Read OU Daily’s article, interviewing staff members Mary St. Hilaire and Jonathan Wagner.
Love3 Interactive Workshops (Instagram Link)
Learn more about our upcoming Love3 interactive workshop series!
What about Rape? (Instagram Link)
Read “What about Rape?” by JFA trainer Rebekah Dyer at Human Defense Initiative.
Bridging the Divide
Impact Report
November 2020
In this Impact Report, we’ll describe how throughout the tumult of 2020, God helped us bridge both ideological and physical divides to continue to connect people to the truth that only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides. You’ll also see how God turned the frustration of lockdowns into good fruit, including a new online training program you can help us promote starting now! We give thanks to God for you and your partnership in the work of bridging the divide.
- Steve Wagner, Executive Director
University of New Mexico, Feb. 2020
As we look back at a year filled with discord, debate, drama, disease, and death, it’s easy to get discouraged.
University of Texas at San Antonio, Feb. 2020
Our culture seems to be completely overcome by division, and as if the usual ideological division was not enough, now various versions of lockdowns have made physical division a reality as well.
Early this year, as in past years, our team at Justice For All (JFA) set ourselves to live out our habit of stepping across the ideological divide. We go to people who disagree with us. We train pro-life advocates to come with us. One passion motivates us: kindling affection for the forgotten, beginning with women in distress, the smallest humans on earth, and those who differ from us in appearance or beliefs. What happens to this work, though, when a physical divide confronts it?
Susanna Dirks with a University of Texas at Dallas student in March 2020
During this time of Thanksgiving, will you mark with us the ways God has continued to work through the JFA team to help us bridge both ideological and physical divides, connecting people to the truth only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides?
In February and March, JFA teams trained volunteers in New Mexico and Texas, engaging five campuses in discussion about abortion (pictured).
Interactive Online Workshops, May-Nov. 2020
When COVID-19 hit, we refashioned our in-person training into an interactive online workshop series, complete with step-by-step instructions to help participants create conversations on abortion in everyday life. (See JFA’s June 2020 letter for one story from a participant.) Over the next six months, we produced 105 hours of training for over 130 people in 27 states, including many states we have not been able to visit very often (or ever!). Participants from Canada and France also joined us!
In addition, during the months we were unable to conduct outreach in person, our staff explored a new outreach venue: social media. We had little hope it would come to much, but we were determined to try. Our team was pleasantly surprised that there are plenty of opportunities for engaging strangers and friends online. (Kaitlyn reflected on one special conversation in our July 2020 letter.)
JFA presented workshops in person in seven states this fall (CA, CO, KS, OH, OK, NE, and MI). Then, replete with masks, our team was especially thankful to be able to spend two days interacting with students at the University of Oklahoma.
Kaitlyn teaches equal rights during an online JFA workshop in Nov. 2020.
While we’re excited about each of these 2020 efforts, we’re not satisfied. We know that every Christian needs training, and with no increased cost, our video conferencing software can handle about ten times the number of people who on average participated in each of our workshops this year.
That’s why we’ve set a goal of registering 800 people for our interactive online workshops taking place from January to March 2021. While we will also plan in-person events, these online events cannot be shut down by COVID-19 restrictions, so they are the most sensible place to put our most robust efforts.
Rebekah Dyer (right) with a University of Oklahoma student in Nov. 2020
We need your help to bring this training to so many people. Do you want to take a next step to “bridge the divide” and help us create thousands of conversations in 2021?
Go to www.jfaweb.org/love3 to learn more about JFA’s online workshops beginning January 18. Register to attend, and invite friends to join you. Thank you for partnering with us in spreading the word about these workshops, and in giving to JFA. Your gifts help provide this free training for others.
University of Oklahoma, Nov. 2020
Staff members pictured: Rebekah Dyer, Jon Wagner, and Mary St. Hilaire
Banner Image by Andre A. Xavier on Unsplash
You can also give a gift at JFA’s Donate page to provide training for others.
