Morningview is known to be a church that loves children and families, and now we have the opportunity to be examples when it coming to loving children without families.  In fact, I was at the Executive Board Meeting for the Montgomery Baptist Association this week and they made it a point to express their thankfulness to Morningview for hosting Foster Parent Training through DHR this past year.  Our example has now led other churches in our city to host this training and to develop foster care and adoption ministries.  To God be the glory!

As we now prayerfully consider how to further develop an ethic that supports adoption at Morningview, there are some specific ways that each of us can be involved.

First, we must PRAISE God.   Adoption is a beautiful picture of the gospel.  Formerly, each of us were children of wrath, deserving eternal separation from God and eternal suffering in hell because of our sinfulness.  We were spiritually destitute and wrapped in the filth of worldliness.  Yet while we were yet enemies of God, Christ died for us, to reconcile us to God.  He sacrificially bore the wrath that we deserved, purchasing our salvation with His own blood.  And when we repent and believe in Him, we are adopted as God’s own and made co-heirs with Jesus Christ.  Praise God for the fact that He has adopted YOU!

Second, we must PRAY.  Pray for mothers and families even now who, because of great difficulties, are surrendering their children for foster care and adoption.  Pray for these children, especially the older ones, as they are torn and heartbroken by such choices.  Pray for homes where these children will be loved and cared for; specifically, pray that they would be placed where they will hear the gospel.  Pray for families in our midst who are considering and who are actively involved in adoption.  Pray for God to provide the necessary finances, the wisdom to love and lead these children through the transition, and for godly patience to persevere through the legal process.  Pray for God to raise up more men and women in our congregation who will have a heart for this gospel ministry.

Third, we must RECEIVE.  We have already experienced the blessing of having adopted children of all different nationalities and ages in our midst.  May God bring us even more!  We as a church must be prepared to receive them, to love them, and to support their parents with prayer and fellowship and accountability and encouragement.  We must be committed to embodying a true faith, grounded in the Word, walking like Christ, and proclaiming the gospel in all we do.  We must welcome them into our homes, cherish them as if they were our very own, pray for their salvation, and even petition the Lord for godly spouses for them when they reach adulthood.  In this way, we show these children a picture of grace by truly being their extended family.

I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

God promised Abraham that in him “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3). From the very beginning, God’s promise to Abraham encompassed every ethnic and racial group.

Jump ahead 1,800+ years.

When Paul wrote Galatians 3:7-8, Jesus had already completed his redemptive mission by living, dying, and being raised from the dead.

The result of Jesus’ redemptive achievement is the fulfillment of God’s promise that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed: “Know then that it is those of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Galatians 3:7-8).

If we’re not careful, we can step right over the significance of Paul’s words. Because of the work of Jesus to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham, a principal identifying mark of God’s family is that it is decidedly multi-ethnic — as multi-ethnic as it’s possible to be!  Because of Jesus, the church is the theater of transracial adoption. It is the place where the drama of redemption — God’s work to adopt children from every ethnicity — is played out over and over again. The church is, as Kevin Vanhoozer writes, “the theater wherein the world sees God’s love played out time and time again” (The Drama of Doctrine, 400).

As Christians, we have the privilege of playing this drama on both the macro and micro levels. The macro drama, of course, is the church itself. The universal church continually displays the drama of the multi-ethnic family of God for all the world to see. There’s nothing like this particular drama to be found in all of human history.

But there is also a micro drama in which families within each local church can participate. No, God does not call every Christian family to adopt, transracially or otherwise. But the families God does call to adopt transracially have the privilege of being a micro-theater of the macro-drama of redemption for their communities to see.

The earthly practice of transracial adoption is much more than a way to build a family. It’s an opportunity to display the grand story of redemption before a watching world.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

~Ephesians 2:11-18 (ESV)

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

As you might imagine, this was a very provocative statement for his church that reverberated loudly within the wider Atlanta community.  The local NBC affiliate in Atlanta picked up on the story and did a follow-up interview with the pastor.  They subsequently found out that the church would be partnering with Bethany Christian Services to facilitate the adoption of any unwanted infants, both by church members and by those in the wider community.

I’m sharing this story with you this week for two reasons.  First, this is an excellent example of how the church is supposed to function in the world.  Conservative evangelical churches are quick to condemn abortion, and in the process, we unintentionally vilify single mothers and hurting women, effectively shutting down critical avenues of ministry to those who need to know the forgiveness and love of Christ.  We cannot just be bold in preaching the biblical standard, we also must be the first ones to step out in faith and obey the biblical standard.
Saving the lives of unborn children is more about opening our homes and hearts to them than forcing a political agenda.  We still need to utilize our freedom to vote in a godly manner, but I dare say that Peachtree Presbyterian Church will save more lives this way than they would with any voting campaign at election time.  This same lesson applies to helping the poor, protecting a biblical ethic of marriage, and fighting racism.  It is not just about how loudly we speak, it is about how actively we glorify God by sacrificing our time and resources, by getting out among the hurting and getting our hands dirty, and by serving those in need in the name of Christ.
The second reason I am sharing this story with you is because I want our church family to experience the blessings that come with helping children in need.  Right now, our leadership is prayerfully examining opportunities that will help us develop this kind of ministry.  In the upcoming MIT quarter, we will be teaching a class on Adoption.  Early next year, we hope to offer classes that will assist couples who would like to adopt as well as training those who would like to serve as foster parents.
I know there are many challenges that come with this type of ministry, but it is time for us to go beyond mere rhetoric about the sanctity of life and really invest ourselves in being “family” to the motherless and fatherless in our world.  Can you imagine how quickly Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry would shrink if all biblical churches stepped forward in this way?  It would be a mighty move of God!  The lesson is this:  We must preach the Word, but we must also be brave enough to walk the talk.  I love you all dearly!

