Understanding our worth: Pro-life group’s tools, messaging expand

A pro-life apostolate that was inspired 14 years ago – as a mother and her 7-year-old daughter prayed before the Blessed Sacrament – has grown and evolved, now spreading from the Archdiocese of Omaha into other dioceses and states.

Heart of a Child Ministries began in 2012 as a fundraiser for pregnancy help centers, selling handmade Pro-life Prayer Pillows. Within a few years the apostolate transformed into an organization that teaches people about fetal development and the miracle of life through live ultrasound presentations using pregnant volunteers.

Now Heart of a Child Ministries has gone a step further, developing a school curriculum that teaches month by month a baby’s growth inside the womb. The nine months of the school year match perfectly with the nine months of pregnancy, founder Nikki Schaefer said.

The curriculum is titled “The Journey Within” and was designed for middle and high school students.

HEART OF A CHILD MINISTRIES

Also as part of its national expansion, Heart of a Child is certifying educators for its ultrasound presentations. The newly certified instructors are bringing Heart of a Child Ministries to communities in Idaho, Alabama and Illinois and helping schools in their areas start “The Journey Within” curriculum.

Three schools piloted the curriculum last year: Spirit and Grace Academy in Elkhorn and Grand Island Central Catholic Middle and High Schools.

This school year, the curriculum was officially launched. Schools in the Diocese of Grand Island are among the customers.

Heart of a Child Ministries is a nonprofit, so curriculum sales return to the organization, to further the organization’s outreach, Schaefer said. Choose Life Marketing, a national pro-life marketing firm, has helped with the national expansion.

“The Journey Within” teaching materials include posters showing the development of a baby during each month of pregnancy, PowerPoint presentations, supplemental information, and a corresponding spiritual component that relates to each month of growth.

HEART OF A CHILD MINISTRIES

The spiritual element is important, Schaefer said, “because we are created as both physical and spiritual beings.”

In month five, for example, students learn that a baby’s hearing develops, so the students reflect on hearing the voice of God, exploring that topic in Scripture and through discussion.

By the end of the school year, all nine posters showing fetal development would be on a classroom wall, and students would have a more complete knowledge of life in the womb.

“And the ideal scenario then is that you bring Heart of a Child Ministries in for a presentation with a live ultrasound to finalize that year of learning about the baby in the womb and who we are as children of God,” Schaefer said.

Nikki Schaefer gives a Heart of a Child Ministries presentation. HEART OF A CHILD MINISTRIES

She knows that such knowledge changes minds on abortion and goes to the heart of being pro-life.

“If we can see how miraculously, incredibly we are created from the very beginning, it gives us a deeper appreciation for who we are made in His image,” Schaefer said, “knitted in our mother’s womb, for a distinct purpose and with a plan to give us hope and a future.”

“If we can deeply, deeply know that we’re loved, it can transform one life at a time,” she said, “from being a life that just sits on a couch to being a life that gets up and goes because they know God has a purpose for them.”

That knowledge allows people to “see everybody around us differently,” Schaefer said. “I’m going to treat you with dignity and respect and love.”

“It starts within ourselves,” she said. “We have to understand the dignity of our own life. Then it transcends to all life, the preborn person and the elderly, everyone. To me, that’s what pro-life is all about, being a person who loves all life and brings God’s love to all life.”

When people understand their true worth and identity in Christ – “that’s what’s going to change the world.”

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