Creating a Culture of Adoption in Your Church

My friend Jason Kovacs at the ABBA Fund had a great post about creating a "culture" of adoption in your church... not just creating a ministry...

Many of these churches are asking how they can serve the fatherless most effectively?

The best advice I can give is to not simply start an orphan care/adoption “ministry” but aim to see an orphan care/adoption culture established. What do I mean by that? It may be semantics but I see a difference that has great implications:

Ministry tends be an optional program that a small group of interested individuals can take part in.

Culture is something that the whole church community takes part in by virtue of being part of the church.

Ministry does not necessitate the involvement or the vision casting of the church leadership.

Culture will be sustained by the preaching of the gospel and the particular ways it is worked out.

Ministry is not always clearly connected to the mission of the church.

Culture is a means to work out the mission of the church.

Think of these statements in regards to other “ministries” that we find in our churches – evangelism, prayer, mercy. The extent to which these gospel-activities are seen as “ministries” or “programs”, as they so often are, they often struggle. I find churches that are most effective at evangelism are those churches that see evangelism as a non-negotiable for every member and have created a culture in which every member by virtue of their involvement in the church community is caught up into the activity of reaching the lost. I think the same ought to be true for orphan care/adoption.

The greatest thing you can do to establish a culture of adoption/orphan care in your church is to be gripped by the reality that God has adopted us as His children. The church is God’s great trans-racial adoptive family. As the gospel takes root in our hearts and we recognize that adoption is central to the heart and mission of God it also becomes something we care about. We will naturally begin to reflect our vertical adoption in our horizontal efforts. This is the foundation for creating a culture that believes that every Christian is called to care for the fatherless in some way.

Not everyone is called to adopt but everyone is called to do something.

The question for each Christian and each church is not “Should I care for orphans?”

The question is “How can I care for orphans?”

Affording Adoption in a Tough Economy

It is no secret that the United States and most of the rest of the world are experiencing difficult times economically. Unemployment is rising, layoffs are increasing, people are taking salary cuts, spending freezes are in effect, people are cutting back wherever they can, and even doing without when necessary.

Of course, the Christian community has also been hit by economic woes, and many of our brothers and sisters are putting things on hold until times are more stable. What will this mean for those whom God is calling to adopt? Given the cost of private domestic and international adoptions, how can people afford to adopt through these channels in such tough economic times?

Check out the full Hope for Orphan's article "Affording Adoption in a Tough Economy" by Johnston Moore

Church Adoption Fund - in action...

Simple. Catalytic. Effective. And, so much bigger than us...

Watch this video to see how a Church Adoption Fund works at Iriving Bible Church...

So Much Bigger Than Us from Tapestry on Vimeo.

Here are the Top 3 Barriers to churches creating Adoption Funds...and Lifesong's Solutions to overcome the hurdles.

1. Barrier: Church staff “plate is already full” to administer fund

Solution: Lifesong will manage/facilitate the Fund & carry the administrative load on behalf of church, using mutually agreed upon criteria (reviewing applications, accounting, donor receipts, disbursing funds on behalf of adoption, etc.)

2. Barrier: Church feels uncomfortable/awkward approving/denying their own families (viewing financials, etc.)

Solution: Lifesong will provide all the screening, reviewing, approving/denying as a ‘partner’ on behalf of the church, using mutually agreed upon criteria for those decisions

3. Barrier: Adoption Fund is unfamiliar territory

Solution: Lifesong has passion, and expertise in adoption funding processes, maximize stewardship, use existing grant/loan procedures, IRS approved, ECFA approved (establishes financial integrity & avoids recreating the wheel)

And one of the best aspects….Lifesong manages & administers the Adoption Fund - at no cost to churches!