Orphan Sunday

This coming Sunday, November 6, is Orphan Sunday.

You know, those orphans...the ones you see on the infomercial appeals for money: "Send money and save a kid's life," so the gray-bearded man pleads...dirty kids in a poor, dirt-landscaped village - snot on the kids' faces - needing a bath. Yeah, those kids.

There's about 145 million of "those kids" worldwide who have at least lost one parent...or both. In reality it doesn't take the loss of both to get to orphan status...just powerlessness to do anything about your situation of need coupled with no one powerful enough to help.

Maybe you haven't thought about defining "Orphan" in those terms but maybe you should consider doing so.

Here's another option for the definition of "Orphan": 450 Thousand - that's the approximate number of kids in the foster system in the USA. Or, how about 8,500 - that's pretty close to spot-on the number of kids in the Oklahoma DHS foster system. Orphans! Every single one of them...if we are going to allow for a definition of orphan to include a child who doesn't have mom or dad providing care for them.

How about one more number...one more wrinkle to add to the concept of "Orphan": 2,400 - this is the approximate number of kids immediately available for adoption in Oklahoma.

Is there one kid - one orphan you could impact in Jesus' name? I heard it said recently that churches don't get a pass if they give an orphan a backpack. The church should provide a child a family...then the backpack. I can guarantee you that is what the child really needs and wants.

So...on this Orphan Sunday, will you pray for others who are involved in Orphan Care ministry around the globe...for those in our church who are providing foster care, adopting orphans, and supporting the cause of orphans? Oh, and will you ask God if there is a greater role He wants you to have in Orphan Care ministry?

I hope you'll consider coming to the class starting on January 15, 2012 called: Orphanology. We will dig deeply into Scripture to see God's heart for the Orphan as well as our own adoption in Christ. We'll get our heads & hearts together to prayerfully discover what are the next steps God wants us to take as a church.

James 1:27, Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world."