churches,” said Ed Stetzer, editor-in-chief of Outreach Magazine. “We know that church planting — done well — is about reaching people. We know statistically that new churches reach more than established churches. So, at Outreach Magazine, we want to celebrate churches reaching people — and you can’t do that without church planting!”

Noah Oldham, whose St. Louis church—August Gate—appears on the list, said reproduction is a critical part of NAMB’s strategy to reach North America.

“It’s the task Southern Baptists have given us,” said Oldham, who serves as senior director of church planter deployment with Send Network. “We have the collective calling of taking the gospel to every man, woman, girl and boy in North America. We believe that happens not only in evangelism, not only through compassion ministries like Send Relief, but it happens through church planting. It is healthy churches planting healthy churches. Great Commission churches planting Great Commission churches.”

Oldham said August Gate has served as the sending church for six new plants in its first 12 years of ministry and helped to financially support another 12 plants. Even the name August Gate symbolizes the church’s commitment to planting new churches. August, Oldham says, is the month when farmers prepare for harvest, and St. Louis has long been known as the Gateway City.

“If you put those two things together, you get harvest St. Louis,” Oldham said. “So, we gave it that name because we wanted, from the very beginning, every time someone asked, ‘Hey, what’s your church about? What’s the name about?’, we could tell them God called us not just to plant a church, but to plant a church that would plant many churches.”

Shades Mountain Baptist Church, an established church founded in 1910 and a Send Network church in Birmingham, Ala., also made the Outreach 100 list. The church has served as the sending church for two church plants and has supported 16 church plants in strategic cities throughout North America.

A little more than two decades ago, recently retired Pastor Danny Wood began raising the value of missions and church planting through a five-day missions conference that introduced the congregation to church planters from around North America. Church planting became a part of the church’s fabric as the congregation learned to love, care for and resource church planting missionaries.

“The church has grasped the conviction that multiplication is a biblical mandate,” said Tim Wheat, Shades Mountain’s missions pastor. “We are not only called to multiply disciples but to multiply leaders and multiply churches. As a living entity, the church follows the path of life of all living things. Things that are alive are to reproduce things that are alive, of like nature, so therefore, we have sought to make support and engagement with church planting a priority.”

The church leverages its Sunday School system and discipleship groups to “reproduce disciples” and uses Send Network’s Multiplication Pipeline to reproduce “missional leaders.” Both are key elements to their church planting strategy.

Church That Matters, another Southern Baptist church on the Outreach list, credits Send Network for helping to spur even greater multiplication efforts within the church. Oklahoma and Send Network announced a partnership in August 2021 to form Send Network Oklahoma.

“Send Network jumping into Oklahoma has been a game-changer in terms of the tools available through them to support the multiplication taking place,” said Rusty Gunn, pastor of Church That Matters who also serves as a church planting catalyst in the state. “It has inspired us. I was driving a lot of the church planting in our first eight to ten years. This is really giving us a shift to a much larger involvement, belief and buy-in from other people in our church. It has given us a framework, something we can latch onto to continue to discover, develop and deploy more and more planters.”

Send Network’s Multiplication Pipeline is a free resource that is designed to help churches reproduce by discovering, developing and deploying its members to help start new churches throughout North America.

Missionaries welcome effort to push back darkness

Europe is a modern crossroads of people from Northern Africa and the Middle East.

The mission strategy of Henderson Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma was forever changed when Mike, the missions pastor, read a statistic: “5% of missions work is done in North Africa and Middle East.” After reading this startling fact, Mike knew the Lord was calling him to lead his church in reversing the statistic in their own mission strategy.

“As I read that statistic, it just hit me,” Mike says. “I looked at the missions team at [our church] and realized we weren’t even doing 5% of our missions work among NAME peoples. I knew that had to change.”

Otis Neumann*, a missionary with IMB’s Northern African and Middle Eastern affinity, appreciates the advocacy of Mike and his church.

“His vision has inspired others, including Hispanic churches and the Oklahoma Baptist Convention, to make NAME peoples a priority for prayer and missions work,” Otis says.

