Merely advocating for the sanctity of life is not enough. To see abortion decrease, we also need to defend the sanctity of marriage and the family.
That was the premise offered by Care Net President and CEO Roland Warren when he was a guest at a recent Podcast of the National Association of Evangelicals. Warren was interviewed by Dr. Walter Kim, president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), an organization that represents approximately 40 denominations and thousands of churches, schools, and nonprofits.
In the podcast, Warren unpacks Care Net’s Pro Abundant Life Movement, a holistic, compassionate vision based on John 10:10 (“I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly”) and focuses on the design of God for the family.
Warren lamented that the pro-life movement often focuses on a narrative that is “framed by the other side… We have a strategy about helping the woman and saving the baby, but what we’ve lost along the way is the whole idea of reaching the man.”
With Care Net, that narrative began to change about 10 years ago, Warren said. At the time, only about six percent of Care Net-affiliated pregnancy centers offered any resources for men. Today, close to 70% of affiliated pregnancy centers have some type of ministry for men and staff members who interact with men.
Warren, who has been President and CEO at Care Net since 2012, previously served as president of the National Fatherhood Initiative. His shift in perspective regarding the pro-life movement and men began to change when he considered the implications of the Christmas story. The birth of Jesus, an unplanned pregnancy, shows God’s design for the family, he said.
“Mary had hopes and dreams for her life that didn’t include a child at that time and in that way,” he said. “And what is he doing? He focused on the certainty that there was life growing within him. It is not a life worth sacrificing, but it is a life worth sacrificing.
But that’s only half the story, Warren says: “What did God do to ensure that Mary’s unplanned pregnancy was not a crisis pregnancy? He sent an angel to Joseph.”
“Joseph was faced with a similar dilemma as any man with an abortion mind… He would put Mary and the baby aside quietly, which in that culture is how you get an abortion… The angel came to him and said, ‘No, no, no. I have a plan for you. It’s different from what you have. I want you to be her husband and father to the child growing inside her.’ ”
“The Holy Family is a father and mother united in marriage—loving each other, loving their child, and loving God.”
Likewise, the Pro Abundant Life approach involves ministry to men, calling them to fatherhood in the same way that Joseph was called to provide and protect Mary and Jesus.
“We have to be just as aggressive in finding guys,” Warren said.
Warren cited a survey conducted by Care Net and Lifeway Research, which revealed that the most influential person in a woman’s abortion decision is the baby’s father. Not even close.
“However, for 40-plus years, we have developed a movement that largely ignores the narrative that is in the first chapter of the first book of the New Testament,” he said. “God gave us a framework of what to do when a person is faced with an unplanned pregnancy.”
In the podcast with Dr. Kim, Warren said another pillar in the Pro Abundant Life movement is discipleship, a combination of living the Great Commission and the Great Commission.
“The issue of life has to be looked at this way,” he said.
Discipleship and teaching needs to happen within the walls of the local church. And more churches need to provide on-ramp ministry to help people facing pregnancy decisions, offering compassion, hope, and help to couples facing unplanned pregnancies, Warren said. .
Care Net offers a Making Living Disciples course designed for use by small groups in churches.
“It comes down to being the hands and feet of Jesus,” Warren said. “We’re not going to solve the abortion issue if we don’t build strong families.”
