Presbyterians Pro-Life

Notice to PPL Supporters
From Don Elliott, PPL President
Posted August 19, 2004

August 6, 2004

The change in General Assemblies puts more onus on the General Assembly Council for decisions. The Council is nominated and elected at the General Assembly level of the Church. Hence, it is far less representative of our churches than the General Assembly itself, whose commissioners are elected by our presbyteries.

Does anyone really know the implications of these changes? Not yet. But, without a doubt, the role of renewal efforts will take on more significance for Presbyterians who hope for the restoration of biblical integrity in our denomination.

This increased significance makes us especially grateful for your faithful and strong support!

Presbyterians Pro-Life also is preparing for change. Our executive director, Terry Schlossberg, has served the organization since 1987 and is anticipating retirement, perhaps as soon as next Spring. She’s in no hurry and neither are we, so we will take our time and find the next executive director that God is raising up for PPL. And Terry’s commitment to continue to work for the reform of our denomination is as strong as your own. She will remain active in renewal efforts as long as God provides her the strength and opportunity.

We do not know all the implications of this change. But, we can say with confidence that there will be no change in the mission and purpose of PPL. We have been a witness and ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA) since the late 1970s and we expect to continue to carry out our commitment faithfully as God continues to lead us.

PPL’s witness stretches back much farther than Terry’s service. And yet, considering that the PCUSA is 216 years old in this country, it’s really not very far back after all. We were incorporated fewer than twenty years ago, when the denomination was 197 years old. That’s a very short time in the long history of the Church.

PPL was incorporated in 1985, two years after the General Assembly adopted a policy that approved elective abortion as a Christian responsibility. When the General Assembly did that, it reversed its own almost 200 year history in the United States and its nearly five hundred year history since the Reformation. That policy also was a reversal of the two thousand year history of the Church, beginning in the New Testament where John the Baptist lept with joy over our Savior while they were both hidden in their mothers’ wombs. It was a reversal of thousands of years of history before that, all the way back to the incredible news in Genesis that we are created in God’s image and forbidden to take the lives of human beings (Genesis 1:27 and 9:6).

Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options (PARO) is a group that speaks as if there were no Church history on abortion before the 1970s. PARO told commissioners to this past General Assembly that they are an official voice of the denomination upholding the long history of the Church favoring reproductive rights and the choice of abortion. They are committed to a history that began with the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 and their objective is to protect that decision. PARO is the recipient of more than $10,000 yearly in General Assembly funds and services. This year they lobbied commissioners to reject the protection of viable babies in the womb and to approve over-the-counter availability of the "morning after" drug for young teens, so that neither parents nor physicians are involved.

Acknowledging the humanity of babies in the womb is not a new idea. Voicing opposition to abortion and speaking in defense of human beings while they are still in the womb has been a part of the Church’s proclamation from her beginning. Early Church documents speak of the humanity of the unborn child and contain explicit condemnation of abortion.

PPL has never tried to express anything but the biblical message about life: the message carried by the whole of the Christian Church, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant, until the mainline Protestant Church capitulated to the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

The defense of every innocent human being is a position that Christians have taken through the centuries, and it is a stand that distinguishes Christians from unbelievers. It is just as Jesus said: This is how they will know that you are my disciples; because you love each other. You protect the innocent and vulnerable among you. You care for the widow, the orphan, and the poor, and what you do to the least of your brothers and sisters you do to me.

This is a time of transition for the Presbyterian Church and for PPL. We want to assure you that our ministry is rooted solidly in Scripture and our Confessional understandings of life. We, like you, seek to be faithful to the calling God has given us to hold up the truth before our church and pray and work for the restoration of godliness, particularly on the issues of life.

Our ministry is centered on applying the Gospel to the meaning of humanness: to change hearts and change minds, and to save the lives of God’s little ones still in the wombs of their mothers.

We see these changes of mind and heart taking place in our denomination just as they are taking place in our nation. The numbers of abortions are declining and ministries like this one that continue faithfully in the face of opposition, year after year, are contributing to these positive changes. This year the General Assembly failed to protect the lives of babies late in pregnancy by a margin of four votes! But, what the media did not report is that when the votes of youth advisory delegates were reported (their votes are only advisory in plenary and do not count toward the total), they voted by a significant majority in favor of protecting those babies. That was one of the most hopeful acts of this General Assembly–a significant sign of changes coming!

We in PPL believe the Presbyterian Church will regain and restore that understanding of truth in our theology and in our ministry and in our life together. The day will come when this denomination restores its protection of the unborn.

Please stay with us. Please work with us. Please support this ministry financially, and keep us in your prayers.

"Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)

PPL is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization of members of the Presbyterian Church (USA). A financial statement is available upon written request from the Virginia State Division of Consumer Affairs or from PPL.