Bringing Churches Around Adoptive Families

"The blessings go way beyond any financial support because the family is just knowing that the church cares."

--

Dave Blaske, His Kids-Our Homes Adoption Fund Director

 

Listen in as His Kids-Our Homes Adoption Fund share about their partnership with Lifesong for Orphans...

 

 

It has been exciting for us as a ministry to have a front-row view in what God is doing through our 210 active and intentional Church Fund Partners.  In the past six months alone, we have seen the generosity of these churches provide over $627,650 to 193 adoptive families in the form of grants and loans.

 

The refreshing joy of serving families, blessing orphans, and ultimately glorifying God is at the core of each church fund that we partner with.  We celebrate the work that God is doing through each of them as He places the lonely into families (Psalm 68:6). 

For more stories about how a church fund can bless adoptive families, we invite you to watch the Quine &Stewart family adoption videos.

 

To learn more about Lifesong Church Funds, please visit our website or contact Rich Metcalfe (309.747.4528, rich@lifesongfororphans.org)

"And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." Hebrews 10:24  

A Time to Praise! Over 200 Church Funds!

Guess what? Last week we celebrated our 203rd Church Fund Partner!

We invite you to check out what God is doing through active and intentional churches who desire to defend the fatherless not only in word, but in ACTION...

Churches like Grace Hands of Hope in Indianapolis, IN who has partnered with Lifesong to establish a Church Fund. Their fund financially assists families who are bringing orphans into forever families and also are active in Lifesong's work in Honduras. They are planning their second trip to Honduras this fall and are eagerly raising funds for computers and Rosetta Stone software. 

 

They encourage other churches to, "Take a step – most of the time not fully seeing the next step, pray, watch God work, be blessed! That’s the cycle of getting involved in orphan care and it truly does give joy and purpose to life that is hard to describe."

 

First Baptist McKinney in McKinney, TX is another fund we are blessed to serve.  Like Hands of Hope, they have an active role in funding adoptions in their local church through providing grants and loans.  Along with their local service, they are also globally minded with a heart for Lifesong Zambia as they support missionaries Shane and Mitzi McBride. 

They share, "To step foot on the campus of Lifesong in Zambia is confirmation that God is at work there. The staff is amazing. The kids are beautiful and smart and James 1:27 is tangible at Lifesong School for Orphans in Zambia! It is our privilege to be able to partner with Lifesong and join God in the work He is doing."

We praise God for the faithful churches we are blessed to partner with and invite you and your church to join the movement of active and intentional movement for the fatherless.

To learn more about Lifesong Church Funds, please visit our website or contact Rich Metcalfe at rich@lifesongfororphans.org

Outside the Walls Network

We invite you to listen in as Christ Fellowship's Mark Thomas shares the joys of working Outside the Walls...

A few years ago, Christ Fellowship wanted to provide a viable mechanism to effectively assist members of our body who believed God had called them to change their family through adoption.  The "viable mechanism" we found to assist our church in adoption was Lifesong for Orphans.  

After seeing some of our own members successfully walk through the adoption process, Lifesong approached Christ Fellowship to see if we would consider offering financial support for other followers of Christ outside of our church body who were pursuing adoption.  Realizing that Lifesong, the adopting family and Christ Fellowship all shared the same goal of impacting others for Christ, we agreed to join the Outside the Walls Network. 

Doing so has been an incredibly rewarding experience for all parties involved.  First, it has enabled families to fulfill their pursuit of adoption.  Second, it has afforded Lifesong with the ability to experience the joy of seeing other believers serve a family in need.  Third, it has blessed Christ Fellowship as we strive to be obedient to God's call.  Finally, and most importantly, I am convinced that God is glorified as his people work to support one another for his cause. 

Because of the significant impact a church body can have in an event such as adoption, we would ask others to consider partnering with Lifesong for Orphans to financially support families outside of your church who are walking through this experience.  If you prayerfully consider offering support to those believers outside of your immediate church body, I am confident that families will be blessed, lives will be changed and, above all, God will be glorified.