* Previously titled “7 Conversations in 7 Hours,” Love3 refers to conducting abortion conversations in a way that actively loves the woman, the child, and the person with whom we’re speaking.
JFA Internships (Instagram Link)
Are you interested in an internship with Justice For All? Click the link below for more information!
http://www.jfaweb.org/internships
Featured Resource - Car vs. Polaroid Distinction (Instagram Link)
A polaroid picture of members of the JFA Team, taken a few years ago.
Richard Stith has made a distinction between construction of a car and development of a Polaroid photo that can help you understand and illustrate for friends how the unborn child is a human organism from the time of fertilization. You can read his entry-level treatment of this topic, “Arguing with Pro-Choicers” (First Things, Nov. 4, 2006), and his scholarly article, “Construction vs. Development: Polarizing Models of Human Gestation” (Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2014), through the link below.
JFA’s Executive Director, Steve Wagner, used this polaroid analogy in 2016, with two gate agents at the airport, when a snowstorm was set to hit Washington D.C. He shared the memorable story in “You Aren’t Going Anywhere.”
Freedom House Ambulance Service and Justice For All (Instagram Link)
This Saturday: Free One-Day Training Intensive
“7 Conversations in 7 Hours”
Register now and experience JFA’s acclaimed dialogue training from anywhere!
Nov. 14, 2020 (Sat.): One-Day Intensive
1:00 PM - 8:30 PM Central
(with a break for dinner from 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM Central)
“Having been in the pro-life movement since 1980, this training is nothing like I’ve ever experienced. At our local [pregnancy] center, we are making it essential for our Client Advocates (in addition to their regular training).”
— Mike, “7 Conversations in 7 Hours” participant
"7 Conversations" One-Week Training Intensive - Starting Tonight!
“7 Conversations in 7 Hours” - 2 New Options
Register now and experience JFA’s acclaimed dialogue training from anywhere!
Nov. 9-14 (M-Sat.): One-Week Intensive
M, T, W, Th, F @ 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Central; Sat @ 6:30-8:30 PM Central
Can’t participate on weeknights? Join us for a one-day intensive instead. Offered this Saturday:
Nov. 14 (Sat.): One-Day Intensive
1:00 PM - 8:30 PM Central (with a break for dinner from 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM Central)
Are you a man and intimidated by conversations about abortion? - Resource List
Links mentioned in Jon’s post (above):
“A Woman’s Response to ‘Men Can’t Talk about Abortion’” (Rebekah Dyer, Human Defense Initiative)
Freedom House Ambulance Service and Justice For All
Dear Friend of Justice For All,
Up until 1967, there were no paramedics as we know them today. In Pittsburgh, for example, people needing emergency medical care were transported to the hospital by police...or by the morgue!
Enter the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Trained by Peter Safar, the doctor who helped create cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and encouraged laypeople to use it to save lives, these pioneering paramedics in Pittsburgh brought emergency medical care to people on the street and also during transport to the hospital.
Freedom House paramedics with ambulance (Image: Univ. of Pittsburgh)
I learned about Freedom House from a recent episode of the 99 Percent Invisible podcast. It struck me that the work of Justice For All (JFA) is very similar to the work of Freedom House in at least three ways:
1. Seat Work and Feet Work: When Dr. Safar and his team trained Freedom House workers to provide medical care, they did give them some education with books in a classroom setting, but they didn’t stop there. These medical mentors also went out in the field with the Freedom House workers, supporting them while they showed they could indeed provide first-class medical care in real emergencies. As you would expect, the medical mentors wouldn’t consider these workers to be “trained” until they had shown skill in the activity of providing medical care. Lives depended on this second step in training. In the same way, we don’t consider a participant in a JFA event to be “trained” until he or she engages in a real conversation using what we’ve taught. This is why we encourage participation in “Feet Work” outreach events, why we provide conversation starters for everyday life, and why our mentors stand at the ready to help.
“... In the same way, we don’t consider a participant in a JFA event to be “trained” until he or she engages in a real conversation using what we’ve taught.”
