New Around the Mission
Anglicans for Life Chapter Provides Local Education and Advocacy
July 31, 2011
Four weeks before Easter, a playpen appeared inside Epiphany Celebration Church in Eustis, Florida—causing a few parishioners to scratch their heads. But by Easter week, it was filled to the brim with diapers, blankets, baby clothes and more that Barbara Lovelace, director of the church’s Anglicans for Life chapter, then brought to nearby Life Choices of Lake County, a Christian pregnancy resource center.
“We decided to have a baby shower for them,” she says. “It was really special. It’s a vital group in our community, and we were pleased to reach out to a group down the street from us.”
A baby shower is just one of the ways that Barbara and 10 to 12 others are ministering through Epiphany’s chapter of Anglicans for Life, a global ministry in the Anglican Communion affirming the sanctity of life.
“We’re not only concerned with abortion but with euthanasia and other life choices like stem cell research,” explains Barbara, a former hospice volunteer. “We’re looking at how believers in Jesus Christ can affect those areas.”
With counsel from Georgette Forney, President of Anglicans for Life, Barbara launched Epiphany’s chapter in January 2010 with Project Life, a six-week video workbook training course on life issues. The group soon found hands-on ways they could reach out in their community. One Saturday they went to pray at an abortion clinic in downtown Orlando.
“It was a very moving experience. It’s a peaceful thing,” Barbara says. “You stand there or walk up and down in front for a few hours. We were not a loud, annoying presence but a prayerful presence.”
To practically nurture women’s decisions for life, the group hopes to expand into the realm of adoption.
“We would love to help families who are adopting, as well as a mom who wants to bring life to her baby and offer that child for adoption,” Barbara says.
Moreover, Anglicans for Life seeks to enhance life at the opposite end of the spectrum. Earlier this year, they threw a big birthday party for a 95-year-old member of Epiphany. “We have several elderly people who have suffered setbacks this year and we want to encourage them to embrace life instead of feeling like life is over because they’re old,” Barbara says. “We want to celebrate life at every juncture.”
Barbara plans to offer the Project Life course again this year as an educational resource for the community, and eventually to hold a healing prayer service for men and women impacted by abortion.
“I believe Anglicans for Life can share the compelling truth of Jesus Christ through showing people facing life issues how Jesus values life,” she says, “and how He offers forgiveness and reconciliation for those who have violated His mandate for us to also value life.”
Learn more at Anglicans for Life.
Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
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