My friend Lesley’s heart fluttered as she heard the words spoken to her on the phone. “We have a newborn baby waiting on you at the hospital.” It had been nearly a year of praying and filling out paperwork to become foster parents. Their paperwork was approved the day before. They have two children of their own, but were being obedient to God’s command to take care of orphans. They join others from the First Baptist Church of Barnwell who have taken the responsibility to foster children in our community.
ClampEvery child deserves a family. According to the Administration for Children and Families, there are 1,700 children in foster care awaiting adoption in South Carolina. So what are we waiting on as the church? I realize that everyone is not in a stage in their life where they can take on the responsibility of a child, but there are many who pretend the children do not exist or hope God gets someone else to do it. Do you realize that no child would be left behind if one family from every Southern Baptist church adopted just one child? Who will care for them if the church doesn’t step up?
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). God said through the prophet Ezekiel in 16:49 that His people were like those of Sodom who were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned, but they did not help the poor and needy – so he did away with them. Let us not be like them. How far have we regressed as the church if we gather Sunday after Sunday singing our songs, shaking hands, and listening to a sermon – but turn a deaf ear to the little children who call out to us and continue to wait.
I can’t think of a better evangelism strategy than welcoming a child who has been abandoned into your home and adopting them into the family. That’s what Jesus did for us. It’s time we return the favor.
I’m thankful for my friends from Barnwell – Jeremy and Lesley, Rena and Russell, Don and Vana, Lisa and Bobby, Keri and Brian, Keith and Debbie, and Brian and Susan – who have accepted children into their family. Churches like North Rock Hill Church, East Pickens Baptist Church, and North Spartanburg First Baptist Church are also raising the bar in this area.
So if this article keeps you up at night, I dare you to start the process at www.adoptnowsc.org. There may be a little boy or girl waiting for you.
– Clamp is evangelism group director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. Follow Lee on twitter @leeclamp or on his blog at www.leeclamp.com.