Churches encouraged to partner
with pregnancy centers

By Erin Roach Kentucky Baptist Convention Greenville—By partnering with other congregations in their community to support a pregnancy resource center, members of Second Baptist Church of Greenville have demonstrated that their belief in the sanctity of life is a cause worthy of action. Diana Anderson, a member of Second Baptist, Greenville began serving as executive director of Pathway of Hope in 2005, and the church has been a faithful supporter of the ministry. “They’ve done supply drives where they bring in baby items and it’s like a massive church-wide baby shower,” she said. “Everybody brought their items to the altar, and it was a pretty awesome thing because we just covered the altar with baby things.”

More churches involved

Eric Allen, mission service and ministries director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, is hoping more churches will follow Second Baptist Church’s lead.

Through a partnership with the North American Mission Board called “The Invitation Stands,” the KBC is urging congregations to visit their local pregnancy resource centers and discover ways they can help share Christ and guide women to choose life for their unborn children.

“We currently partner with 51 pregnancy care centers in Kentucky that are affiliated ministries of KBC churches and/or associations,” Allen said. “It is my prayer that every KBC church would demonstrate that they value human life that God has created (including the unborn) by partnering with local pregnancy care centers.”

In addition to providing needed items, Second Baptist Church of Greenville also participates in two annual fundraisers for the resource center, including a baby-bottle blitz running from Mother’s Day to Father’s Day as a way to collect spare change for the ministry.

“They believe in the sanctity of life and know that since we don’t take state and federal funds, our resources are limited to what churches and individuals do,” Anderson said.

Anderson is the only full-time staff person at the center, and another woman has been hired for 16 hours per week through a community grant to coordinate an educational program at the center.

‘Reflect and share Christ’

“The No. 1 thing we want to do is reflect and share Christ. We want to be evangelistic in the way that we minister, but most of all we just want to love them the way Christ would,” Anderson said. “People from all walks of life come here, facing a lot of tough choices. With the economy the way it is, a lot of people are really struggling right now to be able to make ends meet.”

As long as supplies are available, the center is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays for walk-in visits and appointments and Wednesdays for appointments only. When the center is unable to meet a need, they make phone calls to help acquire resources and services elsewhere in the Greenville community.

“That’s a huge thing that we have seen happen in the last year and a half—the networking of organizations in the community,” said Anderson, who is a NAMB Mission Service Corps missionary. “We had a tornado here and then the ice storm and all that, so it kind of opened our eyes to the value of working together.”

Ways to help

The center offers free pregnancy tests and soon will offer ultrasounds if they are able to move into a larger facility, she said. They average 125 to 140 clients each month, and volunteers from the church help out in a variety of ways.

“They may be greeters. They may sort clothes and diapers and put things away that are donated. We have a laundry room here, and we wash all of the clothes that come in. A lot of times they’re doing the laundry,” Anderson noted.

Allen suggested that interested churches start by contacting a local center to inform them of a desire to become involved.

Churches can pray for the center’s staff as well as for the mothers and their unborn children; meet physical needs by providing maintenance and repairs at the center; collect and donate needed items; volunteer time; give financially; or invite a representative from the center to speak at the church.

For more information about “The Invitation Stands,” contact the KBC’s mission service and ministries department at (502) 489-3530, toll free in Kentucky at (866) 489-3530, or visit www.KYBaptist.org/PregnancyCare

Western Recorder issue date: June 8, 2010