For two years Mike and the missions team prayed about a specific, unreached people group. Along with a team from their church, Mike and his wife traveled to Europe in 2012. They met an IMB missionary who gave them a glimpse into how God was at work among NAME peoples there.

Otis says that coming to Europe first to connect with immigrants from NAME is a good way for churches to develop a love for the people and make them a priority in their mission vision.

“Europe is a modern crossroads of people from Northern Africa and the Middle East,” he explains.

“From Europe, SBC churches have the unique opportunity to partner with IMB and share the gospel with people who come from some of the most difficult to access places in the world.”

Two years after their trip to Europe, Mike and his missions team made their first trip into Northern Africa. Since that first trip, the church has sent multiple mission teams every year. They focus on building relationships, prayer walking and meeting community needs.

In February 2020, the church sent a missionary couple from their church to Northern Africa to serve with the IMB. Even during the height of the pandemic when travel was restricted, the church looked for ways to support the work overseas through prayer and encouragement.

Otis and other missionaries pray for more churches to be bold in their mission efforts.

“When churches partner with IMB, we can do more together – and there is so much left to do in Northern Africa and the Middle East,” Otis says.

“Today, there many people groups living in places where we cannot yet directly engage them with the gospel, but through prayer, we can press forward into new places and push back the darkness as the light of the gospel is proclaimed to every people group of NAME.”

How to pray

Pray that God will call out more churches to join the work to reach NAME peoples with the gospel.
Pray for more long-term missionaries in the fields among the unreached.
Pray that the light of Christ would break the barriers that keep many from hearing the gospel.

*Name changed for security

Catherine Finch, former writer for the IMB, is now the communications strategist at Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children. This article first appeared on IMB’s website.

Call for prayer issued as court prepares to hear case that could overturn Roe vs. Wade

NASHVILLE (BP) – The Southern Baptist Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission is focusing on pro-life work as oral arguments are scheduled for Dec. 1 at the Supreme Court in the case of Dobbs vs. Mississippi. Leaders from the ERLC talked with Jonathan Howe, vice president for communications of the SBC Executive Committee, during a special edition of the SBC This Week podcast released Monday.

“These oral arguments and this particular case coming out of Mississippi represents the best opportunity in a generation to potentially overturn Roe vs. Wade,” said Brent Leatherwood, interim president of the ERLC.

Leatherwood said it’s a time for the pro-life community to intercede in prayer for the justices of the Supreme Court as they hear the arguments.

“We need to be praying for the nine justices as they receive these arguments and, then, go back to their chambers and really start sussing through competing priorities,” he said.

Chelsea Sobolik, director of public policy for the ERLC, said this case is unique because it specifically deals with the viability of the unborn child in the womb.

“The Mississippi law says essentially after a child is viable at 15 weeks, elective abortion would be unconstitutional,” Sobolik said, adding that the law does makes exceptions related to the health of the mother and if severe fetal abnormalities are discovered.

Sobolik said this case is has the ability to undue the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe vs. Wade to legalize abortion in 1973 because it deals with viability.

“Viability is basically the key to unraveling the undue burden standard,” she said.

In the podcast, Howe, Leatherwood and Sobolik are also joined by Elizabeth Graham, vice president for operations and life initiatives for the ERLC. Graham discussed the work of the Psalm 139 project and their goal of placing 50 ultrasound machines in pregnancy support centers across the US before the 50th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision in January 2023.

When it comes to the viability of a child outside the womb, Graham said, “What we know today from a science and medical standpoint is different than what we knew 30 or 40 years ago.”

She added that while the ERLC believes that life begins at conception, it is widely accepted in the international medical and science community that a child is viable at 15 weeks of development.

“The way you cut down a tree is a thousand cuts, and every step we take to advance that goal of both protecting life in the womb and caring for mothers and their communities is important,” Sobolik said.

Leatherwood said that for nearly five decades Roe vs. Wade has rested on equal protection under the law for every human life as granted by the 14th Amendment.

“If we’re going to follow down that path of constitutional logic, then I think we want to bring that back to the court and say, ‘You’re relying on equal protection. We want equal protection for all lives. All these pre-born lives,” he said.