2. We Train Non-Experts to Change the World Because They Can: Most of the Freedom House paramedics were poor, black men from the Hill District. In late 1960’s Pittsburgh, many would have thought it impossible that these men could do anything worthwhile, let alone excel in the field of medicine. Still, Dr. Safar and others believed in their potential and trusted them, and they saved two hundred lives in their first year of operation! In the same way, we at JFA focus on training people from every walk of life, many of whom have no expertise in philosophy or science. Some have never talked to anyone who disagrees with them about serious worldview topics. It might seem odd that we trust these non-experts when lives hang in the balance, but now we can depend on thousands we have trained to graciously change hearts about abortion.
3. Even the Highest Quality Training Can Crumble If Not Protected: The Freedom House paramedics were mistreated by a mayor determined to shut them down. Sadly, even after concerted efforts of whites advocating for the incredibly skilled black men of Freedom House, the mayor succeeded in effectively draining the Freedom House of funding and re-inventing it with white workers. In a similar way, JFA’s training program can falter without needed funds and without God’s help through your prayers. Sometimes I feel like Dr. Safar and his fellow medical mentors. The JFA trainers in whom you and I have invested and the people we’ve trained together over the years—all of these are incredibly skilled. I long to see them more fully realize their potential to reach more people. Pray for opportunities for us to partner with more groups to train more advocates. Consider donating to JFA to keep our training program strong. To be sure, we don’t face the same racism the Freedom House faced, but we do face today’s culture of “tolerance” in which our peaceful work can be branded in false ways by those who see it as harmful, which would make our work difficult or impossible. Pray with us for protection from these outside forces.
Thank you for partnering with us to teach all people that, with God’s help, they are worthy of being entrusted with such important work. It’s a joy to watch such unlikely life-savers change the world.
Steve Wagner, Executive Director
Register Now for Training from Anywhere
“7 Conversations in 7 Hours” - 2 New Options
Nov. 9-14 (M-Sat.): One-Week Intensive
Nov. 14 (Sat.): One-Day Intensive
Other Offerings & Opportunities
Encouragement for Conversations: See Calendar.
Teach Kids: See www.jfaweb.org/kids.
Recent Instagram Posts
Creating Better Conversations in Everyday Life
I’m speaking to a group gathered by SFLA via video conference tonight. I’m talking about creating better conversations in everyday life. Here are some links that can help.
Here are some practical conversation starters you can share on social media:
Here’s an example of the beginning of a conversation using a JFA Instagram post:
Here are some suggested evergreen posts that can build a bridge:
Here are some suggested recent topics that can lead to a productive conversation:
Confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett: What do you think of the debate that went on in the Senate Judiciary committee related to whether Barrett would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade? Do you care about that issue?
Geneva Consensus Declaration: Do you think abortion should be seen as a global human right or do you agree with this Geneva Consensus Declaration that it is not?
Election: Should abortion be an issue in the presidential election? (Ask this and other clarification questions to gather information about a person’s view.) Or, if you’re talking to a Christian, you might share my October 2016 letter:
Here are some suggestions for further reading and training:
Have You Subscribed to JFA's YouTube Channel?
The “Dialogue with Julia” outreach video we recently posted on JFA’s Instagram (@picturejusticeforall) is just one of the real JFA outreach conversations and team member reflections shared on JFA’s YouTube channel. Subscribe today!
Prepare for your own conversations by watching Rebecca share the Equal Rights Argument (Part 1), graciously challenge the idea that legalized abortion aligns with feminism (Part 2), ask key clarification questions related to women’s rights and bodily autonomy (Part 3), and offer evidence for the biological humanity of the unborn (Part 4). Why not share the video with a friend and ask, “Have you ever been a part of a conversation about unintended pregnancy and abortion like this one?”
12 Minutes on Bodily Rights (Instagram Link)
(This resource was mentioned in today’s JFA Instagram video post. It featured a conversation at Colorado State University in which bodily rights arguments were mentioned.)