San Diego Church Holds Pro-Life Stance as Protesters Vow to Return Nov. 14; Pastor Says He Will Not Back Down
Coastlands Community Church in San Diego, San Diego County, California, has become the focus of a local dispute. Its pastor, Jake McDonnell, allowed Love Life, a national pro-life group, to gather in the church parking lot before going to pray outside a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic. According to McDonnell, protesters confronted last month's gathering with yelling, curses screamed through bullhorns and placards depicting Jesus in sex acts. The protesters have vowed to return to the church parking lot this Saturday, November 14.
Love Life's San Diego chapter typically held its monthly meetings at a local park, but construction in the park made the move to the church parking lot necessary. McDonnell told Baptist Press that Love Life does a lot of great work and is doing very well locally, and that the ecumenical group, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, disciples churches on how to take on pro-life causes.
Not long after granting the request, McDonnell received a letter from a group identifying itself as dedicated to protecting women's health. The letter said the group was reaching out respectfully and in good faith, supported the church's right to hold its position on abortion and even to allow Love Life to gather at the church, but that the support existed only as long as the gathering begins and ends at the church.
McDonnell said he has instructed parents at his church to keep their children out of earshot, though children arriving with other congregations hear the chants as they cross the parking lot. He said protesters also targeted the church's neighbors with intimidation tactics to try to get them to denounce Love Life, and that last month's blasted music, honking horns, shouting and slurs prompted several calls to police.
A meeting with the church's elders resulted in action: McDonnell told Love Life to put Coastlands down as a supporter, and he preached outside the Planned Parenthood clinic as part of a Youth for Life event in September. "When Satan comes to attack, I am not going to retreat and be fearful. I am going to press in further," he said. He added that he is praying for the protesters and for their repentance.
Phil Herrington, director of missions for the San Diego Southern Baptist Association, has spent 33 years in pastoral and law enforcement ministry in Southern California. He said it is hard to be a pastor in the current cultural climate, and that Christians standing for pro-life and traditional family values are often opposed, yet believers remain hopeful and respectful, rooting their optimism in God's sovereignty rather than in current political or social conditions. Saturday is also Love Life's Celebrate Life prayer walk, happening in cities across the country, and pastors like McDonnell will lead their congregations out to take part.
Source: Baptist Press
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：圣迭戈的 Mission San Diego de Alcalá 教堂资料图，非涉事教会。Bernard Gagnon 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego (file photo, not the church in this story). Photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
