Protecting Our Children and Confronting the Darkness
Ending What Is Evil
A Monthly Publication of the Church Ambassador Network
As representatives of Jesus in a dark and broken world, we bear a beautiful and weighty responsibility. We are called to embody the profound love and grace of Jesus Christ, extending His mercy to the brokenhearted, the confused, and the lost. But as we see throughout Scripture, true love is not passive in the face of harm. Love rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6), and true shepherds must have the courage to protect the sheep when the wolves approach.
The great preacher Charles Spurgeon powerfully reminded us that avoiding difficult truths for the sake of peace is a failure of our calling: "To pursue union at the expense of truth is treason to the Lord Jesus" (Charles Spurgeon, Goodreads).
Today, the truth of God’s design and the physical safety of our children are under relentless attack. Just within the last 30 days, as the aggressive, corporate-sponsored Pride Month messaging of June finally concluded, we have seen the continuing cultural fallout. We are witnessing what happens when a society prioritizes radical gender ideology over common sense and biblical reality: the most vulnerable suffer.
As pastors, our hearts must break for the countless other children being sacrificed on the altar of cultural conformity. Ephesians 5:11 instructs us clearly: "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." We cannot turn a blind eye to the evil in our society. We must bring biblical principles to bear to end it.
God’s Word establishes the foundation of human identity and dignity: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). When we boldly declare this truth, we are not speaking out of malice; we are speaking out of love. We are offering the restorative light of God’s design to a world stumbling in the dark.
C.S. Lewis brilliantly captured the necessity of this moment in The Screwtape Letters: "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality" (C.S. Lewis, Goodreads).
Our courage is currently at the testing point. Fortunately, we have an immediate opportunity to act.
Ohio House Bill 249 (HB249), the Indecent Exposure Modernization Act, has successfully passed the Ohio House and is currently before the Ohio Senate. This legislation is a crucial step toward protecting our kids. It restricts adult-oriented cabaret performances to adult-only venues and closes dangerous legal loopholes. HB249 guarantees that biological males cannot strip families of their rights and invade the private, vulnerable spaces of our young girls.
We need the Church to lead the way in demanding change. Senate President Rob McColley and your local state senators and representatives need to hear the loving, clear, and courageous voices of Ohio’s pastors urging them to pass this bill immediately.
Let us stand together, full of grace, anchored in truth, and armed with the courage to protect the innocent.
3 Practical Steps for the Ohio Pastor
Preach the Truth of God’s Design: Lovingly and firmly articulate the biblical truth of Genesis 1:27. Our culture is deeply confused, and your congregation desperately needs your compassionate, courageous instruction on gender, human dignity, and the reality of how and why God created us distinctly male and female.
Contact Senate President Rob McColley & Your Legislators: Pick up the phone this week and call your state senator, your state representative, and Ohio Senate President Rob McColley. Kindly, but with pastoral authority, urge them to protect Ohio’s children by swiftly bringing HB249 to a vote and passing it.
Equip Your Congregation to Act: Pastors, do not fight this battle alone. Share the CCV Action Alert on HB249 with your congregation from the stage or in your weekly bulletin. Remind them that Proverbs 31:8 calls us to "Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute"—and that advocating for righteous laws is a deeply Christian act of loving our neighbors.
Join the Movement
Sign the CCV Action Alert on HB249: Ensure your voice is heard at the Statehouse. Use the Center for Christian Virtue's action center to easily contact your state senator and representative about this critical legislation to protect Ohio's children.
Apply for the Minnery Fellowship: Dive deep into the cultural issues facing pastors today. Join a regional cohort of Ohio pastors committed to exploring tough cultural questions and developing biblical strategies to lead with clarity. Learn more at MinneryFellowship.org.
Support the Ohio Christian Education Network (OCEN): Help us protect and expand biblical worldview education in schools across Ohio so the next generation is grounded in the truth of God's Word instead of the world's confusing ideologies. Learn more at OhioCEN.org.
The Church Ambassador Network is a ministry of Center for Christian Virtue. They exist to serve and resource the Church in Ohio to understand the times and know how to respond. Read more about their mission at CCV.org/CAN.