Follow Baptist Press for coverage of this week’s arguments before the Supreme Court.

Listen to the full version of the podcast below or find it wherever you download your podcasts.

Download this episode

Missionaries ignite gospel fire still burning decades later

Tears escape from Sharalene Roper’s eyes and cascade down her cheeks.

They’re tears of joy, and they come naturally for a woman who is fulfilling God’s calling on her life to care for elderly residents at the Baptist Retirement Communities of Georgia.

It’s the soft words of 107-year-old Neva Peacock that triggers the waterworks.

“I love you,” Miss Neva tells Roper in a grandmotherly tone that reflects genuine affection. “You are always so kind to me.”

Roper, 48, wipes her face and tells Miss Neva she loves her, too.

The winding path that landed Roper in the role of chief operating officer at Baptist Retirement Communities actually began long before she was born, back when her mother, Rosita Patanao, was a child, back to an unexpected encounter she had with a couple of Southern Baptist missionaries serving in the Philippines in the years following World War II.

The names of the missionaries have long been forgotten, but their gospel presentation that day, like the proverbial pebble tossed into water, sent out ripples that are still impacting lives more than 70 years later, including that of Roper and some 450 residents living in the Baptist Retirement Communities.

Patanao accepted Christ that day, grew up, got married, and raised her children in a Christian home, positioning Roper to step into the ministry she loves.

Roper’s pastor, Kevin Williams of First Baptist Church in Villa Rica, said the story is one that shows how God works out every detail to accomplish His will.

“It amazes me how God works all things together for good,” Williams said. “When you know all the details, and you have this young lady serving the Lord, and singing for the glory of God, it is absolutely amazing.”

In addition to her work with the elderly, Roper is a regular soloist at her church.

“Had it not been for those missionaries, had my mom not accepted Christ, I don’t know where my family would be,” Roper said. “My faith in Christ has just been the basis of my entire life. My mom nurtured that. She consistently encouraged me to pray, to read the Bible, and to have faith. She would always tell me that God is faithful, that He will take care of you.”

It’s the kind of story International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood says he never grows tired of hearing. In his travels throughout the U.S. and around the world, Chitwood often encounters people who tell him how their families heard the gospel from Southern Baptist missionaries.

“Only Heaven will reveal how many people will someday stand before the throne and the Lamb because God, in some way, used Southern Baptists who prayed, gave their money, sent missionaries, and went as missionaries themselves so the lost among the nations could hear the gospel,” he said.

Roper’s mom, a nurse, died in 2004, but she left indelible memories of her devotion to the Lord and of her joy in serving Him.

“Every morning she would sit in the kitchen by the window and read her Bible,” Roper said. “She would teach me Bible stories. And when I was grown with children of my own, I would see her teaching my children the same Bible stories she taught me.”

Those teachings formed the bedrock of Roper’s faith and have made her successful in her ministry at Baptist Retirement Communities.

Roper finishes her visit with Miss Neva, who in her younger years was a pastor’s wife and a teacher. She leans down and gives her a gentle hug, then walks out the door, still wiping away tears.

“When I came here for the first time, and those doors opened, I could almost feel God’s heart,” she said. “Where else could I minister to people in such a special way? I can share the gospel. I can pray over people. I can encourage the residents and staff. It’s really the believer’s ultimate dream.”

The post Missionaries tell Filipino girl who survived WWII about Jesus, igniting a fire that’s still burning appeared first on IMB.

Historic commitment signed to send missionaries from Asia to Africa 

Jeff Singerman addresses those gathered in Kenya for the signing of the memorandum of understanding between IMB leadership in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Singerman is the globalization associate for Sub-Saharan Africa.

On Oct. 29 in Kenya, IMB missionaries serving in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Asian Pacific Rim signed a memorandum of understanding solidifying the sending of missionaries from Asia to serve in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Daren Davis, the IMB leader for missionaries serving in Africa, said the signing of the memorandum is a historic step toward seeing Asians engage those in need of the gospel in Africa.