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

WHEREAS, the God we now know as our Father reveals himself as a “father of the fatherless” (Ps. 68:5) who grants mercy to orphans (Deut. 10:18; Hos. 14:3); and

WHEREAS, our Lord Jesus welcomes the little ones (Luke 18:15-17), pleads for the lives of the innocent (Ps. 72:12-14), and shows us that we will be held accountable for our response to “the least of these my brethren” (Matt. 25:40); and

WHEREAS, the Scripture defines “pure and undefiled religion” as “to visit orphans and widows in their trouble” (Jas. 1:27); and

WHEREAS, the satanic powers have warred against infants and children from Pharaoh to Moloch to Herod and, now, through the horrors of a divorce culture, an abortion industry, and the global plagues of disease, starvation, and warfare; and

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have articulated an unequivocal commitment to the sanctity of all human life, born and unborn; and

WHEREAS, a denomination of churches defined by the Great Commission must be concerned for the evangelism of children—including those who have no parents; and

WHEREAS, upward of 150 million orphans now languish without families in orphanages, group homes, and placement systems in North America and around the world; and

WHEREAS, our Father loves all of these children, and a great multitude of them will never otherwise hear the gospel of Jesus Christ; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, June 23-24, 2009, express our commitment as a denomination of churches to join our Father in seeking mercy for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we call on each Southern Baptist family to pray for guidance as to whether God is calling them to adopt or foster a child or children; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we encourage our pastors and church leaders to preach and teach on God’s concern for orphans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we commend churches and ministries that are equipping families to provide financial and other resources to those called to adopt, through grants, matching funds, or loans; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we ask our International Mission Board and North American Mission Board to prioritize the evangelism of and ministry to orphans around the world, and to seek out ways to energize Southern Baptists behind this mission; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we encourage Southern Baptist churches to join with other evangelical Christians in recognizing November 8, 2009, as “Orphan Sunday,” focusing that day on our adoption in Christ and our common burden for the orphans of the world; and be it further

RESOLVED, that we hope what God is doing in creating an adoption culture in so many churches and families can point us to a gospel oneness that is defined not by “the flesh” racial, economic, or cultural sameness but by the Spirit unity and peace in Christ Jesus; and be it finally

RESOLVED, that we pray for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on Southern Baptist congregations so that our churches increasingly will announce and picture, in word and in deed, that “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.”

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church

I am partial to adoption. No surprises there, right? That is, after all, what one would expect to hear from an adoptive parent. While I have to admit that opening our home to a former orphan has done nothing if not increased our family’s love for adoption, it is actually not the grounds for my delight in it. No, I love adoption because I am adopted. In fact, you might even say that I am doubly adopted.

Those of you who know me well enough know that I am speaking theologically and not biologically.  Perhaps you are asking then how could I be “doubly” adopted? It very simple actually. As one who clearly biblically qualifies as a gentile, yet who, by God grace, has been granted saving faith in Christ, I am adopted into an adopted people . God sought Israel, adopted them and then God sought me and adopted me or “grafted me” into an adopted people; doubly adopted by a doubly gracious God. (Eph. 1:5, Rom. 9:4; 11:11-36)

It is important for us to understand this as Christians, because if we do not see that God is an adopting God, we miss a key part of His character. It is our adopting God who calls those who were not his people, “My people” and our adopting God who specifically calls the simple in order to shame the wise and the weak in order to shame the strong that in all things He might be known as the provider, the strengthener, the sustainer and the redeemer. God adopts weak, flawed, and sinful people like me and like you that he might be Glorified by His marvelous grace in us and to us.

As we think through the issues surrounding the sanctity of Human life in our culture, we must not forget our adoption into Christ and be ready to grant mercy in the same way that mercy has been granted to us. We must continue to stand against the taking of innocent human life, but we must not do so to the exclusion of the clear command of scripture to look after orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27).  To follow in the steps of Christ we must not only defend the innocent and the helpless, we must shelter them (James 2:16). For some of us, this may mean the giving of money, for some it may mean opening our homes to foster care, for many of us still, this will mean adoption of one or more orphans.

While I do not believe that all of us are called to invest ourselves as adoptive parents, I do believe that many more of us should be opening our homes to orphans than are currently doing so. As you consider how you will obey God’s call to care for the helpless, I would challenge you to sort through your reservations and to strip away those things which are actually issues of personal convenience. To put it mildly and somewhat understated, dear Christian, there is no inconvenience you may undergo or trial you may suffer in the adoption of an orphan that will in any way compare with the inconvenience and the trials suffered by Christ to adopt you.

On that note, I want to urge you in light of God’ s mercy and provision to you both spiritual and material, to consider opening your home to an orphan who is truly in need. Recent statistics estimate there are over 43 million orphaned children in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. I urge you to resist the temptation to quantify your ability to provide based on American standards and thus excuse yourself for sake of a perceived lack. The sad fact is that most of our dogs have a higher quality of life that many of these waiting orphans. Even in these troubled economic times, Christians in the U.S. will spend untold thousands this year on flat screen televisions, surround sound systems, cable subscriptions and every other type of imaginable entertainment. We will spend thousands of hours at ball parks, holding fishing rods, playing golf and shopping. I pray that our investments in obedience and Christ-like mercy will out weigh them and that, somehow, God might be able to say to us in that final day, well-done my good and faithful servants.

In the core of my soul, I love adoption because I know that I am adopted, and that at a great cost to my Lord. If you are adopted, I pray you would “count the cost” and love it too.

Adopted in Him,
David

SOURCE: Morningview Baptist Church