Orphan Care and The Gospel

You hear it every sunday when you come to CTR and it is written on the front of your bulletin, "Christ the Redeemer-An Evangelical Church.  We exist to glorify and enjoy God as we build a community of Gospel-centered people."  It is simple but very profound.  How does orphan care fit into "The Gospel" and living out "a community of Gospel-centered people?"  Watch the short video below for one perspective on how that works itself out.  ....We were once all orphans and strangers in this world but Our Father set us an example by adopting us into His family.

Orphan Sunday 2010 from Matthew Wilson on Vimeo.

I would like more information about fostering and/or adopting.

If you would like more information about how to begin the process of fostering and/or adopting please send a message to offthewallministries (at) gmail (dot) com and we will try to put you in contact with a resource person at CTR who has been through the process.  Hopefully by having been through the process once or twice already we can help one another and remove some of the barriers and hurdles along the way.

I am willing to help out in orphan care in this way.

One of our first posts was "10 ways for every Christian to be involved".  We also did a little brainstorming and put together a list of practical ways you might use your gifts here at CTR to care for orphans.  Please add a comment below about how you would like to be involved or you can email us at offthewallministries (at) gmail (dot) com.

Ideas of ways to be involved

Babysitting

Blog and web development

Media/Video/Story Telling

Setting up for a conference


Encouragement (note, phone call, email)


Cooking Meals

Fostering

Adopting

Respite Care-for those fostering

Prayer

Fundraising

Giving

Notary Help

Legal Help

Medical Help

Counseling Help

Building Help

Plumbing Help

Mechanic Help


Orphan Care Ministry Team

other....

I would be interested in attending a meeting/day conference to learn more about adoption.

Hopefully in the late spring or early fall of next year (2011) we will have a conference on the topic of orphan care.  We are in communication with some other Christians in Spokane who also have a heart for orphan care.  Perhaps we can pool our resources with these people and learn together how we can be more organized, more intentional and more supportive of one another as we seek to care for one of the most vulnerable populations on earth.

In the meantime here are a couple of conference resources to check out for your enrichment and edification.

1) Here is a link to a good website with a conference called "Adopting for Life" put on in February of 2010.

2) T4A or Together for Adoption put on their annual conference this past October 2010 and they will have audio available soon as well which will be a valuable resource.

I would like to be part of a “CTR Orphan Care Ministry Team.”

Today at church we had people come by the table and ask, "what does this mean?"  "What will this involve?"  "What will we be doing?"  "What is the mission statement?"  Those are all excellent questions.  We are just in the early stages of planning and developing our orphan care ministry at CTR so those questions have not been answered yet.  We had a few people sign up to be a part of the "CTR Orphan Care Ministry Team."  Please put a comment in this post (or send an email to offthewallministries (at) gmail (dot) com for a more private reply) if you would like to be a part of this planning team.
Here is what I think the next steps will be:
1) Get together before the end of the year 2010 to pray together and seek the Lord about what He wants CTR to focus on as a church in this area of orphan care.
2) Nail down 4 or 5 specific areas (maybe a few more, maybe a few less) to focus on in the coming year, 2011.
Thoughts?  Comments?

How can I learn more?

There was some interesting discussion downstairs after the service about what it means to be involved in caring for orphans.  There are so many ways I could not possibly list them all.  If you have a gift and wonder if it could be used in our orphan care ministries please comment below or send an email to offthewallministries (at) gmail (dot) com.  There is another post about ways to be involved with a list I put down as I was brainstorming how people might use their specific gifts.

There are 4 sign up lists (posts now) so that we can communicate about how you can be involved in caring for orphans or how our ministry at CTR might assist you in your desire to care for orphans.

1) I would like to be part of a “CTR Adoption Ministry Team.”

2) I would be interested in attending a meeting/day conference to learn more about adoption.

3) I am willing to help out in orphan care in this way.

4) I would like more information about fostering and/or adopting.

