Orphan Care: Our Worshipful Response

Listen to the message here. Watch it here.

This week was Orphan Sunday nationwide. We talked about why orphan care and caring for vulnerable children applies specifically to the church and what it looks like to get involved. This was a longer message as we spent some time in James 1.22-27, looking at what God says to his church about this, and then we had a handful of people in our church talk about their experience on the front lines of caring for vulnerable kids. We showed this great video of kids coming home.

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The main reality we saw at play in James 1.22-27 was:

True faith in Jesus produces a worshipful response, part of which is tangible, outward obedience, that leads us to do things like care for orphans.

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Other Scriptures we saw were James 2.17-18, Matthew 7.16-17, 1 Jn. 5.3, Isaiah 1.11-17, and Psalm 68.5, 10.14, and 10.17.

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We said that true faith reflects the heart of God, and one group Scripture clearly says is near to the heart of God are the fatherless. We use a broader term to refer to this group of kids…vulnerable children. This group includes:

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• Orphaned kids > kids who’ve lost their parents or whose parental rights have been legally terminated
• Foster kids > kiddos who have not lost their parents, but have been removed from their homes and are waiting to see how the process plays out
• Unborn babies in the womb whose birth moms are considering abortion or are in abuse or drugs

We listed several ways that we can get involved, which included:

• Adopt
• Foster
• Support foster and adoptive families
• Support birth moms in crisis
• Support the Texas Baptist Home
• Support First Look Clinic

Discussion Questions:

• As you read the passage and listen to the sermon, what do you sense God saying to you? To our church?
• What things encouraged you? What things challenged you?
• What are some ways the Lord spoke to you and might be convicting or leading you in this area?
• What hesitations might keep you from being involved in caring for vulnerable kids?
• What are some ways God might want to use our church to make a dent in caring for vulnerable kids?
• What step of obedience do you sense the Lord leading you to take?