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Stepping into this cultural moment with compassion

6/30/22 | The Weekly | by Matt Doan

    Over the 90 year history of Calvary Church, the Lord has graciously called the people of Calvary to compassionate acts of service.

    From cooking breakfast to homesick military service members from the local Marine base in the 1950’s, to our Care and Concern events of the 1980’s and 90’s that helped fix cars for people with limited resources, to just in this past year collecting over $80K to support Afghan and Ukrainian refugees. God has mightily used the people of Calvary Church to step into cultural moments with compassion.

    This past week, our nation experienced a moment that will be remembered in history, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

    The Bible teaches us that life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-14; Jeremiah 1:5) and that every life is made in the image of God and therefore valuable (Genesis 1:26). So for those with a Biblical worldview, the Supreme court ruling last week was encouraging and gave us hope.

    But for many in our nation, last week’s ruling brought disappointment and despair. It reminded me once again that people’s hearts and minds are not changed by judicial rulings but people's hearts and minds are only changed through an encounter with the loving triune God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    The church, throughout the generations, has been God’s instrument to change hearts and minds thru displaying the Lord’s compassion, mercy, patience, gentleness and humility.

    This cultural moment that we find ourselves in right now, centered around abortion, is a huge opportunity for us as followers of Jesus to display attributes of compassion to our co-workers, families, neighbors, social media friends and even perceived enemies.

    I like what Lila Rose, a UCLA grad and founder of LiveAction.org wrote earlier this week,

    “We have to spread the truth to men and women that there ARE local churches, pregnancy resource centers, friends and families who will support them in unplanned pregnancies. Ending Roe doesn’t mean ending support for women. It means communities can finally fully support women AND their preborn children.”

    So here are some ways that we are feeling called at Calvary Church to step into this cultural moment with compassion:

    1. We are going to increase our partnership/commitment to Obria, a pro-life crisis pregnancy full-service medical clinic in Santa Ana that gracefully and compassionately cares for women facing unplanned pregnancies. We will be inviting you to financially partner and volunteer with Obria in the coming days.

    2. You can also give to our Emergency Needs Fund that is currently coming alongside Single Moms connected to our Church with grocery gift cards and monthly checks. We would love to see this fund increase so that we can support more Single Moms in our community.

    3. This Fall we will be highlighting Safe Families, a non-profit partner of Calvary Church that comes alongside families in financial or emotional crisis and offers a temporary hosting of children to help families recover. You can sign up to be a host home for a Safe Family today at safe-families.org 

    4. Also this Fall, we will be hosting a “Considering Adoption and Foster Care” class on Wednesday Nights to equip people in our church and help them evaluate ways they might get involved in orphan care ministry.

    5. We want to be a community of grace and compassion to women who have had an abortion. There is no such thing as a “Scarlett Letter” in God’s Church. We all stand equal before the cross in need of forgiveness and we all can experience God’s amazing grace and healing! We will be developing a post-abortion Care Group filled with compassion with more details to be announced.

    These are five ways, we are feeling called to enter into this cultural moment with compassion. Maybe you have ideas too! We would love to hear them. Or perhaps you are struggling (or even angry) with why we believe the Bible teaches life begins at conception or that abortion is not God’s will. I would personally love to sit with you over a cup of coffee and have an open and compassionate conversation (email me at ).

    May the Lord bless you and keep you this 4th of July weekend, as your pastors, we love each of you.

    Matt Doan
    Reach Pastor