Why Do We Believe It’s Important to Build a Culture That Stands for Life?
Beginning With the End in Mind
Imagine a world where human life is affirmed and protected in all its forms, from womb to tomb. A world where we collectively embrace the reality of our created selves, living within the good purposes the Creator has so lovingly and intentionally designed us for.
In this transformed culture, our eyes are repeatedly opened to the beauty of human life that surrounds us daily. Our vision is sharp and attentive, quick to identify arising needs in our communities to meet them with holistic, compassionate care. The people we consider most different from us are warmly and eagerly invited into our lives—not because of what they can offer us, but because of the image they bear. Where we share a mutual understanding that we cannot flourish if the most vulnerable in our communities are not granted the same opportunity.
Even in the already and not yet, the revival realized and yet to come, we will joyfully advocate for the dignity of every single human person. For everyone to know that they are free to flourish. We will tirelessly work to create a culture that stands for life because of the power and beauty of the life-affirming truths of the gospel that we long for every person to experience more fully.
Culture-Building is in Our DNA
The world’s first human was given the job to care for the lush grounds of Eden. He had been given the most magnificent of natural resources and was now granted the freedom to cultivate it as he saw fit. He could explore, prune, harvest, feast, and craft in an environment teeming with God-breathed life. In partnership with the Creator, Eden would only grow and thrive.
When Adam had settled into his new home, God brought every living creature before him to be named. God showed Adam the creativity and ingenuity of his human mind throughout the process, allowing him to play with human language and search amongst the creatures for a helper.
When Eve was formed from Adam’s rib, they were both tasked to care for, fill, and govern the earth to spur human life forward and hone the impacts of human civilization. Even after the fall of humankind, the ability to create and shape culture—whether for good or bad—flows out of us. We see this in the tower of Babel, temples constructed, poems written, laws enacted, technological inventions, and many other ways.
Scripture makes it abundantly clear that God has given us dominion over the earth. He has woven an innate ability to affect change and influence culture into the very fibers of our being. We are armed with God-given creative potential to disrupt the broken and dysfunctional facets of human civilization with Christ’s love, wisdom, and creativity.
Building on the Early Church’s Foundation
In the early years of the Church, followers of Jesus grappled with the harsh realities of the broken world around them. People were heavily influenced by the ways of the Roman Empire and simply did not assign value to the lives of others as Christ did. If someone’s life was considered threatening or inconvenient, it was thoughtlessly discarded.
Early Christians refused to sit and watch life taken so cruelly and thoughtlessly. They were not idle as the vulnerable starved and withstood relentless abuse. They fished unwanted children from trash heaps, adopting them and raising them as their own. They gave their last morsels of bread to the widowed and homeless. They, as Christ had done before them, risked their own lives to care for those in danger.
Their life ethic was formed and enriched by the One they courageously followed. It was consistently applied to both the Jew and Gentile, the old and the young, the friend and the enemy. The culture they built courageously promoted the flourishing of every human life.
The Church—even with its shortcomings—has a legacy of defending and upholding human life. Those early followers wrote the first chapters of the story we are contributing to today. Instead of standing back and critiquing the horrors of Roman culture, they realized the power they held to step into the places of devastation with the swelling hope of the gospel. In the face of persecution, poverty, and injustice, they showed the broken world that there was another way…a Way, Truth, and Life that promoted the flourishing of everyone.
Stronger Together
Stand For Life seeks to unite the present-day Church around this faith-filled legacy, empowering Christians to come together and intervene in both radical and everyday, tangible ways. To tap into our creative and collaborative nature to build a culture that sees the image of God first and cares for the vulnerable, paving the way for every human being to thrive in relationship with their Creator.
Alone, building a culture that stands for life is daunting. Together, it is what we are created to do.
