A three-day pro-life forum that gathered devoted pastors, pro-life leaders, and pregnancy center directors from all around the world in late November 2023 still resonates, planting the seeds to inspire those working in the pro-life movement.
The groundbreaking Global Congress for Life took place in Malta and was hosted by LIFE International.
The global ministry aims to collaborate with pro-life leaders worldwide in order to help spread the values of the Christian gospel and the truth that all humans (including the preborn) are created in God’s image. By conducting roundtables, training events, and prayer initiatives, LIFE International works to educate in an effort to save preborn children from abortion.
One such opportunity to do so was the Global Congress for Life.
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Kurt Dillinger, the president and founder of the organization, had a vision of a “global gathering for life” in 2018, according to LIFE International’s newsletter.
Dillinger recalled how five years later, less than two months before the event, it was still not fully funded, and doubts began to creep in.
“The thought of being unable to see it through after bringing so many people this far was a tremendous burden and one of the most significant tests of my faith,” Dillinger said.
And as providence would have it, in the days leading up to the congress, LIFE received over $800,000 in donations from unexpected sources, completing the necessary funding. Dillinger believed that this was God in His sovereignty at work.
The conference began with a wide array of attendees, with 108 nations represented in person and another 47 attending virtually. Syria, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, and Venezuela were just some of the countries represented at the congress.
Each individual guest was encouraged to decide how they’d move forward in their individual ministries, as well as how they’d work with others across the globe in furthering pregnancy help and a pro-life culture.
Overall, everyone recommitted to spreading the truth about abortion, particularly through mobilizing churches and boosting education and training.
The first day of the meeting was focused on repentance for the role each guest’s country had played in the spread of abortion.
Studying Scripture and sharing personal stories helped strengthen relationships. Prayer, fellowship, laughter, worship, tears, and an overall sense of unity and fellowship abounded, according to Align Life Ministries, a partner of LIFE International.
Rhonda Darville, a guest who represented the Bahamas GodParent Center at the event, explained to Pregnancy Help News that the biblically focused congress helped strengthen pro-life connections - particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It was a recommitment and rejuvenation of the call to be a place on the intersection of decision for someone facing a pregnancy, and to be not just a voice for the voiceless but to be a truth teller, so others would know the cost of devaluing life,” Darville said in describing the heart behind the forum.
Heartbeat International’s President Jor-El Godsey and International Program Specialist Ellen Foell were also able to attend as guests. Heartbeat is the largest network of pregnancy help organizations in the U.S. and the world.
In talking to Pregnancy Help News about his experience there, Godsey remarked how unique the congress was in that over 150 countries were involved at one place, at one time, and with one spirit in a single forum.
Tweet This: Over 150 countries were involved at one place, at one time, and with one spirit in a single forum for the Global Congress for Life in Malta.
Similarly, Foell recalled how encouraging it was to see the number of people in attendance and how much it motivated her to continue her work in helping launch pregnancy help ministries worldwide.
“It was encouraging to see so many participants, particularly in areas around the world where the pregnancy help movement is almost nonexistent,” she said. “It made me very eager to try and reach out to those pastors or pregnancy directors.”
“There’s a whole area of the world that is not reached yet for pregnancy help,” Foell added.
To accomplish the goal of fostering collaboration between nations, bearing witness to God’s heart for life and rededicating attendees to life-giving ministry, the congress culminated in the adoption of the Malta Commission.
During the final day of the congress, delegates from each country met with one of the 10 Hub leadership teams (created by LIFE to coalesce leaders regionally), where they discussed their thoughts about what they’d learned. The Malta Commission was drafted with the main ideas and themes that each delegate had shared. It firmly declares that all people are created in God’s image and that it is the task of pro-life leaders to move toward people in need, speak for the preborn, and share the gospel message of salvation and healing.
The effects of this rededication were felt immediately.
One such impact was a South American church network leader requesting LIFE International’s sacredness of life training for the 2,500 leaders under his purview. Another was attendees from two neighboring countries partnering to create a pregnancy resource center. Additionally, LIFE International’s 2024 impact report describes its growing collaborative efforts around the world as “actualizing the Malta Commission.”
Overall, the Global Congress for Life has served to both encourage and foster commitment in today’s pro-life movement with its message of devotion to and unity within the pro-life cause.
As one attendee at the congress Pastor Omar Garcia said, “This was a gathering unlike any other in the history of the world. And although unnoticed by the world, the deliberations of those who gathered on the island nation will reverberate to every corner of the planet.”
Editor's note: Heartbeat International manages Pregnancy Help News.