Please get back to us in some way so that we know who is interested and where your interests lie.  Even if you are minimally interested, just beginning to search, or just want to know what this is all about please say so....  If you need more time to think on this topic of orphan care before writing (deciding how you will be involved) you can lurk and just keep checking back in on the blog.  There will be more information coming up on the blog in the coming weeks.

Orphan Care Ministry Focus

This morning at church we had a ministry focus on orphan care at CTR.  In case you missed it here is how Jason Wiens introduced CTR's orphan care ministries called "Off the Wall:

You may have noticed as you look around our congregation at CTR that there are already a number of people who are involved in orphan care. I don't just mean adoption. There are many other ways that people in our midst are involved. It is such an encouragement that so many here already have a heart for the most vulnerable population in the world. 

In the coming weeks, Lord willing, we hope to assemble a ministry team of people who desire to be more organized and intentional about caring for orphans here in Spokane and around the world. The name of CTR's orphan care ministries will be "Off The Wall". I wanted to give credit to Carey for coining that name but he said his sister Holly came up with it. The inspiration for the name "Off the Wall" comes from the example of the early church in Rome. Roman Christians were known as a people who went outside the city gates and found infants abandoned along the wall, took them in and raised them as their own children. 

My desire for CTR, first and foremost, is that we would all grasp the beauty of God's heart for adoption, beginning with the fact that we each come into his family as adopted sons, with all the rights of inheritance. 

God tells us his heart for the orphan in His word. It's there throughout scripture. It's beautiful, it's rich and it's non-negotiable. 

The beauty and the blessing of God's heart for orphan care, for the Church, is that we as a family would ALL be involved. That doesn't mean that each of us as individual families will adopt or foster children. That is a calling that God places on individuals as they pray and seek God's heart for their family. It is, however, the unwavering truth that God wants each of us to be involved in someway in caring for orphans. 

As a church, we are God's family, His arms to take in those who have lost families, who are hurting and may have baggage as a result. 

The challenge is before us to answer the questions: 

Will we live with courage and bravery? 

Are we ready to go on a new adventure, just as we've studied this summer in Joshua, with the Lord leading our way? 

Will we be a light in dark places even though the journey may be hard and, at times, unappealing because of the many potential complications? 

But we know that it is when we lose our lives that we gain it. 

The world is watching to see if we are really following in our Lord's footsteps. 

I'm looking forward to finding out in the days ahead, what ways the Lord will use us in the care of His children. I will be available downstairs at an information table after the service. Don't think that YOUR gift can't be used in this ministry.

There was some interesting discussion downstairs after the service about what it means to be involved in caring for orphans.  There are so many ways I could not possibly list them all.  If you have a gift and wonder if it could be used in our orphan care ministries please comment below or send an email to offthewallministries (at) gmail (dot) com.  There is another post about ways to be involved with a list I put down as I was brainstorming how people might use their specific gifts.

There are 4 sign up lists (posts now) so that we can communicate about how you can be involved in caring for orphans or how our ministry at CTR might assist you in your desire to care for orphans.
1) I would like to be part of a “CTR Adoption Ministry Team.”
2) I would be interested in attending a meeting/day conference to learn more about adoption.
3) I am willing to help out in orphan care in this way.
4) I would like more information about fostering and/or adopting.

Please get back to us in some way so that we know who is interested and where your interests lie.  Even if you are minimally interested, just beginning to search, or just want to know what this is all about please say so....  If you need more time to think on this topic of orphan care before writing (deciding how you will be involved) you can lurk and just keep checking back in on the blog.  There will be more information coming up on the blog in the coming weeks.

Sorrow Before Triumph

"Sorrow Before Triumph" is a talk by David Platt, pastor of "The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham Alabama, who spoke at the "Adopting for Life" conference in February, 2010. It might take you a few minutes (58) to watch this video but I guarantee that after listening/watching this talk you will have a new perspective on the real joys and extreme trials that we experience in this life.

