There’s an awareness month for everything these days. May alone is devoted to skin cancer awareness, teen self-esteem awareness, and zombie awareness, among other causes.
May is also Foster Care Month.
We know from Scripture that caring for vulnerable children and their families is precious in God’s sight. We serve a God who “upholds the widow and the fatherless” (Ps. 146:9), and it’s the church’s responsibility to “go, and do likewise” (Luke 10:37). God has so identified himself with the plight of vulnerable children and single moms that he won’t receive worship from those who fail to bring justice and plead on their behalf (Isaiah 1:11–17). Jesus’s own brother said it this way: “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” (James 1:27).
Supporting foster care is a beautiful way Christians can advocate for the fatherless, and May is an opportunity to heed God’s invitation to plead for and bring justice to those in the foster care system. Here are five ways your church can offer “pure and undefiled worship” by engaging this cause.
1. Highlight Foster Care Month.
Church leaders shouldn’t be captive to highlighting every awareness month or #hashtag campaign, but you can use May to help your people honor God by caring for children and youth in foster care. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Show a video that highlights the realities of families experiencing foster care.
Invite a trusted foster care organization to come share at your church.
Interview a fostering family at your church and ask them why they’re foster parents.
2. Honor foster parents in your church.
Foster families are on the front lines of demonstrating God’s tender care for the fatherless. They’re a beautiful example of God’s command to “keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice” (Gen. 18:19). Unfortunately, their work often goes unnoticed within the church. Foster Care Month is a great time to honor their commitment to this work of Christlike compassion, mercy, and justice. Consider these ideas:
Invite them up to honor them with a gift like flowers or a gift card to a good restaurant.
Celebrate Mother’s Day by acknowledging the emotional sacrifice of a foster mom who pours herself out for children who’ll one day move on to new families.
Pray publicly for foster families as they do the hard work of helping to restore broken families back to health.
For more ideas on supporting foster and adoptive parents, listen to Tony Merida, Rosaria Butterfield, and Dennae Pierre on the TGC Podcast.
3. Research foster care needs in your area.
Be aware of your community’s specific needs. Before churches cast a vision and recruit people to serve in foster care, they need to first ask good questions. Often, well-intentioned Christians sign up to serve in areas where there isn’t a need. Some families start the process of becoming foster parents, hoping to be placed with a newborn baby or a toddler under the age of 2. While this desire is commendable, in some counties in the U.S. there’s little need for more foster families who aren’t willing to take older children.
Be aware of your community’s specific needs. Often, well-intentioned Christians sign up to serve in areas where there isn’t a need.
In my experience, social workers often have negative experiences of Christians wanting to foster, because many of them aren’t open to sibling sets or children over the age of 5. I once asked the social worker who oversees foster care placements for all of Orange County, California, how the church could help. Her exact words were “Please don’t send me any more Christians who only want healthy babies.”
Let’s do the work of being informed so we can truly be a blessing to those we serve. Here are a few steps:
Research foster care statistics for your area to know the greatest needs.
Contact your county’s children and family services department and ask how the church can help. Meet the needs they have.
Connect with a local foster family agency or bridge organization. Many of these organizations have programs specifically designed to empower faith communities and engage local churches.
4. Drip feed, don’t downpour.
When churches address foster care, they tend to only talk about it once a year (possibly only during the awareness month). Yet most people need to hear about the need for foster parents multiple times before they’ll consider action. Here are some natural ways to keep the vision before your church:
Appoint a local champion or foster care advocate at your church.
Mention the practical work of foster care in your sermon when the text engages the plight of orphans and widows.
Read Jason Johnson’s short and immensely helpful book Everyone Can Do Something to get practical ideas on how your church can make a difference in foster care.
5. Connect foster care to the gospel.
There are ample ways to do this, but here are a few to get you started:
Jesus loved us at great expense to himself so we would have new life under his care. Foster care is willingly carrying the pain of traumatized children so they’ll find new life under your care.
Jesus freely welcomed us into his family when we needed a home. Foster care is sharing your home with children who need a safe place to live.
Jesus not only reconciled us to the Father but restored our relationships with one another. Foster care is working to restore a broken family to health.
May the Spirit of Christ grant you and your church the courage, grace, and vision to join our good Father in upholding the widow and the fatherless.
The Gospel Coalition