--Mark Thomas, Christ Fellowship  

Because of this mindset, 21 Church Adoption Funds within this network have together made 91 commitments totaling over $310,000 in adoption funding to assist families "outside of their walls".

Would you be willing to join the Network and reach more children together, than you could alone? 

We invite you to learn more about Outside the Walls Network to see if this is a possible fit for your church community.

Church Adoption Fund Story: Timothy & Cynthia

Lifesong is honored to work with almost 200 churches in administrating Church Adoption Funds.  Calvary Baptist Church of Show Low, AZ is one of them.  Just Love Them (the name of Calvary's Adoption Fund), generously gave Timothy and Cynthia a matching grant towards the adoption of little Anastasia from Ukraine.

Listen in as they share their appreciation...

God used Lifesong for Orphans and Just Love Them Ministries of Calvary Baptist Church to provide the money we did not have and to help break us of self-sufficiency. There was nothing we could do. We had no money after our first adoption. But with God nothing is impossible. He used Calvary Baptist Church to generously support us in bringing Anastasia home.

Lifesong for Orphans and Just Love Them Adoption Fund of Calvary Baptist Church were instrumental in changing the course of Anastasia's life. She now has a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). We moved forward to adopt not knowing where the money would come from, however the Lord knew. If we had waited or not acted because of lack of funds, we would have missed seeing God perform miracles on Anastasia's behalf. Thank you Lifesong and Calvary Baptist Church for obeying God's Word to care for widows and orphans in their distress (James 1:27). Thank You Jesus for laying it on donors hearts to give to Just Love Them Adoption Fund so Anastasia could call us Mama and Papa. Thank you for helping "set the lonely in families" (Psalms 68:6).

God's Blessings to All,

Timothy, Cynthia & family

To learn more about church adoption funds and how YOUR church help bring orphans into families, visit our website.

Looking Beyond Ourselves

It's so common around here to see miracles happen every day right before our very eyes. Just today, a family called to tell us that they did not need the interest-free loan we offered them... since last week when we informed them, God provided for their entire $17,000 deficit! WOW!

As I thought about this family, I realized that it's so easy to overlook the magnificent miracles God is doing all around us each and every day...

Then God brought to mind two miracles I was able to view from the front-row seat just before Christmas. Two families from Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY that are in the process of adopting - one from Korea and one from the US – recently applied for financial assistance. Both of these families are dedicated to raising their children to know, love, and serve Christ. As we reviewed these applications, we were so impressed by their character and their commitment to the Lord. However, there were no funds available to help either of these families at the time.

Just a couple days after we informed both of these families of the situation, we were contacted by our good friends at Tapestry (Irving Bible Church). They were excited to share that God had blessed them through generous year-end donations from the Irving Bible Church congregation to the Tapestry Adoption Fund.  They continued to share their heart, and as I listened I was struck by the unique way that they view the financial resources that have been entrusted to them. You see, they do not want to let money sit idle in the Tapestry Adoption Fund while children and families wait.  The Tapestry Adoption Fund is focused on helping families at Irving Bible Church and in their local community meet the financial challenge of adoption.  But they know very well that the money that has been given is in fact God’s money, and they want to see it put to use wherever the needs may be.  Their exact words were “we believe that our goal should be to run out of money in our fund so that we can tell the stories of what God has done and allow even more people to give and be a part of what He is doing.” 

The next words that spilled from their mouths amazed me.  They explained that they want to help other qualified families in need, no matter where they live or what church they attend.  They want to be part of what God is doing outside the walls of their church.  They want to be part of the stories God is writing with the lives of His people across the country as they say “YES!” to what God is calling them to. You're starting to see the pieces come together, right?

Yes, Tapestry stepped outside themselves, outside their walls, to fund two families in need… two families that don't even live in the same state.  Now you can see why 'looking beyond yourselves' is so fitting for this story. 

Just this past year, as we saw more and more churches being led to help families in need regardless of where they attended church, we created the Outside the Walls Network. The network is a way for churches to band together and reach out to serve children and families through adoption financial assistance.  To learn more about the Outside the Walls Network and how your church can join with other churches to help families meet the financial challenge of adoption and welcome their children home, click here.