Wednesday, June 3, 2009

10 Ways Every Christian Can Care for the Orphan and Waiting Child


1. PRAY FOR THEM. Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Matthew 7:7-8

  • Tape a waiting child's picture to your dashboard and pray for the child every time you're in your car. Visit http://www.adoptuskids.org/ or http://www.rainbowkids.com/.
  • Organize an evening prayer vigil at your church and pray for children in foster care or in an orphanage oversees.


2. SPEAK UP FOR THEM. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9

  • Carry a waiting child's picture and show it to other believers. Ask if they, or someone they know, would give this child a home.
  • Become a court appointed special advocate for a child in foster care. Visit http://www.nationalcasa.org/ for details.

3. PROVIDE FOR THEIR NEEDS. If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled." and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? James 2:15-16

4. SUPPORT THOSE WHO SUPPORT THEM. ...and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds... Hebrews 10:24

  • Mow, baby sit, or organize meals for a week for foster parents. Pray with them and tell them you appreciate what they do.
  • Encourage a family adopting an older child by hosting a shower for them.

5. PROTECT THEM FROM HARM. The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, but He thwarts the way of the wicked. Psalm 146:9


  • Become a foster parent or emergency foster parent.
  • Raise money to build a children's home to help remove children from the streets. Visit http://www.worldorphans.org/ for details.

6. VISIT THEM WHERE THEY ARE. Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. James 1:27


7. GIVE SACRIFICIALLY TO THEM. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful give. 2 Corinthians 9:7


8. ENCOURAGE THEM TO PRESS ON. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

  • Sponsor a child, support them financially, and encourage them through your letters. Visit http://www.visiontrust.org/ to learn more.
  • Become a mentor or tutor to a teenager in a foster group-home.

9. ADOPT THEM INTO YOUR FAMILY. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families... psalm 68:5-6A NIV

  • Give a child a home through international, domestic, or foster care adoption.
  • Adopt a young adult who has aged out of the foster care system.

10. MOBILIZE YOUR CHURCH FOR THEM. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you... Matthew 28:18-20


  • Be a catalyst in your church for starting a sustained orphans ministry. Visit http://www.hopefororphans.org/ for resources and to learn more about attending a Your Church and the Orphan Workshop.

(Taken from Hope for Orphans, a ministry of Family Life. http://www.hopefororphans.org/)

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