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In this week’s SojoMail, we’ve included a reported piece from the new issue of the magazine. Texas-based journalist Bekah McNeel covers the work of Christian ministries and partner organizations that help teen parents carve out space to be “fully mom and fully teenager.” Five years ago, Madelynn Meads was pregnant and stuck between worlds. Her high school in Leander, Texas, was a new school, and it had never been known to have a teen mom. Her church, where she’d been active in the youth group, suddenly couldn’t find a place for her. She didn’t fit in with the youth group anymore, but the church wouldn’t include her in its ministries for moms either. She’d lost the privilege of a relatively carefree youth without gaining the respect and spiritual investment often offered to young adults and new moms. As a pregnant 16-year-old, Meads said it felt as if the consistent message was, “You’re not a real adult or a real mom.” Meads, like other teen moms, had fallen into a hole in the social fabric. She didn’t have the support available to teenagers carrying the hopes and dreams of their parents, or to new moms carrying the hopes and dreams of the next generation. Instead, she became part of a statistic, one that schools, government, and nonprofits are working to shrink.
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Our Latest Christian Activists Respond to Ohio’s New Abortion Rights (by Bekah McNeel) “This election affirmed what we’ve always known to be true: People have faith in abortion seekers,” Elaina Ramsey of Faith Choice Ohio said after voters approved an amendment to protect abortion access in the state constitution. By Eliminating Cash Bail, Illinois Is ‘Setting the Captives Free’ (by Colton Bernasol) Jails and prisons reduce the depth of human life, and in the U.S. hundreds of thousands of people suffer because they cannot afford bail. When the Institutional Church Dies, What Comes Next? (by Josiah R. Daniels) Pamela R. Lightsey, a United Methodist minister and womanist theologian, is imagining something new for the church. ‘Catholics Say Ceasefire Now’ at White House Pray-in (by Haajrah Gilani, Juliann Ventura) Christian peace activists conducted a pray-in outside the White House to dispute President Joe Biden’s claim that he and Pope Francis were “on the same page” regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza. |
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From the Magazine Jesus Had Adverse Childhood Experiences, Too (by Adam Russell Taylor) “It is profoundly significant that Jesus was born not in a secure, two-income household but to an unwed teenage mother.” |
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