A Letter on Roe v Wade from Pastor Austin Gohn
June 29th, 2022

Bellevue Christian Church Family,

On Friday, like many of you, I read about the decision from the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling of Roe v Wade after fifty years and return decision-making on abortion to the states. In the hours that followed, I read just about every opinion imaginable about the decision of the Supreme Court on social media and news outlets. It is disorienting, and, based on some of the conversations I have had in the days since, I know that many of you are wondering how to navigate this moment in history as followers of Jesus.

So often, the conversation around Roe v Wade has turned on whether you are for women or for the unborn, but the church, despite its lamentable missteps in the area of justice at times, has at its best found a way to be for both—refusing the false either/or and providing a better alternative.

Starting in the first century of the Roman Empire, when both women and children (especially infants) were seen as inferior and disposable and Christianity was still a marginal religion without any cultural power, Christians followed the pattern of Jesus and courageously confronted the world around them by affirming the dignity of not just children and not just women but both as made in the image of God—despite what it might cost them to do so. They honored women and rescued infants who had been abandoned on trash heaps, adopting them into their own families. In fact, the undeniable influence of Christianity on the world is one of the main reasons we care about the rights of either.

With that in mind, as the church in the twenty-first century, we can rejoice that a decision has been made to limit access to abortion in our society—a step toward justice that will save the lives of many children yet to be born, who have been, in the words of the ancient prayer, knit together in their mothers’ wombs (Psalm 139:13). It’s an answer to a prayer that many women and men, myself included, have been praying for years.

And, at the same time, we have an ongoing, immense responsibility as the church to care for those who will be most deeply impacted by this decision. As Jon Tyson wrote in a letter to his church in New York this week, a letter which is worth reading in its entirety: “This is not a time for a pharisaical victory lap. This is not a time to simply lift a finger. This is a time for discipleship, generosity, grace, and putting our faith into action. The church is at its best when it cares about life, not just birth.”

In light of that, as a start, we must be a church that walks alongside and advocates for mothers by providing as much emotional, financial, and relational support as we can—not just while the child is in the womb, but for the nearly two decades in which that child will be under her roof. We must continue to be a church with a foster and adoption culture, in which many steps up to foster and adopt while the rest of us support those who do, as the already strained foster care and adoption system is strained even further. We must be a church that challenges men to honor women and to embrace the responsibility of fatherhood before and during those moments when they will be most tempted to leave. And, we must be a church that is committed to getting upstream and addressing the root issues that make abortion seem like the only way.

As Karen Swallow Prior, who I trust more than many on this subject, wrote recently, “Our work is just starting: we must help and support moms, dads, and babies. Love them all—and in so doing making abortion unimaginable.” Or, in the words of the first-century letter from James, the brother of Jesus, to the church, “In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself” (James 2:17). One of the strongest criticisms leveled against the church is less often about what we believe but more often about our hypocritical failure to embody what we believe in the moments when it matters most. Therefore, let us be a church that is known not just for the faith we confess but for the work we do. In the coming weeks and months, let us be a church that works together to find tangible, embodied ways to put our faith into action individually and collectively (1 John 3:16-18).

In the coming season, as the rhetoric around this decision heats up, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person” (Colossians 4:6). As we do so, it is an opportunity to point people to Jesus—the one who spoke with compassion and empathy to women who were hurting, winsome gentleness with those who struggled to believe his message, and respect toward those who mischaracterized him.

Ultimately, our hope as believers does not rest in whatever decision is being made by the Supreme Court at any given moment in history, but, rather, our hope rests in the “kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Hebrews 12:28) that Jesus inaugurated with his life, death, and resurrection and will one day bring to fulfillment when he returns. For now, we live in the in-between, trusting that Jesus is seated on the throne and interceding for us at the right hand of the Father as we navigate our cultural moment as his people full of his Spirit.

I love this church and I know that while there are some reading this letter who will agree, there are others who will disagree—just as when we have responded to other moments in the past. This is not the first time, and it will not be the last time that we speak into what is happening in the world around us. This letter cannot possibly touch on every possible nuance surrounding the moment we are in, but it is my sincere hope that it shapes your approach in the coming weeks and opens the door for further conversation about what it looks like to faithfully follow Jesus in our own time.

Grace and Peace,

Austin Gohn
Lead Pastor

Representing the Leadership Council