*Taken from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Resources website. These talks are from the Adopting for Life conference in February, 2010.  Other titles include: "Don't You Already Have Kids?:  Adding to Your Existing Family Through Adoption", "Adoption, Orphan Care and The Church: Finding Your Place in the Story of Redemption," and "A Call to Holiness: Crisis, Transracial Adoption and The Gospel."  At The Adopting for Life Conference in February, 2010 there were three general sessions, a question and answer panel and several break out session talks.

One Life at a Time

It is overwhelming to think of 147 million orphans in the world, or even 500,000 children in foster care in the US.  Caring for orphans is on God's heart. We each have to ask God how he wants us as individual families to be involved and what part he wants our church family to play in orphan care. One life at a time.


Why Love Orphans? from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Adoption Culture at CTR

At Christ The Redeemer we want to have a "healthy adoption culture." What does that mean? Listen to some of the thoughts from Dr. Karyn Purvis.  She has been an orphan care advocate in many arenas for many years.  Dr. Karyn Purvis encourages a heart of grace through the church as family.


Creating an Adoption Culture in Your Church - OS from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Orphan Care Resource Families at CTR

Resource Families at CTR

There are already several families at CTR who have experience in orphan care.  They are listed under the type of orphan care they have experienced.  We encourage you to approach some of these families with questions you might have about the process.  Their stories and encouragement can be a tool in your orphan care journey.

Foster Adoption

Brian and Holly Hoch

Carey and Tricia Hughes

David and Andy Knaggs

          Gary and Carli Robinson

Tim and Summer Gilstrap

Todd and Nicole Koyama

Private Adoption

Ben and Stephanie James

Brian and Holly Hoch

Domestic Agency Adoption

Jason and Emmy Wiens

International Adoption

Jason and Emmy Wiens - Ethiopia

Jim and Sara Rosenquist - Kazakhstan and China

Lewis and Sarah Lee - China

Short Term Foster Care

Mike and Jamie Witherup

Long Term Foster Care

Steve and Karen Murray

10 Ways for Every Christian to be Involved

10 Ways Every Christian Can Care 

for the 

Orphan and Waiting Child

1. PRAY for them
Tape a waiting child’s picture to your dashboard and pray for the child every time you’re in a car. Organize an evening prayer vigil at your church and pray for children in foster care or an orphanage overseas.

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. -Matthew 7:7-8 

“I had been in many prayer groups interceding for the things of God but that night I was surrounded by people who have never been involved in praying as a group. And what touched me was the move of God upon this group as they wept and cried out for the foster care children, workers, and others involved! Truly humbling!” 

2. SPEAK UP for them
Carry a waiting child’s picture and show it to other believers. Ask if they, or someone they know, would give this child a home. Become a court appointed special advocate for a child in foster care.

Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. -Proverbs 31:8-9 

“I didn’t think a whole lot of it at the time. I received an email about a teenage girl from Ethiopia who needed an adoptive home right away. I forwarded it on to some good friends who forwarded it one more time to some friends of theirs. That’s all it took. That young woman now has a forever family. Who would have thought speaking up for an orphan could be as easy as hitting the forward button?”

3. PROVIDE for their needs
Give sacrificially to a reputable orphanage. Financial gifts can be designated for specific items and aid needed by orphans. Visit HelpOrphans.org for more information. Organize a drive in your church to collect school supplies for children in foster care or shoes for orphans overseas.

If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food…and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? -James 2:15-16 

“I looked up. There was the boy with a missing smile…He extended his hands to me, his burned brown hands. I took my wipe and cleaned each of his precious palms…The language barrier crumbled as I was just a mom caring for a boy’s hands the way they should be cared for. It wasn’t the shoes, or the toy or candy...it was a simple act of love and the boy who lost his smile, found it. He hugged me tight and called me Amiga…friend. The smile he gave me was more precious than any gift I had offered him…I had been transformed by an orphan; I was con-quered by a smile.” 

4. SUPPORT those who support them
Mow, baby sit, or organize meals for a week for foster parents. Pray with them and tell them you appreciate what they do. Encourage a family adopting an older child by hosting a shower for them.

