A Heritage of Caring for Orphans...

Jedd Medefind, formerly the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and a Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, is now the President of the Christian Alliance for Orphans, for a coalition of more than fifty adoption, foster-care and orphan-care ministries. The author of two books and numerous articles as well as an accomplished speaker, he lives in California with three children, including a daughter adopted from Ethiopia.

How do you understand the biblical imperative to care for the fatherless? 

What might a church do to help people through the process of reflection preceding an adoption?

What are other ways people can respond to the needs of orphans?

To read the entire interview, click here.

The Local Church is Uniquely Equipped!

I must confess I’m blown away by all God has done through Tapestry over the last 5 years. They’ve made a profound difference for local families and the children those families have fostered and adopted." - Jedd Medefind, President of Christian Alliance for Orphans

Check out this post from Tapestry titled 'Three Things We Have Learned & Three Things We Would Do'! A glimpse at the depth of this post -

In the end, the growth that we have seen speaks far more to the needs of children and families in our community (and every community) and the power and reach of the local church, than it does to anything that we ourselves have done. We are humbled that God has used us to play a small part in the lives of so many, and we are excited about what He has in store for us as a ministry and a community.

During any given week, we receive calls from people across the nation wanting to start an adoption, foster care or orphan care ministry in their church. Many of them have very similar questions: How do you get started? What do you do at your small groups and events?  How do you handle this or that?   Three things we have learned in these past five years are that there are no easy answers (although there are some very accessible and available resources), there is no ’one size fits all,’ and there are no shortcuts (at least none worth taking)."

See you at Summit VI!

To Inspire and Equip Christians

With Haiti’s earthquake drawing global focus to the plight of orphans, Christians from across America and beyond will gather in Minneapolis, MN, for the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ Summit VI on April 29-30, 2010.  

The objective:  to inspire and equip Christians to “care for orphans in their distress” through adoption, foster care and global orphan care ministry rooted in the local church. 

 What you can look forward to:

• More than 50 workshops delivering nuts-and-bolts for adoption, foster care and global orphan programs – designed for both laypersons and leadership
• Orphan care resources for church ministries, as well as personal orphan care and adoption journeys
• Breakouts will also include 5 “Hague Hour” Credits for Adoptive Families.
• Q&A sessions and networking opportunities with respected adoption, global orphan and foster care organizations and veteran ministry leaders.
• For Christians stirred by the plight of orphans, Summit offers the biggest and best opportunity of the year to learn how to act upon conviction.  To learn more and register now, visit the Summit website here.

A taste of breakout topics:

• Haiti and the Local Church: What’s Next?
• Bridging the Great Divide:  Building Positive Relationships Between Church Ministries and Government
• Understanding Childhood Development of Overseas Orphans
• A Lifelong Love:  Keeping the Gospel at the Center of Orphan Ministry
• Church-Based Orphan Ministry 101
• Fundraising for Orphan Ministry
• Starting in the Right Direction:  Helping Pre-Adoptive Couples Make Sound Decisions
• Now What? Helping Children Age Out of Foster Care
• The Financial Challenge of Adoption and How the Local Church Can Respond
• Engaging Church Leadership
• A Child’s Journey Through the Foster Care System
• How Does It Work? Models of Global Orphan Ministry Based in US Churches
• Practical Ideas of Orphan-Focused Events
• Understanding HIV/AIDS and the Orphan 
• And many more…

And there’s more!  Five sessions will provide pre-adoptive families with needed Hague credits.

• Adoption and Orphans:  Becoming a Multicultural/Multiracial Family 
• Adoption and Orphans:  Attachment and Trauma (Part I and II)
• Adoption and Orphans:  Grief and Loss
• Adoption and Orphans:  Acclimating to a New Family Member

American Christians are stirring to the needs of orphans both at home and abroad as never before.  What’s thrilling is that even small ministries in local churches can make such significant impact.  There are millions of parentless children worldwide, but a single statistic matters more than any other:  it only takes one caring adult to make a lifelong difference in the life of an orphan.”

-         Jedd Medefind, President, Christian Alliance for Orphans

Haiti Orphan Response - Can YOU help?

The Haiti Orphan Relief Team (HORT) is an amazing collaboration of disaster response experts and U.S. based orphan care and advocacy organizations. The goal of HORT is to identify, train and resource Haitian churches to be the direct rescue and care mechanism for Haiti's hundreds of thousands of orphans. This is truly the most effective and scalable response to a need of such great complexity and magnitude.

The primary goal is to better enable Haitian churches to reunite or keep children within extended family structures. For children that have no other options, HORT will help Haitian churches to provide direct care in home environments, not institutional orphanages.

If your ministry is currently working in Haiti and can offer information or networking to this effort, please contact jodijacksontucker@gmail.com.  She would like to coordinate with your efforts during the HORT deployment. We are looking for roughly 200 U.S. churches that want to become part of the long-term solution to the orphan need in Haiti. Please direct interested churches to the online form at www.haitiorphanrelief.org.  Additional questions about church partnership can be addressed to alanh@worldorphans.org.

We would welcome your partnership in the following ways as well:

Pray - Pray for the churches in Haiti that we will be communicating with. Pray for the HORT team as they travel and manage the logistics that go with this kind of effort.

Support the Fund Raising Effort - The needs in Haiti are both immediate and long-term we need your help to resource the churches in Haiti to care for their communities.

Advocate - Spread the word about HORT via Facebook (www.facebook.com/haitiorphanreliefteam), Twitter (@haitiorphan) or e-mail. If you belong to a church, contact your pastor and let him know that HORT is looking for U.S. churches interested in partnering with the churches of Haiti.

Summit VI Registration now open!

Registration is now open for the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ Summit VI in Minneapolis, MN! 

Summit has become the national focal point for Christians committed to adoption, foster care and global orphan care ministry.  Join organizational leaders, grassroots advocates, pastors, and ministry entrepreneurs that share your passion.  Encounter the unparalleled hub of orphan ministry partnership, networking and inspiration for service.  Build your knowledge, resources and practical skills via more than fifty workshops and unforgettable plenary sessions.  Featured speakers will include John Piper, Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman, Al Mohler, Patricia Arzu, Tom Davis, Stephanie Fast, Doug Sauder, and others!

Any individual, church, or organization member of the Alliance will receive a discounted registration rate of $99.  Non-member registration is $149.  (To apply for membership and receive the discounted rate, visit the Alliance membership page first.) 

Visit Christian Alliance for Orphans to register for Summit today!

Download free Summit poster!   -Conference Info   -Breakout Sessions