Day 7 of 10
The Church as Refuge
Becoming the safest place for women in crisis
Scripture Readings
Today's Reading
Read Psalm 68:5-6: "Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land."
Then read Galatians 6:2: "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."
Reflection
God identifies himself in Psalm 68 not by his power or his majesty, though both are real, but by his care for the most vulnerable. He is the father of the fatherless, the protector of widows, the one who gives the lonely a home. If this is who God is, then the community that bears his name must reflect this character. The church is meant to be the place on earth where the fatherless find fathers, where the abandoned find family, where the lonely find home.
Paul's instruction in Galatians 6:2 — "Bear one another's burdens" — is not a metaphor. It means actual, physical, costly burden-sharing. When a woman faces an unplanned pregnancy and feels she has no options, the church's task is not to hand her a pamphlet with a Bible verse and send her on her way. It is to say: we will walk with you. We will help you financially. We will provide childcare. We will sit with you in the middle of the night when the baby will not stop crying. We will help you finish your education. We will not abandon you.
Keller argued that the church itself is God's social program: "The church does not simply have a social program; it is a social program. The church is God's answer to the human predicament." This is either true or it is not. If it is true, then a church that opposes abortion but offers no material support to mothers is a church that has failed to be itself.
Bonhoeffer wrote from prison with haunting clarity about what the church is called to be: "The Church is the Church only when it exists for others. Not dominating but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others." A church that exists for others does not merely make demands of a pregnant woman. It wraps around her with the kind of practical love that makes keeping her child an actual possibility.
What does this look like concretely? Some churches have developed remarkable models. They provide emergency housing for pregnant women with nowhere to go. They create adoption networks where families within the congregation open their homes. They fund childcare co-ops so young mothers can work or study. They offer mentoring programs that pair experienced parents with new mothers. They provide job training, financial counseling, and long-term support that extends years — not weeks — beyond the birth.
Others have created cultures of shame that drive pregnant women away. The unmarried woman who becomes pregnant in some churches faces not support but ostracism — the very opposite of what Psalm 68 describes. When the church is more interested in policing sexual sin than in caring for the people caught in its consequences, it fails the test of Galatians 6:2. Burden-bearing means entering the mess, not standing outside it with a wagging finger.
The pro-life movement will ultimately be judged not by its political victories but by its practical love. If churches that oppose abortion are also the churches that adopt the most children, support the most mothers, and provide the most resources for struggling families, their witness will be powerful beyond measure. If they are not, then the world will rightly question whether the movement is about life or about control.
Going Deeper
Research what crisis pregnancy resources exist in your community. Does your church support any of them? If not, what would it take to start? And ask yourself the uncomfortable question from today's meditation prompt: if a young, unmarried, pregnant woman walked into your church next Sunday, what would actually happen?
Key Quotes
“The church does not simply have a social program; it is a social program. The church is God's answer to the human predicament.”
“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others. Not dominating but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.”
Prayer Focus
Pray for your local church to become a place where women facing unplanned pregnancies would feel safe coming for help — and for the practical resources to make that a reality.
Meditation
If a young, unmarried, pregnant woman walked into your church next Sunday, what would happen? Would she be embraced or whispered about? Be honest.
Question for Discussion
Bonhoeffer said the church is the church only when it exists for others. What would it cost your congregation — financially, culturally, structurally — to become a genuine refuge for women in crisis pregnancies, and what resistance would you expect?