“This is a worthy effort, and we stand here to say we will stand firm, in one spirit, with one mind, striving together, side by side. Why? For the sake of the gospel,” Davis told those who gathered for the signing. “Welcome to this momentous occasion, welcome to this time where we join hands across the ocean to see the next step of partnership, the next step of ‘side by side’ for God’s glory.”

Five years ago, Asian and Kenyan Christians gathered with IMB personnel in Kenya to dream and plan for a mission partnership. Davis said they were encouraged by Philippians 1.

Davis said the vision expanded from IMB missionaries engaging the world, to IMB missionaries and Africans ministering together, to serving side by side with believers from Asia and the world.

Davis acknowledged the decades of missions’ investment in Asian countries.

“We stand here today on the shoulders of those who went before us, people who labored in places where the name of Jesus was not known, and now, from those very places, rise up believers who are going to the nations for the sake of the gospel,” Davis said.

Jeff Singerman, who serves in Africa, said the brutal fact is that there are multitudes of unreached people on the African continent. He sees the signing of the memorandum as an answer to prayer. It is a building block to understanding that Christians from other nations can join the task of seeing African churches sending African missionaries.

Singerman said they will host multicultural trainings to enable missionaries from Asia to be fruitful and successful in the mission and in the calling that God has given them.

“This collaboration might be the greatest contribution the IMB can make in this generation of missionaries. In other words, facilitating connections with those whom we work, so that they can understand their fulfilling and calling to the missionary task,” Singerman said.

Jonathan Tipton*, the IMB leader for missionaries in Asia, said, “We’re privileged to not only witness but play a key role in missions history that is just now beginning to leverage all of the economic and technological accomplishments made within the last 200 years.”

Tipton said the lightning speed of the development of telecommunications and transportation creates a bridge.

“Not only do we, but our Christian brothers and sisters from all the people we serve, have a massive and unprecedented opportunity to walk on this same bridge, declaring the gospel to all the peoples of the earth as we and as they go,” Tipton said.

Tipton said it’s important for the IMB and other sending agencies to represent and reflect the changing and expanding demographic of Christians.

The up-and-coming missions force is not from North America. As a reflection of this, before the signing of the memorandum, IMB leaders and missionaries prayed in Chinese, Thai, Korean, Portuguese, Wolof and Lozi.

Jeremiah Farmer, who serves in Asia, said, “It is my hope, that before I die, I get to see more Asian missionaries on the field than Western countries have ever sent in Christian history. I hope the same is true for Sub-Saharan Africa.”

Farmer noted that Asian missionaries make an enormous commitment when they choose to answer the call of the Great Commission.

“When I think of what it takes for a rice farmer in Asia to send a missionary someplace like Africa, the sacrifice it takes is immense, but what they get to learn is kingdom principles. They get to learn what it means to be blessed to be a blessing. They get to learn what it means to give and not receive anything back in return, except to know that God’s name may be proclaimed to lost people who have never heard the gospel,” Farmer said.

Farmer leads the training and equipping of Asian missionaries. Seven missionaries from Asia will soon be serving in Sub-Saharan Africa, and seven more are in the process of interviews. Eight of the missionaries committed to serving in Sub-Saharan Africa during the meeting surrounding the signing of the memorandum. Farmer said the meeting provided opportunities for the new missionaries to interact face-to-face with missionaries in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Several missionaries recently finished training and are in the process of moving to West Africa.

Josh Rivers*, who serves in Africa, said the missionaries will come alongside their urban team in a key gateway city in Muslim-majority West Africa to share the gospel, disciple believers and plant churches.

Rivers said they will work in a developing area of a rapidly growing city to engage both the residents and the growing population of migrants.

“In partnership with Asia and the Pacific Rim, we are sending laborers into locations that are well below 1% evangelical,” Rivers said. “Most have never heard the gospel explained to them. Not only is this a wonderful opportunity to see more laborers among the lost, but it also serves as a testimony to believers in West Africa as they see nationals from Asia coming and walking alongside them for the advance of the gospel. It becomes a testimony to the West African believer that they too can be sent by God to carry the good news to other nations.”

Davis said he longs for the day when missionaries are sent from Africa to Asia.

