If We Are His Body:Loving Children Like Jesus Did

Romans 12: 4-5 "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,  so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others."

While every individual's gifting is certainly a very personal matter the above verses are crystal clear. We, the Church of Christ, are the earthly manifestation of His body. Upon Christ's ascension into heaven and the first believers encounter and anointing of the Holy Spirit we were commissioned to be Christ's body until his return.

We are his hands, his feet, his mouth piece. We are called to continue the good and holy works that Jesus performed during his time here on earth. We, the Church of Christ, are utterly failing. So many of us sit in our church bubbles, involved in our church ministries, aimed at our church children, and wonder why the world is falling apart. We look on from "afar" at our missionaries to other countries and we put a little extra in the offering plate and then head to our comfortable homes and our good paying jobs. We look on at the members in our church who have taken on foster or adoptive children and we give them a pat on the back, we send them a meal that first week they join as a family and then we ignore their desperation as they begin the treacherous work of dealing with violent out bursts, eating dilemmas, reactive attachment disorders, etc. We look at them and tell them that we love them with our words but we all too often sit motionless as if God left His body somehow devoid of arms and legs with which to go and to gather the lost and the hurting, the meek and the lowly at heart.

Mark 10:13-16 says this, "People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

If we are His body then why are our arms drawing the little children to us? Why even in the midst of our outreach programs are we so unaware and uninformed regarding the issues that these children are facing that their "bad behavior" leads us to be like the disciples in the above passage instead of like the God who was indignant over the absurdity of turning them away.

I was recently pointed some statistics in the United States. They are dated 2013 so I'm sure the numbers have changed a bit sense then. Some states seemed "better than others" in comparison, but every state's statistic brought me to a point of indignant and righteous anger. What we can come to understand, is that in every single state there are more churches than their are orphans. In the entirety of the United States there are more than 3 times as many churches as their are orphans. That means if one family in every 3 churches adopted a child there would be no more orphans.

So many will go onto quote that adoption is expensive. It is, there are interesting and unique obstacles you must travel through in order to adopt. However, if 3 churches would get behind that 1 family and support them financially through that process, the cost would be minuscule and we would have no more orphans.

Not everyone is a hand, not everyone can be the feet, not everyone has a heart that is prepared for adoption, but if every piece of the body did what every piece of the body was suppose to do we could support the families who are God's heart in this area and we, as the community and body of Christ could eleminate the orphan crisis in our country and could even go on to eliminate the crisis in the entirety of our world.

What are you doing today to be the body of Christ that made clear the importance and the value of children? How are you supporting God's heart toward the orphan? If you haven't arleady check out our mission page and get involved. Let us wipe out our orphan foster care crisis one child, one family, one church, one community, one state, and one nation at a time. 

WE ARE THE BODY

A Call to Action

I am but one person and cannot eliminate our foster care crisis alone. We must work together in order to see real and measurable change. So here is my mission to you....

1. Think of a practical way you can help in your own county. (Here are a few ideas to get you started)
• Start a Christmas food, clothing, and toy drive for your local Children's Services program
• Create hygiene gift bags to be distributed throughout the year (toothbrush, toothpaste, hair brush, makeup, feminine products, etc)
• Collect new and like new duffle bags for foster children so that they might have something all their own to transport clothing in. (A trash bag should never contain your entire life)
• Create a weekly program at your church aimed at teens who will soon age out of the foster system. From there create relationships that will last a life time.
• Collect new or gently used baby items and clothing for children who will enter their foster homes without much. (you can do this by hosting a "baby shower" of sorts at your church)
• Compile a list of foster families in your community as well as a list of families in your church who would be willing to provide alternate or respite care, then match up families and watch relationships blossom
2. Get me your ideas along with any posters or flyers detailing your ministry. Not good at creating online graphics? No problem.... send me the info regarding your ministry i.e. what you are doing, what state, what county, and contact info and I'll create a poster or flyer for you to feature on the site.
3. Share the heck out of this blog and your individual states link so that those in your area will be able to connect with one another and reach these children in a way they have never been reached before. (p.s. sharing could mean stepping out of your comfort zone and speaking in front of your church or every church in your community)

Together, we The Church, can bring Jesus to the entire nation through lives of the children He values so much.

An Old Mission with a New Outlook

To those who know me well, it will come as no surprise that the foster care system is near and dear to my heart. It is a flawed, rip your heart out (repeatedly), unproductive system in many ways, however, the children within it are worth our acknowledgement, our time, our love, and our undying dedication.

I grew up in a family that took in several foster children. Each story heart breaking in so many ways. Some had wonderful endings like little Joseph who went on to be adopted by the daughter of his second foster family and attended school with my sister (whose arrival in my mother's womb brought with it a bed-ridden pregnancy which ultimately led to his needing to be placed in a new home). So thankful for the way that story turned out. Others are completely tragic with the cycle of neglect and criminal behavior being passed from generation to generation.

My heart since a very young age has always been so burdened with a desire to take in orphans, to change their lives, to be Jesus to the least of us. I would beg my parents to adopt a baby for me to take care of. When the safe haven laws passed in the U.S., I placed a basket with baby blankets on the front porch and waited anxiously for the day I would hear a newborn cry beneath my bedroom window.

The years passed and no newborns were dropped on my door step. Events occurred that changed my plans for life, in so many amazing ways. I have been married to a sweet and loving man for 9 years now. We have 4 beautiful and healthy children. We are able to provide them with so much. A beautiful home, food on the table, a personalized home school education, etc, etc. We are beyond blessed.

As time has gone on there are many times when I look back on my "teenage ready-to-conquer-the-
world self" and wonder what would have happened if I had not had some of the painful experiences that I did. Would things be different? Would I be in my meager home in the middle of India or Haiti with my hundreds of orphaned children?

In some ways pondering these things brought me to a state of sadness for the passion that seems so hindered by my daily responsibilities. Slowly though, God has been revealing to me a new outlook on my old mission. He is taking me from a sense of loss over what I thought would be, to a sense of desire for what He now intends.

There is nothing that He places on our hearts that will not be seen through to completion. The fatherless are a part of my ministry and a part of my being. When I was woven in my mother's womb God knew He would bring me to such a work as this.

This blog will be my jumping board for what is to come. As God takes me on this journey I ask that you join me through prayer, suggestions, resources, donations, and anything else He may lay on your heart to bring. It is my hope to use this blog as a way to advocate for those with no one in their corner, to provide for them in a way that I could never do on my own, and to raise awareness in the body of Christ regarding this great and dire need.

We have come to a place where we let the world dictate how we "tithe". We see constant requests from welfare organizations and cps for new funding and the passing of new levy's. We complain as we see our taxes raised and how money is being spent unwisely (which it is because worldly powers can never bring the provisions that Christ can) and yet we allow God's command, His commission to the church, to be neglected.

When we search out God's word for His message on the fatherless we can find 56 verses, many so clear that our lack of involvement should be considered criminal. In fact, according to scripture it is. Exodus 22:22-24 says this, "You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless." James 1:27 also says this, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." 

God has called us to the weak. He has called us to be like Jesus. Jesus, the rebel, who was a friend to sinners, a friend to women, a friend to the least of these. Jesus who brought healing to those He came in contact with. Jesus who called the little children to Himself when even the disciples turned them away. Jesus who came to this world and took on our sins so that we would no longer be called orphans, but instead could claim the title Child of The One True King. God calls us to be like Jesus and that means stepping beyond our pro-life stance and into a pro-active one that values the unborn, the child, the teen, the meek and the lowly in heart. Help me on the journey to bring Jesus to our nations fatherless.