by Pastor Michael Salemink
As a boy, I could not work on the family automobiles. I did not have the knowledge or muscle to fix household appliances. But my little hands and slender arms served perfectly to maneuver a flashlight into narrow spaces and train it precisely on the site where my father was tinkering. Together we completed repairs that neither of us would have succeeded at alone.
Maybe the sanctity of life feels like a massive undertaking. You cannot drive the darkness of abortion, physician-assisted suicide, embryocidal technologies, and other threats to humankind from your surroundings by yourself. Or you’ve attended a Lutherans For Life activity and wanted everybody you know to experience and receive the same Gospel-motivated equipping. Maybe you cannot build a bonfire, but can you point a flashlight?
The pressure to use death as a solution to difficulty has brought bleak times upon us. Fathers deliver children over to death, “and children will rise against parents and have them put to death” (Matthew 10:21). But the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:4-5). “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:15-16).
Lutherans For Life is launching a new initiative to bring light to your community. Spotlight on Life offers you the opportunity to reach your community with the For Life message and ministry instead of expecting them to find and come to LFL. Like a mini-conference right in your hometown and backyard, a Spotlight on Life event can generate local awareness, interest, and enthusiasm with our signature Gospel-motivated information and education. You’ll acquaint your neighborhood with our personnel and establish relationships that will initiate organizing, networking, advocating for the worth and purpose of every person, and advancing a culture of life. Spotlight on Life makes a magnificent first step toward the vision of “every Lutheran, individually and in community, upholding the God-given value of human life and influencing society to do the same.”
Spotlight on Life is an equipping engagement that your setting hosts. You identify the location, you arrange the audience, and we provide the programming. Expert presentations from our national staff—who regularly research, write, and speak across the country to gatherings like yours—connect Holy Scripture and Lutheran doctrine directly to the life-issue circumstances you and your neighbors face.
Possible topics include imminent life-and-death matters (abortion, suicide, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, and sanctity of life from fertilization to forever), factors affecting life and death (surprise pregnancy, fetal development, mental health, and living with disability), and related frameworks (sexuality and gender, marriage and family, for-life apologetics, and human trafficking).
Multiple sessions in a half-day or whole-day format speak God’s truth and show Christ’s love. In addition, you’ll be introducing folks to LFL’s resources and services with the distinctive courage and compassion you’ve come to trust yourself. You know the speakers will open people to these important conversations with sensitivity, steadfastness, and eloquence. And of course, it creates a chance for Q & A about life-issue events and trends of interest and relevance to the local populations.
LFL’s generous donors want to share the costs with you. In other words, the organization will help cover the expenses of travel, lodging, and honorarium for the presenters. We’ll also lend you our expertise in collaboration with your planning process as well as coaching about how you can promote it. We can even produce videos of the proceedings and make them available for you to share with others after the event concludes.
Spotlight on Life makes an ideal strategy for getting started in sanctity-of-life advocacy. It’s also the ideal approach for revitalizing an activism effort that’s plateaued. If you’re ready to involve more of your congregation, invite the whole community, energize your rural church or smaller parish, or take the next step toward a life-affirming city, state, and nation, reach out to our office at info+spotlight@lutheransforlife.org. Or contact me directly at msalemink@lutheransforlife.org.
There’s no need to wonder any longer, “What can we do? What can I do?” Do Spotlight on Life!