“Let’s work together so that African churches will send African missionaries to our brothers in Asia, to our sisters in South America, to the big cities of Europe – taking the gospel back to America. We are living in a day when we are going from everywhere to everywhere,” Davis said. “May we put our hand to this plow and move forward.”

*Names changed for security

Caroline Anderson writes for the IMB from Southeast Asia.

The post Historic commitment signed to send missionaries from Asia to Africa  appeared first on IMB.

Nigeria’s removal from persecution list protested

WASHINGTON (BP) – The U.S. State Department’s removal of Nigeria from its list of the world’s worst persecutors has stunned religious liberty advocates.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Wednesday (Nov. 17) his designation of the latest “countries of particular concern” (CPCs), a category reserved for the world’s most severe violators of religious freedom. His list added Russia and kept nine of the 10 countries designated in December 2020 as CPCs – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Blinken’s failure to maintain Nigeria as a CPC designee despite ongoing violence against Christians in particular resulted in sharp disagreement expressed by defenders of the persecuted. He also declined to include Nigeria on the Special Watch List for violators that fall short of CPC designation.

The U.S. Commission on International Freedom (USCIRF) “is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year,” said Nadine Maenza, chair of the bipartisan panel.

David Curry, president of Open Doors USA, said his organization is “deeply alarmed” by Nigeria’s absence from the CPC list. “This is not only a baffling error, [but] it’s likely in direct violation” of the 1998 law that mandates CPC designations, he said.

Sam Brownback, the ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom under President Trump and now a senior fellow with Open Doors, called the action “a serious blow to religious freedom in both Nigeria and across the region. This rewards the Nigerian government for tolerating severe religious freedom violations and sends a message to extremists that their actions will continue to go unpunished.”

The announcement of the CPC list came a day after International Christian Concern (ICC) named Nigeria as the country that is the world’s worst persecutor of Christians. Since 2000, the death toll for Christians at the hands of their persecutors in the West African country has totaled from 50,000 to 70,000, ICC reported.

Boko Haram, a radical Islamic group that is among the State Department’s “entities of particular concern” (EPCs), and militant Fulani herdsmen have terrorized villages in Nigeria for years, targeting Christians in particular. The Nigerian government has failed to protect Christians and has in some cases made the violence worse, according to ICC.

In late September, herdsmen killed 38 Christians and destroyed 46 homes in Madamai village in Kaduna State, ICC reported.

Upon the release of the State Department’s annual report in May on international religious freedom, Blinken said Nigerian courts still convict and sentence people to long-term imprisonment or even death for blasphemy against Islam.

The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) commended the continuing designation of China as a CPC.

China is designated as a CPC “for good reason,” said Chelsea Sobolik, the ERLC’s director of public policy. “They have continued to perpetrate a horrific genocide against the Uyghur people, and strong moral leadership is needed from the U.S. to counter these egregious violations of human dignity and religious liberty.”

More than 1 million Uyghurs, a primarily Muslim group in northwest China, have been detained in “re-education” camps. Coerced labor and forced sterilizations and abortions also have been widely reported. The U.S. government has declared China’s treatment of the Uyghurs as genocide, and Southern Baptist messengers agreed with that designation in a resolution adopted in June.

Global religious liberty advocates applauded Blinken’s inclusion of Russia on the CPC list for the first time. USCIRF has been recommending CPC status for Russia since 2017.

Blinken said in presenting the State Department’s May report, Russian government officials “continue to harass, detain, and seize [the] property of Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as members of Muslim minority groups on the pretense of alleged extremism.”

USCIRF “welcomed” Russia’s CPC designation, USCIRF Vice Chair Nury Turkel said. “For years, USCIRF has raised the alarm regarding the Russian government’s purge of ‘non-traditional’ religions and religious freedom repression.”

The commission also expressed its disappointment in Blinken’s failure to designate as CPCs three other countries it recommended for the list: India; Syria; and Vietnam.

The Special Watch List named by the secretary consisted of Algeria, Comoros, Cuba and Nicaragua. USCIRF, however, had called for Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey and Uzbekistan also to be included.

In addition to Boko Haram, the EPCs – which are non-state actors – were al-Shabaab, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), ISIS-Greater Sahara, ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin and the Taliban.

