Orphans and the Church

As the government gets bigger and bigger and takes on more and more responsibility for the people, the church cannot remove itself from the responsibility of caring for orphans.

Regardless of what your political affiliation is, I think we can all agree that the government is not the best at caring for orphans. The governmental systems applied to caring for orphans are stretched and clearly not working. From a biblical standpoint, the government was never sanctioned by God as the care agency for orphans.

The church, by God’s design, is intended to care for orphans.

The Bible says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

When it comes to orphans and widows, the church cannot retreat from their distress.

Let’s be honest, the government makes a terrible parent. It’s not that the government has no part to play. It’s just that when it comes to the actual care of orphans, the government is no parent at all. This is a hard issue, and the journey for these kids is incredibly hard.

I was recently introduced to a young man, through one of our families at New Life, who lived his childhood in the foster care system. Before the age of 18, he had been moved to more than 30 homes and several schools. Can you imagine what that was like for him?

Now, as a young adult, he is being assisted by one of the families of our church in an effort to help him get a better start in life. We have several families at New Life who are adopting children and getting certified as foster care parents in an effort to live out what the Bible says and become the parents that the government never can.

Loving orphans shows the heart of God. It’s about caring for the least, last and lost. Without loving, committed parents, so many kids in the system today will simply be lost. The cost to society is great. Even more so, you have never locked eyes on another human being who isn’t loved and valued by God. The church is designed to be God’s representative heart toward humanity. Loving orphans gives the world a glimpse of how God reached out to us in love.

Did you know that if just one in three churches in America adopted just one child from foster care, the problem would be solved? There would be more families waiting to adopt than children waiting to be adopted. On a global level, the issue is especially daunting. But what if the American church became a model to the rest of the world and showed just how doable this is? It means encouraging families in our congregations to consider adopting or becoming foster care parents. Let’s be the parents to orphans that the government can’t be.

Learn more at www.newlifeonline.com or follow Steve Lingenfelter on Twitter, @stevOLL.

*reprinted from the Peoria Times