Rural Crisis Pregnancy Center Serves

                                                                                                                        Vol. X, No. 2, February 1997

Introduction: Matthew 20:26b-28 reads, “...whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [servant]; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” How often we act as if the Christian life consists of conversion, congregation, and consumption and ignore Christ’s command to serve others. The following article, reprinted from Light, the bimonthly journal of the SBC Christian Life Commission, tells how a group of Christian ladies in rural Mississippi express their living faith. Praise God for those who serve. TCP

by Dwayne Hastings 

           In an area of northwest Mississippi famed more for the glitter and glamour of its casino night life, a group of Southern Baptist churches in the intensely rural area is striving to preserve the lives of unborn babies.

           "We're 20 small churches and one tiny mission in the poorest part of the United States," noted Helen Johnson, the first director of the area's only crisis pregnancy center and wife of M. C. Johnson, director of missions in the North Delta Baptist Association, "If we can do it, anybody can."

           A study of the six-county region released in 1986 revealed a serious lack of access to health care and a high illiteracy rate in an area known for its rampant poverty. "85 percent of the babies born in this area are born to unwed mothers," said Helen, her voice tinged with a hint of despair. "There's also a very high rate of infant mortality here due to lack of prenatal care.

           "We're probably the only center that deals with extremely low-income rural families in the state of Mississippi," Helen said, noting most centers deal with crisis pregnancies in the inner city or the suburbs.

           The county's health department stopped giving free pregnancy tests to women last year, referring the women instead to the Clarksdale, Miss., crisis pregnancy center, Helen recounted, with the arrangement affording counselors a prime opportunity to tell more women about Jesus. "They get a free pregnancy test when they come in," M. C. Johnson said. "We help them to face the facts as to what has happened in their lives and to let them know it's not the end of the world.

           "If they don't have time to talk with us about spiritual matters, then we try to get them to come back later," M. C. said. "We see that they get the prenatal care their baby needs and we get them in a Bible class conducted by volunteers at the center.

           "We have compassion for them," he continued. "But if we are going to just be another social agency, we might as well just close up -- ours is a spiritual ministry."

           "If there is not a change on the inside, there's not going to be a change on the outside, " said Helen, echoing her husband's comments. "They're going to have to change that lifestyle, and only Jesus can change that inside. If we haven't helped them make a change in their life, we haven't done very much.

           "We get a lot of calls from women who want an abortion. We don't tell them we don't do abortions here; instead, we do everything we can to get them in here and let them see a video, receive some education and get some counseling so that at least they can make an educated decision," Helen said.

           Not every visitor to the center is considering abortion, she added. "A 38-year-old came in one afternoon saying her biological time clock was running out. She asked me, 'Would you consider this a crisis for a pregnancy and pray for me?"'

           The center's ministry extends beyond those now considering terminating their pregnancy, embracing the growing number of women who already aborted a child. In any congregation, upwards of one out of six women have had an abortion, explained Nancy Pennington, the center's director. "They need to know they can be forgiven. "

           Cases of post-abortion trauma are increasing, symptomatic of the statistics that reveal nearly one out of three babies is aborted. Pennington told of a woman in her mid-30s who came to the center in September: "She was hurting really bad from having had an abortion in her past. She needed some counseling and some prayer because she was actually suicidal. She got down on her knees and asked forgiveness and really got forgiveness from the Lord that day. "

           Yet the pain persists, Pennington said, despite the fact this woman was forgiven by God and had three children since the abortion. "She is still dealing with this; it doesn't end just because she got forgiveness. The pain and the guilt is still there because she doesn't have her baby. "

           "This is our ministry," M. C. said. "It is what God has called us to do (share the Gospel).

           The center, located just outside Clarksdale, struggles financially as do most crisis pregnancy centers, yet Helen said it is sacrificial giving that keeps the ministry afloat. "Regardless of how small the gifts are, they are important to us," she said. "Folks give sacrificially because they believe in this ministry."

           Churches in the association have Sunday School enrollments ranging from seven to 400.

           "If you believe in something strong enough and you don't have the financial resources, there are people out there who have God's money and they will use it if they are challenged," said Helen, confessing she had to force herself in the beginning to ask for money to run the center. The center draws support from a local Roman Catholic priest as well as a Presbyterian women's group in the area, proving the outreach stretches across denominational lines. Generally individual supporters give less than $25 a month and, by far, most give $10 or less a month to support the center, she said.

           "We have not hurt anybody's church budget by operating this crisis pregnancy center," Helen

promised. "When the Lord is in it, he just clears the way."

           "Some days when you go home you are completely drained; it is not from physical hard work but from the stress of being concerned, and being in prayer, and even from crying," Pennington explained.

           "We see 40-50 girls a month. That sounds sad, and it is, but we know they are out there and if they come in to us, they get the gospel shared and they get educated about abortion. If they'll come to us, maybe we can make a difference in their decision to abort their baby," Pennington said.

"Once they come in, you just hope and pray they will come back because that way you know they are going through with their pregnancy," Pennington continued, "and if they don't come back, you wonder if they did go on and get an abortion.

            “I know there are some who come in and then walk out and get an abortion, but we do what we can," she said.