Reaching Mom, Babies … and Souls
A Christian ministry is looking to provide charity to some of society’s most vulnerable people — women facing a crisis pregnancy.
Imagine an expectant mother in crisis on her way to an abortion clinic, when she looks across the street and sees a free pro-life maternity hospital. Samaritan Ministries International hopes that will soon become a reality with the announcement of a new project called The Morning Center that will establish full-service birthing centers in major cities.
Vice president James Lansberry tells OneNewsNow that when he read the statistic that Medicaid paid for 41 percent of all childbirths nationwide, it brought a question to mind: “How is it possible that Medicaid, which is run by a government that in general would just as soon abort this child, is allowed to pay for [a child’s] grand entrance into the world?” he shares.
Lansberry saw the dilemma as a prospect for ministry. “Now added to that that fewer and fewer doctors are taking Medicaid, I looked at this as…true opportunities for Christian charity — a great open field for us to jump into and [ask]…’How can we reach out?'”
According to the group spokesman, The Morning Center will rely exclusively on private donations and funding, with workers thinking of themselves as missionaries first and medical-providers second.
“Because we want this to be something that is not just a picture of a social gospel of giving services away, but a Christ-centered, evangelistic effort that at a point of contact becomes this high-quality, first-class maternity care from pre-natal all the way through childbirth and delivery through the post-natal care.”
Samaritan Ministries hopes the first hospital, in a still-to-be-determined city, will be up and running by the end of 2012.
(Source: Christian Newswire)
