I wanted to offer some very brief reflections on the recent Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade and its effect on churches.

You may be thinking: Oh no, he’s going there. A bomb is being dropped. Which way will it land?

I’m actually not going to share my point of view on the reversal of Roe v Wade. I simply wanted to share some thoughts about pastors leading their congregations through this time.

My sense is that this past Sunday was much easier to navigate for pastors who lead homogeneous churches – whether that was championing celebrations and cheers or speaking with contempt and lament about the decision. But for those with diverse congregations, it called for painstaking discernment and wisdom on how to best communicate regarding the issue at hand.

I’m not saying that pastors of congregations where uniformity is more prevalent than diversity didn’t have to wisely consider their words. [I can only hope that wisdom was considered when approaching the issue this past Sunday.] All leaders should carefully weigh what they say. Yet, I am convinced it is a much more difficult task to navigate for those churches with a multiplicity of ethnicities, cultures, and perspectives. Not that we don’t have a common faith summed in the work of God in Christ. But, while it is less demanding to build with those who think and act just like us, I believe the call is that we rather see how God might assemble a church that are “faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet 4:10).