…and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds... -Hebrews 10:24 

“We were expecting a baby, but when our foster agency called us about a six year-old instead, we felt we just couldn’t say no. We agreed to take her into our home, but we found ourselves in need of several items. A friend from our Sunday School class passed around a list of our needs, and within days, we had a new bed, linens, a dresser, and other items we needed for our new daughter.” 

5. PROTECT them from harm
Become a foster parent or emergency foster parent. Raise money to build a children’s home to help remove children from the streets.

The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, but He thwarts the way of the wicked. –Psalm 146:9 

Sam and Janet have fostered many children over the last decade. In one emergency placement, they agreed to take in Duane, who’d been abused. One day, while playing, Duane followed Janet into the laundry room. As she poured the bleach into the machine, Duane ran away, screaming, “Please don’t put bleach in my eyes. I haven’t been a bad boy!” Janet wrapped Duane in her

6. VISIT them where they are
Go on a mission trip to an orphanage as an individual or family. Take dinner to a foster group-home on a regular basis.

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. -James 1:27 

“As we turned to leave the orphanage, one of the boys had asked to address our entire group. Smiling, 15 year-old Israel said, ‘Thank you so much for bringing us the candy, the Bibles...thank you for playing games with us and telling us about Jesus. Please don’t forget us. Please come back.’ And then, after a silence, with tears in his eyes, he spoke one more time. The translator, through her own tears, told us Israel’s words, ‘Today was the best day of my life.’” 

7. GIVE sacrificially to them
Support reputable orphan care organizations on a regular basis. Contribute generously to an adoptive family to help offset their costs. Visit ShowHope.org or LifeSongForOrphans.org.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. -2 Corinthians 9:7 

Eight year-old Alex of Uganda lost his parents to AIDS at an early age. Before long, God provided for him and more than fifty of his brothers, sisters, and cousins, through a ministry called Ugandan Lambs at Grace Brethren Church in Long Beach, California. When a congenital heart defect was discovered, his sponsor raised over $15,000 from the church and community, more than double the amount needed to pay for the surgery that has now saved his life. One young boy even gave money he had held onto for over a year since his grandfather had given to him.

8. ENCOURAGE them to press on
Sponsor a child, support them financially, and encourage them through your letters. Become a mentor or tutor to a teenager in a foster group-home.

We urge you brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. –1 Thessalonians 5:14 

“We met Kent while working as house parents at a children’s home, but he soon aged out of the system. Not wanting him to be without support, our family celebrates his birthdays with him and invites him over on holidays. We talk once a week, encouraging him, and sometimes providing the tough answers he needs. For four years now, God has used Kent to refine our hearts and to encourage us as our children have seen and learned how to reach out to and love others as Jesus calls us to do.” 

9. ADOPT them into your family
Give a child a home through international, domestic, or foster care adoption. Adopt a young adult who has aged out of the system.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God is His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families… -Psalm: 68:5-6a NIV 

“It was a typical evening dinner with my family. Kilyan, my two year-old son that we had recently adopted, sat across from me in the chair he’d claimed for months since our return from China. Tonight, though, he looked up at me with his huge grin and said, ‘You’re my daddy.’ Looking back through tear-filled eyes I could only whisper, ‘Yes I am.’” 

10. MOBILIZE your church for them
Be a catalyst in your church for starting a sustained orphans ministry.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.Matthew 28:18-20 

Irene grew tired of reading the stories of abuse and neglect among the foster children of South Florida. She began knocking on doors, trying to find anyone who would listen. Her persistence paid off when she reached the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale, who took a huge leap of faith. Now, a few years later, 4Kids of South Florida has grown into a ministry that has blessed thousands of children through adoption, foster care, mentoring, and more. 

Adapted from: HopeForOrphans.org

For more information or to order their resources, please visit HopeForOrphans.org or call 1-800-FL-TODAY (1-800-358-6329)