Boones Creek Baptist Church in Kentucky is now home to a memorial honoring children who have died in the womb, both through abortion and miscarriage.
The scope of Roe v. Wade’s impact and the Supreme Court decision that overturned the landmark ruling in 2022, alongside the experiences of church members who walked through miscarriage, inspired Boones Creek to create a tangible space to remember the loss of unborn children.
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“There was a need for us as a church to communicate to our own people, and outwardly, that unborn children do matter, and that their lives are precious and have value,” said Tim Wade, pastor of Boones Creek.
Wade said his congregants were “excited” about the opportunity to create a memorial, which features a bench, a plaque and stones of remembrance on the church’s property.
“This is something that people are passionate about,” Wade said. “We’ve had people through the years that, sadly, have experienced grief, not only through miscarriage, but through losing young children. …This fit very naturally alongside the preexisting heart of this congregation because of their disposition toward sympathy and grieving with those that grieve and loving those that have suffered. And this church has always been a place where people who have experienced loss can come and find comfort and the hope of the gospel.”
On Sept. 7, Boones Creek dedicated the memorial with a special service. Congregants sang songs of praise and lament, grieved through prayer and turned to Psalm 139 to consider God’s heart for his image-bearers.
“We want to acknowledge that God is good. Even in difficult and dark situations, the Lord is still good,” Wade said.
63 stones
The children and youth ministries laid 63 stones they had decorated under a weeping cherry tree at the memorial, each one representing one million children lost to abortion in the United States.
Wade said the conversation about abortion and infant loss is a tough one to have with kids and students, but Boones Creek wanted to communicate truth in an age-appropriate way.
“None of the children in our church, I think, are coming from a family where they’ve experienced [abortion], but there are some [that are] coming from families where there’s been miscarriage. And so, again, just communicating to them that every life is precious, every life is special, even before those babies are born.”
Families also placed stones in honor of children lost through miscarriage.
“We talked about how with miscarriages often people suffer alone and in silence and often may not even tell anyone,” Wade said. “[We] really just want to be intentional to be encouraging and point people that have experienced that particular grief to the hope that we have in God’s Word.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tessa Redmond and originally published by Kentucky Today.