In announcing his designations, Blinken said in a written statement the United States “will continue to press all governments to remedy shortcomings in their laws and practices, and to promote accountability for those responsible for abuses.”

USCIRF, which consists of nine members appointed by the president and congressional leaders, tracks the status of religious liberty worldwide and issues reports to Congress, the president and the State Department.

Send Network’s Dhati Lewis leaving NAMB for new project

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – At the end of this year, Dhati Lewis, president of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) church planting arm, Send Network, will transition from his position to devote himself to launching BLVD (“Boulevard”), an initiative to empower disciple-makers serving majority-minority, multiethnic communities.

Driven by his personal vision to “be the last generation to have to leave the urban context for sound discipleship,” Lewis says he looks to the future with hopeful anticipation as he continues to move the mission forward by training leaders serving in these communities.

“The question for me has always been: where can I make the greatest Kingdom impact? I’m going to miss leading this incredible family, but it’s never been about a position or title – it’s about the mission, and it’s one we’re still on together as a Send Network family,” Lewis said.

BLVD is rooted in the work Lewis accelerated at Send Network to foster greater ethnic diversity among church planters and start more new churches in ethnic minority communities lacking a strong Gospel presence.

Lewis will collaborate with NAMB and Send Network on this new effort, and his trajectory as a leader in church planting remains unchanged.

“For anyone who knows Dhati, this comes as no surprise,” said NAMB President Kevin Ezell. “It’s right in line with his relentless pursuit of what God has laid on his heart. I’m excited NAMB and Send Network will continue to benefit from the many ways he will help plant churches everywhere for everyone.”

The change comes at an opportune time, as Send Network and the National African American Fellowship (NAAF) are celebrating the first fruits of a project they launched under Lewis’s leadership in 2019. The two organizations are working together to plant churches in underserved African American communities across North America.

The first class of NAAF-sourced church planting residents completed a Send Network assessment Nov. 2-3 in New York. These new residents – following in Lewis’ footsteps – will walk down a church-planting pathway with Send Network using contextualized resources and support Lewis helped cultivate.

“Dhati’s leadership in Send Network has been invaluable,” said Greg Perkins, a NAAF board member and leader in the Send Network-NAAF partnership. “I look forward to the many ways NAAF, Send Network and BLVD will work together in the future to equip and

reach underserved communities across North America with the Gospel.”

While Lewis will be missed by many in the day-to-day workings of Send Network, Ezell said he’s “glad for his continued leadership in the future,” and added that word about Lewis’s successor will be coming soon.

“As Dhati and I have talked and prayed about these opportunities for some time, it has given us a chance to identify his successor, which we’ll announce in the coming weeks – and his aren’t easy shoes to fill!” Ezell said.

4 ways the church can approach National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month. Each year, we set aside this month to celebrate adoption in our churches and communities with all manner of meetings, special gatherings, and public acknowledgments. The airwaves are full of commercials touting the gift of adoption and the positive place that adoption has in the lives of so many children and families.

During this month of emphasis, we are intentional with presenting story after heartwarming story of how God has built families through adoption. The beauty of adoption is on full display, and that is an overwhelmingly a good thing. But I believe that National Adoption Month is also a perfect time to pause and acknowledge that the beauty of adoption does not come without a price. Moreover, National Adoption Month represents an opportunity for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to put the fruit of the gospel on display to post-adoptive families in some needed ways.

Those of us whose families God has grown through adoption know that while our story is good, we did not become a family without brokenness and difficulty. Oftentimes, at points of emphasis like National Adoption Month, we in the Christian adoption community can have an annoying tendency to gloss over the difficult and sad parts of our journey for fear of ruining the good. A Christ-centered perspective reminds us that we cannot because our story ultimately isn’t about us at all.

