About The Mission

        The Church, Orphans, and Adoption
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry,” Abba! Father!” (Rom 8:15) Written by Eric Henderson
Click - See video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aktlOihN7Hc&feature=player_embedded


Thank you for considering to allow me the opportunity to share an important message, on behalf of orphan children, with you and your congregation. I believe that God, at this time in history, is awakening his Church to respond to the cry of the orphan child...our enemy has prevailed in this harvest field for far too long, it is time for the saints to move into the “fields of the fatherless” and reclaim these precious children, all made in the image of our God. 


 Our Father in heaven, establishes his heart for orphans by expressing his Fatherhood towards them, stating in (Ps 68:5,6a), that he is; “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. He sets the lonely in families…”  This is God’s intentional design, that children be raised in genuine, Biblical families, providing love, permanence, and an introduction to the plan of salvation through our Savior,  Christ Jesus.  In addition, a family provides a safe transition to adulthood for its sons and daughters….a real chance for a successful outcome in life, presently and eternally.


 But in the world today there are approximately 160 million children in orphanages, and another 150 million living on the streets...310 million vulnerable, exploited children, all image bearers of our Father in heaven. As orphans “age out” of orphanages, anywhere from the age of 15 to 18, they are lured by human traffickers with promises of jobs, higher education, gifts, etc. For girls who “age out”, 60% will be forced into prostitution, sex slavery and pornography, a degrading life with an average life span of 8 years...its a slow, dehumanizing death sentence. For the boys who “age out”, 70% are lured into drug gangs, organized crime, and child armies.  Most will spend a large part of their lives in prisons, never having a chance to live the life God intended for them.


 The slave population of the USA in 1860, just before the outbreak of the Civil War was 4 million. The slavery population of the world, both sex and labor slaves, was 27 million in 2007, and has grown 33%, and is now approximately 35 million. A large segment of these slaves are orphans who had no one to defend them against the power of the predators who take them and buy and sell them as if they were commodities...no one has a right to take away another person's humanity. (Psalm 10)


 How did this orphan crisis come about...what went wrong? Or, more importantly, how do we solve the world's orphan crisis?  How should we, the Church, respond to the cry of the orphan child...a cry for rescue, a cry for belonging, a cry for family?




 Note: For the purpose of understanding the Churches response in the following stories, the Church (you and me) is represented by the adopting families.


 First we will look at the incredible story of Moses, a story of great risk and yet, great reward.  (Exodus 2:1-10 and Acts 7:20,21) 


There was great risk to Moses as he was set afloat in a basket in the Nile River. The Nile crocodile is one of the most dangerous in the world, it can grow to 20 feet long and move on land at a speed of up to 30 mph (48 kph), it is one of only two species in the world that regularly attack humans and views them as prey. In addition, there are eagles, storks and hawks that prey on any available flesh....Moses was only 3 months old, and he was vulnerable! But his parents had no choice, Pharaoh had ordered that all male babies should be killed, so in desperation, at great risk, they prepared a small basket, placed their beautiful little son into it, and launched him into the dangerous waters of the Nile River, hoping for a miracle. But God had a plan.  A young woman, Pharaoh's own daughter saw the infant Moses, heard him crying, and had compassion on him. But not just compassion, her mother instincts were activated and she loved this helpless baby, took him into her household, and raised him as her very own son. She was at great risk also. If her father, Pharaoh, discovered that she had disobeyed him, and rescued a Hebrew baby, it may have cost her life. It might even be said that Pharaoh's daughter, in adopting Moses, became one of the founders of the nation Israel.  Moses' life had a rough start, but Moses went on to be Israel's champion that God used to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt and to freedom in the Promised Land, Israel. Great risk, but a great reward!


 Secondly, we will look at a young Jewish girl named Hadassah (Esther 2:5-7,11,15,20) She was among the Hebrew captives living in Babylon for 70 years, due to Israel's disobedience to God. She was also given a Persian name which we are more familiar with and that is Esther, the same as the book in the OT.  She became an orphan when both of her parents died.  But then her older cousin, Mordecai, stepped in and adopted her, and raised her as his very own daughter. He was probably a busy merchant, we know he was interested in the welfare of his people, his community and the activities of government...he was often “at the gates” engaged in current events. But he did not let his busy life turn his heart away from the vulnerable orphan girl, a member of his own family...he discomforted himself and did what was right, adopting Hadassah as his very own daughter.


