Our name can be rendered without capital letters because it's a complete sentence: Life matters worldwide. And that's a statement that bears repeating.
Some might wonder, though, why not concentrate our efforts on needs here in the United States. Aren't they pressing enough?
While the need for pro-life ministry in the U.S. is great, many resources are already devoted to the cause. As Kurt Dillinger of LIFE International has said, something like 90 percent of U.S. pro-life dollars are spent in this country while 90 percent of the world's abortions occur elsewhere. America bears a large share of responsibility for those abortions because we have exported the practice to the world.
If you think passing pro-life laws is an uphill battle in the U.S., consider that the task of pro-life ministry in other countries is even harder. Depending on the administration in power, the U.S. often ties foreign aid to a recipient country's liberalization of abortion laws. We Christians, therefore, owe an even greater debt to Christians in other countries to help them fight abortion.
Pro-lifers in other countries face added challenges, such as:
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A lack of biblical teaching on the sanctity of human life, even in churches
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A lack of understanding about human development and what abortion does to the unborn
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A lack of respect for women
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A lack of resources
Many people in other parts of the world who have a great desire to do pro-life ministry must spend a good share of their day simply surviving. Volunteering at a pregnancy center or AIDS hospice is a luxury few in developing nations can afford, therefore ministries in these parts of the world are well served if we help them devise strategies for sustaining pro-life work.
The effort is well worth it. For example, Bentina Alusi runs the Kibera Community Counselling and Pregnancy Crisis Centre in the world's largest slum (outside Nairobi, Kenya). By our standards she has very little but, like the poor woman of Luke 21:1-4, she gives all she has. At one point soon after the center opened in 2009, Bentina was counseling 15 girls a day, two days a week. Missionaries reported that the church that her husband pastors grew because of her ministry through the center. From a small seed comes great harvest! Similar results have been had through our partners in Lima, Peru.
God has given Life Matters both the desire and the opportunity to join with others in pro-life ministry overseas. So far He's also supplied resources to enable us to help in small but significant ways.
We receive new requests every week. Ask God to give us wisdom and grace as we steward both funds and opportunities, and as we respond to people.
Truly, life matters worldwide.