Crisis Pregnancies Are Cross-Cultural

By Evelyn Stone, Lima, Peru

"We will be able to reach many unsaved who would never accept an invitation to church." "A Crisis Pregnancy Center really could work in Ukraine." "I can see how this model could be used to reach many with AIDS in South Africa." "I think our Women's Resource Center could include such a ministry." Similar comments were heard throughout the week as missionaries representing 13 countries met during ABWE's annual Missionary Enrichment and Training Conference. The central focus was, "How can we reach the unsaved in the country where we work?"

That was the same question that compelled Evelyn Stone. The vision to begin Pregnancy Care Centers (PCC) was born in 1996 as she researched Post Abortion Stress Disorder to be better prepared to help the 85% of Peruvian women who have had abortions.

Two years later that vision became a reality when the New Life Prenatal Center opened in Lima, Peru. Evelyn, founder and director, recalls, "We had no furniture and no experience, only a couple pieces of literature, a plan to reach women in a moment of crisis, and faith that God was opening doors."

Since that day in February 1999, the PCC has developed into a well-equipped counseling center with a medical office providing prenatal care. The Center has served over 800 women, and approximately 100 people accept Christ each year. The Center works closely with four local Baptist churches who help pay the monthly office rent and provide 50 volunteers: counselors, doctors, receptionists, and cleaning women.

Meeting physical and emotional needs opens doors to evangelism. The excitement of seeing results coupled with the great need in a city of 10 million led to opening a second center in Lima in October 2001. This office is located in a small maternity clinic owned by two Christian doctors. Besides providing counseling, women are able to give birth in a Christian atmosphere at a special reduced cost.

As an expansion of the work in Peru, a U.S.A.-based agency called Baptists For Life offered training to missionaries to equip them to establish Crisis Pregnancy Centers. ABWE invited executive director, Ray Paget, to join Evelyn Stone in teaching the first training seminar in July 2001. The workshop was a dynamic combination of theory and discussion of the cross cultural issues involved in ministry to unsaved women with unplanned pregnancies. God willing, in the years to come, new compassionate evangelistic ministries will spring up around the ABWE world as part of church planting strategies.

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