Now Persia, which had conquered Babylon and inherited the Hebrew captives, was the most powerful kingdom on earth at the time. They had absolute rule over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia.


Xerxes, the king of Persia, had recently dismissed Vashti, the queen, due to her disobedience to him. His officials began a search for a new queen and Esther, who was very beautiful, was chosen as one of the candidates. She was selected over the other girls, and she became queen of the powerful Persian empire...a little Jewish orphan girl, now a queen!  Soon, Mordecai discovered an evil plot to kill all of the Jews in the entire empire, millions would perish.  But God had a plan. God had strategically placed Esther as queen for “such a time as this”, and through counsel from her father Mordecai, Esther approached the king uninvited, which could have cost her life, to make known this evil plan.  She found favor from the king and was able to share the truth about the deadly plan just in time to prevent a mass annihilation of all the Jews.  Great risk, but a great reward!  In addition, the Jewish people have continuously celebrated an event called Purim each year and in every household, re-telling this incredible story of a little Jewish orphan girl who was adopted by a compassionate family member, and God accomplished a miracle through them.


 Our third adopted child is very unique.  We are introduced to him before he was even born. He is none other than our Savior, Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, and raised in Nazareth. (Mt 1:18-25). So Joseph, who was betrothed to Mary, upon discovering that Mary was pregnant, and not by him, had planned to quietly divorce her and not bring public shame on her. He was a righteous and kind man. He loved Mary and was no doubt heartbroken over this discovery that could only indicate that Mary had been unfaithful to him. But before he could move forward with the divorce, an angel appeared to him in a dream and made it clear to him that the child Mary carried was no ordinary child, but was from God himself. The angel told him to take Mary as his wife, which meant that he would be taking this unique child she carried, as his own son and give him the name Jesus.  Joseph, in obeying God by adopting Jesus, provided the Son of God with and earthly family to grow up in, and experience life in a human family.  We know that Joseph was completely committed to Jesus as a father and treated him as if he were his very own son, a full member of the family. We know this because of the reactions and comments by the people in the community they lived in. (Mt 13:55,56....Mk 3:31,32...Mk 6:1-3...Lk 2:33) Joseph was obedient and courageous. His reputation in the community, his carpentry business was all at risk, because of what appeared to the community to be a case of betrayal, and an illegitimate child in his family.  But he chose to please God and not man. There was great risk in his actions, but the result was the greatest reward of all time, the sin of fallen man...forgiven, through his adopted son Jesus.


 Today in Mexico there are approximately 400,000 orphans in institutions and approximately 100,000 living on the streets. (this changes for each country)


 What is God's plan to solve this crisis? The answer is found in James 1:27.


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


On its face, we are not drawn to any particular action plan other than to care for the basic needs of orphan children, like food, shelter, clothing, education, etc...but that won't solve the “distress” of the orphan child.  So, let's break it down and get to the heart of the matter.


