Church Plant

Our culture is in a state of upheaval, but God's people have the resources to confront cultural trends that are harmful and unbiblical.  Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world, 1st John 4 says.  There's a passage in Isaiah 59 that is reminiscent of the passage in Ephesians 6, describing the
armor of God. We can read:
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, Fury to His adversaries, Recompense to His enemies; The coastlands He will fully repay.
19 So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

It seems the enemy is working overtime to destroy and discredit the Church, and we have to make sure that God's Word is being proclaimed in culture.  It's important that His words concerning abortion, sexuality, marriage, racial issues, and more are being accurately communicated to a culture and Church which are being infiltrated by ideas that don't line up with Scripture.  The enemy will come to deceive; we can raise up God's standards in our own individual lives and culturally, as well, so that people will see the power and presence of Jesus.

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There are numerous areas of spiritual warfare in which God is calling us to engage.  As we will talk about on today's Meeting House program, this is certainly applicable in the area of sexuality.  And, it is certainly seen in the area of our attitude toward the unborn.  Ephesians 6 tells us:
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

We've seen so-called people of faith and church leaders who have cozied up to Planned Parenthood, which is the nation's largest abortion provider.  CBN reported on a dedication for a new clinic in Ohio:

Billed as an "interfaith gathering," the Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice dedicated a new abortion clinic in Cleveland, Ohio Monday by having a United Church of Christ minister on hand to bless "the sacred space of decision."

This was published in October.  The story also related:

On Nov. 9, the group will also have "faith leaders" perform a blessing of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Columbus, Ohio. The "blessing" will feature prayers, "testimonies about receiving and providing abortion care," and a message from Rev. Susan K. Smith of Crazy Faith Ministries, according to the website Christian Headlines.com.

Franklin Graham responded strongly, saying: "Can you believe that? In reality, they are 'blessing' murder. They are blessing actions that are against the laws of God. That would be like priests standing outside the gas chambers at Auschwitz and blessing the murder of innocent Jews. Such evil."

LifeNews.com published a report this past fall on an attempt by a church in Berea, Kentucky to welcome Planned Parenthood there:

Planned Parenthood tried to have a sneaky meeting at Union Church (the pastor said having PP in town would be “good for business” – we aren’t sure what that’s supposed to mean). But over 100 pro-life advocates showed up to protest and make sure Planned Parenthood knew they aren’t welcome. They even made local news!

Hopefully it’s clear to Planned Parenthood that they aren’t welcome in Berea, despite what the aggressive pro-abortion population in town has to say. We don’t need Planned Parenthood – not in Berea. Not anywhere.

The article mentioned how the state of Kentucky is down to one abortion clinic, and it isn't even a Planned Parenthood center.

And, a group of churches in Spokane have banded together to form what is now known as The Church at Planned Parenthood, but it's not what you might think!  Its website says:

The Church at Planned Parenthood is NOT a protest. It’s a worship service at the gates of Hell. The Church at Planned Parenthood is a gathering of Christians for the worship of God and the corporate prayer for repentance for this nation, repentance for the apathetic church and repentance of our blood guiltiness in this abortion holocaust.

Founder Ken Peters, pastor of Covenant Church in Spokane, told CBN News that "We gotta put legs to our faith," adding, "We've gotta find that balance between being mean and nasty and yelling, we've got to find the balance between that and doing nothing."  He believes the Lord directed the church to plant another church right there at the clinic site.

The article says:

Peters and members of his congregation go to the local Planned Parenthood and share a message of God's love and hope. They host a full service complete with a worship band and prayer teams.

It goes on to report:

Peters added that as news of his church has spread, other ministries are joining in.

"Our last service, we got about 65,000 people viewing in live on my personal Facebook feed," he said. "We had over 300 people there outside in the freezing cold, cars driving by. It's been unbelievable."

The website lists six area churches that have partnered together to "corporately support The Church at Planned Parenthood and the spiritual fight against this abortion holocaust."

We can be reminded of a few principles from this story.  For one thing, when we see that the enemy is engaging the Church, we have to engage him.  Not shy away, but armed with the full armor of God, including the Sword of the Spirit, we may be called to be part of directed spiritual warfare.  We don't go looking for it, but quite frankly, it has been brought to our doorstep.

This story gives us a picture of the Church unconstrained.  God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.  This is applicable to trends in the culture, and harmful trends in the Church - we must not allow ourselves to be held back, but empowered and equipped to speak and act boldly.

Sometimes that will involve communicating the message in fresh ways.  We first have to be grounded in truth, and depend on the Lord to show us how we can live it out.  And, in this particular arena of pro-life activity, that comes from a position of having developed a passion for life, and allowing that passion to motivate us to action.