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.