  • “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this:...”  What is observable to our neighbors, to our community, to the world.  What is seen in our actions, that reflects a true Father son relationship with God, that He approves of, is this:....
  • “....to look after orphans and widows....” The word look after, or visit, or care for in the various translations, are translated from the Greek word episkeptomai. In the Strong's Concordance #1980 Gk, this word is rendered: inspect and select.... remedy.
  • “...in their distress,...”  The “distress” of the orphan child is not food, shelter, clothing, etc, its belonging.  An orphan's greatest need is the need to belong, it's in our DNA.  We all need to belong, its God's design.  Orphan children are comfortless until they enter into the love, permanence and safety of a family.  In John 14:18 (KJV) Jesus says, “ I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” All other translations use the word orphans instead of comfortless....that's because the Greek word orphanos is rendered either way, orphan or comfortless, the condition is the same.
  •  So, the condition of the orphan child is comfortless, and if Jesus does not think it is good for us to be left comfortless (orphan), so much so, that He is coming back for us, to take us home with Him, then we should be like minded with Him and not leave these precious image bearers in the distressed, comfortless condition of abandonment...we should come for them, and adopt them into our families.
     Not all people should adopt.  God uniquely calls and equips certain families or individuals to adopt.  But all Christians are instructed to support.  Adding a room on a house, repairing a roof, bringing food and clothing, paying for school fees, helping with medical costs, etc, are all ways to help make adoptions successful.  In so doing, each person supporting the adoption effort is invested in this orphan child who is now transformed into a son or daughter and has his or her deepest need fulfilled.....belonging.
     Why does God brag about Job? A picture of the Church and the impact on the community.
     Pastor Daniel Ouma of Kampala, Uganda, after  hearing the message of Biblical adoption at a pastors conference I spoke at in 2009, shared the following insight regarding the Church, orphan care and adoption .  (if it does vs 12)  Job 29:1-12 and 31:16-18  (in process)
     Have you ever wondered why God brags about Job in 1:3,8...2:3?  Why does God say he was the greatest of all the people of the east, and then states that there is none like him in all the earth, and says it twice, just in case we might have missed it the first time!  As we read through Job 29:1-11 we see Job reflecting on the incredible life he lived.  He remembers the material blessings that just seemed to be in abundance all around him. He comments on the personal, intimate relationship he had with God which then results in sincere honor and reverence for Job among his people, his community.  What gives him this position, this ability to receive blessings, honor and resspect, and also to give blessings out to others?  The answer is found in vs  12; “...because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.”  That's it?  You mean that's what brought about such favor from God and esteem among Job's community?  You might say, and I hope you do, that you could do that.  That you, along with your brothers and sisters in your Church could all put your shoulders to the task of rolling the stone away from the roadway that has children locked in a perpetual life of abandonment, institutionalism and the helpless victims of predators. **
     Ugandan pastor Douglas Mukisa, with a Church in the slums of Nairobi was doing an outreach to neighboring Tanzania when he encountered an 18 year old “aged out” orphan girl who was working in the restaurant of the hotel where he was staying.  They began a conversation where she stated that the job she had did not pay enough to live on and that she was approached several times by men offering to help her with her finances (1st step in being lured into prostitution).  Had God, through Pastor Douglas, not intervened with this unplanned encounter, and his offer of financial support and Church connections, this helpless young girl, all alone in the world with no one to help her, would have been as Pastor Douglas stated to me, “pounced on by the lions”. (Ps 10:8-18)....(write it out)
    Back to Job 29 and the Church.**
    The indication here in Job 29, is that if the Church were to have true compassion for the fatherless, and do the good works of James 1:27 (expanded Gk above), then the Church would have the esteem, the favor and the respect of the community.  The Church would be reflecting Jesus in a tangible way, the unbeliever could see it for himself.  The world says all kinds of negative, degrading things about us  Christians, but what if the world looked into the “storefront” of the Church and saw “love and good works” directed to vulnerable orphans, who cant give anything back, what would they say then?  Possibly, they would say, “My what a good thing you are doing for those children (Mt 5:16), what motivates you to do these things?  What an opportunity to share the perfect and unconditional love of our Savior Jesus, the forgivness of sins, and hope of life eternal with Him...the motivator of our love and sacrifice for orphans by adoption.
     Jer 22:15,16
     
    What about orphanages?  (in process)
     Additional Notes:


  • Luke 18:16   Jesus called the children to him....


  • Ps 10   The predators.  When we, the Church, do not bring these orphan children into our homes via adoption...Satan takes them into his, and his goal is to destroy them.
  • Ps 27:10   For the orphan that was never adopted.


  • James 4:17   Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
  • Mt 18:5,6,10/Mk 9:37   Welcome children + welcome Jesus.....millstone....children's angels always appear before the Father
  • Prov 24:11,12  When we know, we are accountable to God
  • Malachi 4:5,6   The hearts of the fathers to the children.....
     
     Eric L Henderson
    Home for Good Foundation
    Board Member
    Outreach Coordinator
    Grants Pass, OR
    USA
      
     
     
     



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