“Serving a family who’s having difficulties – a battle is raging in their home – is kind of messy. It’s not clean, it’s not nice, it’s not sweet. There’s [no] cinnamon fragrance going on in their home. … But they need you to come alongside them, to help them with their mess, to help love them in spite of themselves.
That was just part of a heartfelt message from Dr. Sharen Ford, program director for Focus on the Family’s adoption and orphan-care efforts, at the 2017 Evangelicals for Life conference. The event is held annually in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the national March for Life, and Ford will have more to say at the next Evangelicals for Life, coming up Jan. 18-20, 2018.
Ford, a former president of the National Association of State Adoption Programs, spent 30 years at the Colorado state Department of Human Services, where she focused on finding permanent homes for children. She’s just one of many speakers at this year’s conference, with a list that includes Focus on the Family President Jim Daly; Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC); and best-selling author/radio host Joni Eareckson Tada.
Anyone who’s been to a March for Life, which regularly draws hundreds of thousands of people to the nation’s capital, knows it’s an experience you remember for a lifetime. Held near the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision that struck down abortion restrictions in every state, the event draws together countless pro-life Americans who share the conviction that every human life is a precious gift from God, as well as strengthening their commitment to act on that conviction.
Co-sponsored by Focus on the Family and the ERLC, Evangelicals for Life was first held in 2016 to increase the level of engagement in the pro-life cause among evangelical Christians. Holding the event in conjunction with the March for Life is an opportunity to tap into the energies of the marchers. Their passion and perseverance have fueled the pro-life movement, helping to save many babies’ lives, heal many women and move the country toward a growing pro-life mindset – a shift that polls show is strongest among the young.
