Why There’s Still Hope for Millennials in the Church

Share a couple of the stories that have been the most compelling to you.

All of these stories are amazing. There is Rebecca, who was conceived as a result of rape and is now speaking up on behalf of children and women. Dr. Mike Adams has an interesting story. He was a liberal, pro-choice professor who only wanted to date women who were pro-choice. That way, if he got a woman pregnant, he could take her to have an abortion.

But Mike watched a film called The Silent Scream by Bernard Nathanson that really got his attention. One of the stories featured in our video and curriculum is that of Melissa Ohden, who survived a failed saline abortion attempt in 1977. She talks about her journey to meet her biological parents and find answers.

She wrote, “Despite not yet having the chance to meet my biological parents or the majority of my biological family, I see abortion through the lens of each of our lives. I have seen how my biological mother’s forced abortion didn’t just affect my life and hers, it’s affected all of our lives. Secrets have been kept, relationships have been changed. Some relationships have ended. Shame, guilt and resentment have abounded in our lives.

“I live each day of my life knowing that if the abortion had succeeded in ending my life, my two daughters never would have existed. This the most difficult part of it all for me. Every decision has a consequence; every abortion has a ripple effect that impacts generations. That is the biggest reason why I came forward publicly in 2007 as an abortion survivor, to turn back the tide in the opposite direction, to bring truth and love to the world that has been devastated by abortion.”

Why is it important for Christians—and especially for millennials—to engage in this dialogue?

Every millennial is a survivor. Every millennial has been born after 1973. So millennials have been brought into this world at time when it was legally permissible for our mothers to kill us. But we survived Roe v. Wade. Many of our brothers and sisters have not survived. Fifty-seven million babies have died. But we have an opportunity to change history; to rescue those being led away to the slaughter; to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves. Our generation has technology, innovation and a strong desire to make a difference.

It won’t be easy, and I believe we need a spiritual awakening from God. Some people think it is impossible to overturn Roe v. Wade, but it is not. Yes, we need to elect a president who will nominate constitutionally true Supreme Court justices, but we all need to change the hearts and minds of our friends, family and neighbors too—that begins with us at home.

It starts with learning, repenting of our own sins, receiving Jesus’ forgiveness and then sharing our stories of hope to those who are looking to us. We Choose Life is all about real answers, real stories and real hope. Just when we think it is impossible to see abortion abolished, we must remember that William Wilberforce was going up against 500 years of tradition when he sought to make the slave trade illegal. We’re going up against 43 years of abortion being practiced in America.

Wilberforce said, “Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. … Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt under which we at present labor, and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country.”

May we say the same thing about abortion. May we never give up until we have wiped away the scandal of abortion from America. After we expose the evil, may we extinguish every trace of this bloody traffic. May we one day look back and tell our grandchildren that we can’t believe we allowed such an evil to exist in our great nation.

Dave Sterrett is an evangelist, educator and ethicist. He is the founder of Disruptive Truth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to disrupting culture with the truth of the gospel. In the last decade, Dave Sterrett has been a director, spokesman or board member for some of the most innovative Christian organizations that are reaching millennials with the hope of Jesus Christ.