The Oregon Department of Education recently denied crucial grants to a Christian ministry serving at-risk youth in the Rogue Valley because it only hires Christians. The Alliance Defending Freedom filed suit on behalf of 71Five, citing violations of the organization’s religious freedoms.

Pray for your fellow intercessor.

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ADF Senior Counsel Jeremiah Galus told Fox News: “The Supreme Court three times in a period of seven years had to tell state officials, you cannot exclude religious organizations from your programs just because they’re religious. But unfortunately, we see officials like the officials here in the state of Oregon who continue to push back and test those boundaries and try and find other ways to exclude religious organizations. It’s wrong.” 

71Five Executive Director Bud Amundsen said that their ministry was one of the Department’s favorite programs and that withdrawing funding, which accounts for at least 10% of the ministry’s annual budget, felt like a punch in the gut. It now has to dip into its dwindling reserves to pay employees and money.

At issue is an Oregon Department of Education Rule that prohibits faith-based organizations from participating in its grant program if they prefer members of their own faith as employees and volunteers. 71Five requires all its board members, employees, and volunteers to be authentic followers of Christ.

ADF’s lawsuit on behalf of 71Five recently went through its first hearings, and their attorneys filed a motion in March asking that funding would be restored pending the outcome of the trial.

Why It Matters

Christians, and in particular intercessors, are called upon to pray for government because it is good and acceptable to God, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4). The implication is that we pray for our government to facilitate the advance of the gospel.

One of the most effective ways that happens is through social programs run by Christian organizations that combine life-improvement initiatives with sharing the gospel. After all, what good does it do when you improve someone’s life on earth while you don’t help them find the way to eternal life?

For hundreds of years, governments relied on Christian organizations to help address social problems like poverty, broken families, and mental health issues. It was a powerful vehicle for God’s love to become real to those who were left behind, left out, left in the lurch, or just simply left.

However, as American society continues its slide away from the Christian principles on which the country was founded, it has become increasingly wary of ministries that “proselytize” while doing good in society. The plight of 71Five has brought to light another avenue of attack on the gospel. A government agency can seriously impede an organization’s effectiveness by taking away critical funding under the pretext that it is not inclusive in its hiring practices, notwithstanding that the real victims are not unqualified candidates but the people the organization ministers to.

Christian ministries like 71Five, Youth for Christ, the Salvation Army, and countless others are the extensions of the Church that reach the frontlines of society – away from church campuses in places where life hurts the most. They are often places where people are the most open to the gospel because they are desperate for God’s loving intervention. That is why Satan attacks them where he can. Convincing liberal governments to remove funding is one of his tactics.

Another tactic is erosion from the inside out through compromise. I recently spoke with a friend who was dismayed that the women’s organization she had served for years had slowly but surely departed from the Christian principles on which it was founded and had decided to become “interfaith” to attract more members. The result? It was no longer a vehicle to reach young women for Christ or strengthen their faith but simply a do-good society. Doing good is helpful and important, but it falls short of God’s desire to see people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

How To Pray

We must pray for frontline ministries like 71Five to strengthen them against attack. Here are five ways to pray:

1. Pray for supernatural provision that will free them from dependence on secular governments controlling purse strings.
2. Pray for lawsuits seeking justice under the U.S. Constitution to be successful – not only for the sake of the gospel but for the sake of our Constitution’s integrity in protecting the freedoms it guarantees.
3. Pray for the revitalization of frontline ministries with financial support and manpower.
4. Pray for our governments at all levels (city, county, state, and federal) to recognize the importance of frontline ministries for society and partner with them out of despair to see lives change.
5. Pray for the uncompromising presentation of the gospel in Christian ministries and for receptive hearts in the people they minister to.

Father in heaven, thank You for ministries like 71Five and organizations like the Alliance Defending Freedom that come to their defense. We pray for sound judgment in the courts in line with our Constitution. We pray that they and organizations like them will have abundant provision to continue and expand their ministry. Give them uncompromising boldness to share the gospel so that many of our society’s most desperate will be saved. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. 

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Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual-growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the U.S. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and pastored his first church in Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. in 1986. He and his wife, Jennifer, live north of Atlanta. When not writing books, he blogs at www.deeperlifeblog.com and assists his wife as a content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo credit: Youth 71Five Ministries.