In so many ways, adoption is a mixed bag. God has given us children that we love more than we can ever really express. Our kids love us as their parents, and they love their siblings (although it doesn’t always look like it). We are all thankful for God’s providential hand in bringing us together, but we have also learned as a family that significant days and meaningful celebrations are defined in part by the people who are not there and the questions that don’t always have answers. Milestone birthdays are joyous, but they are also tinged with thoughts of unknown birth parents or siblings and a sense of loss from something that we never truly had. Graduations and achievements are always tempered by a little sadness or drama that we can’t quite put our fingers on but that have come to expect. Most adoptive families know exactly what I mean.

In short, adoption is beautiful, but it is also hard, and both aspects can be embraced without fear or anxiety. As Christians, we can accept truths in tension in large part because of the gospel. As we think about God’s adoption of us through Christ’s work, the gospel is a story that is filled with both great glory and real grief. God provided for our redemption and demonstrated Jesus’ sovereignty over life and death, but our redemption cost Jesus his life. For our part, our response to the gospel is marked by our turning to Christ for the gift of salvation, but it also is the story of how our sinful brokenness and rebellion against God created a debt that only Jesus could pay.

Although I am not trying to stretch the analogy to exactly equate earthly adoptions with our adoptions into the family of God, I do think that their parallels are noteworthy as we think about how we celebrate adoption. The gospel is the ultimate good news, but it is also good news mixed with brokenness because of how far we had strayed and how much we were in need of rescue.

How the church can approach adoption

In light of these observations, here are a few thoughts as to how we in the church approach National Adoption Month:

Celebrate adoption

Just because adoption is difficult or complex, don’t stop celebrating and championing it. Adoption is not the only answer to fulfilling James 1:27, but it is the exact right answer for some vulnerable children. Adoption isn’t a fairy tale. In the church, we need to be intentional about celebrating adoption and championing adoptive families in healthy ways in order to send a clear message that adoption does not have to be perfect to be something that we affirm and praise the Lord for. As local churches, we celebrate what we value, and Jesus is who we value most. When we appropriately acknowledge adoption in the culture of our churches, we are celebrating the grace and mercy of God on display in his people.

Allow for grief and sadness in adoption

Just because adoption is good doesn’t mean that it is always all good. Give people in your family and your church the grace to experience the full range of the emotions around their adoption. There is no one right way to feel or experience the layers of emotion around the broken relationships and sad stories that are part of adoption. When we don’t know what to do, we can always feel free to give the gift of presence to our family and friends touched by adoption without having to feel the pressure of providing solutions.

I have stopped counting the times that people felt like they needed to say something positive about our family and have told me how grateful that our kids should be to be adopted. Some days, they quite frankly aren’t all that grateful. Yet, I understand that my kids don’t really need to be grateful for death, abandonment, neglect, abuse, or anything else that may have contributed to them being adoptable. The ministry of presence is key when we are face to face with the ongoing pain that brought many families to adoption. Just sitting with our hurting friends in their grief can be more powerful than any words we have.

Allow adoptees and adoptive families to not be OK

Sadly, one of the most difficult things that I have experienced in the last 18+ years in the Christian adoption community is how many hurting adoptive families and adoptees feel like they have to put on a front and hide their pain in the church. It’s as if we feel being transparent about our pain and difficulties will give the enemy a victory when, in reality, Satan is reveling in those families that are too ashamed to let people in their local church into their suffering.

Through adoption, we have encountered pain and brokenness that has at times been too much to bear. Without the prayers and the tangible support of our brothers and sisters in Christ, I don’t know how we would have survived. Perhaps the greatest testimony that adoption has given us is an unshakable confidence in the enduring presence of God through it all. One way to celebrate adoption is to ensure that our churches are a safe place for adoptees and adoptive families to find community and support that mirrors the ever-faithful love of God in their lives.

Provide resources

Years ago, one of the leading family ministries in the United States did a survey of Christian adoptive families, and what they found was striking. They discovered that the top place Christian families want to go for help and resources is their church, but the church is actually one of the last places they turn to for help. This should not be. As Christ’s ambassadors we must do better.

Lifeline and other ministries like ours exist to come alongside local churches and equip and empower them to care for vulnerable children and families in Jesus’ name. When the church becomes among the safest and the best prepared places to care for the uniqueness brought by adoptive families, we become a living picture of the grace of God to a world that is dying to know and follow Jesus.

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