Recently, Kristi shared her heart
and gave us a glimpse at the beginnings of a fire that our Father God lit in her
that would eventually become Chosen.
Walking the halls of the sterile orphanage, I gripped
tightly to my daughter. Instincts to run overwhelmed me; the reality of her
first year of life, devastating. The orphanage director led our sheltered
Kansas family to the infant nursery where she introduced us to twenty of the
newest members of the Social Welfare Institute. Babies, only weeks old, most
with severe heart or other medical conditions, abandoned by their birth
parents. Many would never know the love of an earthly mother and father, nor
experience the loving care they so desperately needed. Some would not make it
to their first birthday. Tears fell as our eyes took in their tiny faces and we
prayed over each one. All we could think was,“Thank you, God! For sparing our
daughter!” Our three sons wandered the rooms in stunned silence, quietly
internalizing all they observed, speechless. What an inconceivable moment, an
earth shattering reality; our family, changed by God in a moment, forever.
Through orphan care and adoption, the church fulfills the
gospel commandment to care for orphans, and mimics the characteristic of Father
God by setting the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:6) For too long, adoption has
been taboo in society and churches alike. Adoptive parents and children, afraid
to speak of their experience for fear of judgment or pain, remain silent in
their quest for normalcy. The thought that adopted children are somehow less
than real children or our own children, skews the individual’s view of redemption. Timothy Paul Jones, contributor to A Guide to Adoption and Orphan Care, shares his thoughts on what he
calls “the Pinocchio syndrome.”, “Do you know who your daughter’s
‘real parents’ were?", "We’re interested in adoption, but we want to
have our ‘own children’ first.", "Those three are their ‘real kids’
then they adopted the others later.” He goes on to say, “These patterns
tell us as much about our perception of the gospel as they do about our
perception of adoption. If my daughters are not my ‘real’ daughters because
they’re adopted, you and I are not quite God’s ‘real’ children; you are not
quite God’s ‘own’ child; Jesus is not quite your ‘real’ brother. If you are not
God’s real child and if Jesus is not my real brother, you and I are still lost in
our sins.”
Christians have the perfect model of adoption painted in
Scripture, through the redemption of the people who become Children of God and
inherit all rights to God the Father. “Adoption is,
on the one hand, gospel. In this, adoption tells us who we are as children of
the Father. Adoption as gospel tells us about our identity, our inheritance,
and our mission as sons of God. Adoption is also defined as mission. In this,
adoption tells us our purpose in this age as the people of Christ. Missional
adoption spurs us to join Christ in advocating for the helpless and the
abandoned.” God commands His
people to care for the orphan throughout His Word. the world has witnessed the
decline of the family unit. This structure, when damaged, wreaks havoc in lives,
homes, churches, communities, and etc. “The protection of children isn’t
charity. It isn’t part of a political program fitting somewhere between tax
cuts and gun rights or between carbon emission caps and a national service
corps. It’s spiritual warfare.” (I would like to add, this
is not a fad or a trend.) More children than
ever experience
abandonment, abuse, and neglect. This generation has come against the powers of
darkness in unfathomable ways. God has never retracted His command for the
church to oversee the care of the orphan. The need for this ministry grows
daily. People accomplish orphan care through a variety of means, such as
sponsorship of orphans, funding orphanages, mission opportunities, adoption,
and adoption support.
