Each month we will offer a list of action ideas so you can defend, honor, and celebrate Life in your churches and communities on our Take Action page.
This month, we are looking at adoption.
Adoption is one of the most deeply personal and relevant issues in the Church and yet one of the least often spoken of. We are the products of adoption—once lost to our sins, we have become God’s Children and have been given the privilege of calling Him Father! And yet the Church, who owes so much to heavenly adoption, often pays little more than lip-service to earthly adoption. How easily we throw out the suggestion of adoption when we are trying to advocate against abortion, but how many of us have chosen adoption? How often have we celebrated birth parents for choosing life and comforted them when missing children they placed for adoption? Have we sought to assist parents who adopted a child with special needs? Have we promoted adoption from our pulpits, in our church services, and through our ministries?
November is national adoption month, and we are challenging the Church to do more than offer empty platitudes about adoption. We are calling you to seek God’s will, whether He is calling you to help sponsor an adoption, minister to birth parents, or chose adoption yourself. May we, as people adopted into God’s family, open our hearts and our homes to adopted children.
Action Ideas:
- Set up a table featuring information about adoption opportunities and ministries.
- Send a Mother’s or Father’s Day card to birth parents that chose adoption and be ready to give comfort and support on their children’s birthdays.
- Use a Thanksgiving for the Adoption of a Child litany in your church. The ACNA has a litany available to use, and there is another great example on page 439 in the Book of Common Prayer.
- Babysit or foster adoptive children with special needs so their adoptive parents can have an evening out or some time away.
Resources:
Written by AFL Administrator Robin Ferguson
