Articles for tag: Foster Care

March 13, 2014

Christian Standard

The Christians Only Challenge

By Darrel Rowland Most of us love this old Restoration Movement slogan: “We are not the only Christians, but Christians only.” But Christian leaders from across the country contacted by CHRISTIAN STANDARD all wrestle with big-picture questions about what overarching principles flow from the adage. Most generally agree with Bob Russell, retired senior minister of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, about what to do when invited to attend or speak at an event outside the immediate fellowship. “I will go anywhere as long as I”m not restricted in what I can say or my presence doesn”t leave the impression

October 4, 2013

Christian Standard

Extra Time, Attention a Step in Right Direction

By Jennifer Johnson Raise your hand if you”ve ever felt guilty because you don”t want to be a foster parent. I firmly believe Christians should be leading the way in fostering the needy kids in our communities. In fact, one of the moments I knew I wanted to marry Matt was when he initiated a conversation, during a road trip a few months before our actual engagement, about being foster parents someday. But fostering is not for everyone, and it”s certainly not for everyone at every time. Matt and I just wrapped up a successful first year of a new

August 30, 2013

Christian Standard

Changing Who Waits

“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, English Standard Version). By Chris Barras I”ve read James 1:27 many times, and I”ve taught it on it a few occasions. I”ve always found it a difficult text to apply. James says we should care for widows and orphans, but in a young church like the one I serve, I just don”t know any widows. I”m not sure I know any orphans, either. And I don”t think I”m the only

August 29, 2013

Christian Standard

The Orphan Care Movement Gets Deep and Wide

By Brian Mavis In 2004, 39 people gathered in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the first Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit. This year more than 2,500 people drove and flew from 49 states (what”s up, Vermont?) and more than 20 countries to Brentwood, Tennessee, to attend the annual summit. In just nine years, the orphan care ministry has widened, deepened, and become a legitimate movement.   Getting Wider The foster/adoption/orphan problem is huge and complex; there are more than 400,000 children in the U.S. foster care system. Of those, adoption is an available option for 120,000. Every year about 40,000 foster

June 10, 2013

Christian Standard

The Power of One

By Todd Bussey Simple, humble people emboldened with great faith and strong conviction give each of us a hint about what we could accomplish. They demonstrate the power of one to make the world a better place. And they have four traits in common. “¢ A young man starts a shoe company. For every pair purchased, a second pair is given to a child in need. The idea explodes into a global phenomenon. “¢ A mother of four puts her young children to bed and spends the evening on her laptop as an “online” missionary to another mother living in a

December 30, 2012

Christian Standard

Great Open Doors

By Brian Mavis Where do you think God is asking us to join him? What great doors of effective work has God opened in the United States? It”s a question based on a biblical concept. In John 5, Jesus said the Father is always at work, and he, Jesus, looks to see where God is working and joins him in that work. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul said he would stay longer at Ephesus because a great door of effective work had opened up (16:9). In Jesus” instructions to the church in Philadelphia, he said he had

September 28, 2012

Christian Standard

Interview with Bridget Schnautz

By Paul Boatman   Bridget Schnautz of Clay City, Illinois, is a Bible college graduate who has invested a two-decade career in management of a Sherwin-Williams paint factory, while pursuing a call to ministry.   Can you tell us about God”s calling in your life? There have been many benchmarks I can identify in looking back. My first church exposure came around age 8 when I was invited to VBS. Having no sense of “church protocol,” I started pounding the piano. A woman I thought was going to scold me, sat beside me and said, “Bridget, do you know that

June 15, 2012

Christian Standard

“˜Rooted in Love” Partners for Foster Care, Adoption

By Jennifer Taylor When Marcus and Julie McClure began to investigate foster parenting, they had no idea it would change not only their family, but their church and city as well. “The McClures became foster parents and ran out of room for more kids in their home, but felt a huge burden to do more,” says Chris Hornbrook, lead pastor at Momentum Christian Church in Chula Vista, CA. “They had a vision for encouraging and educating the people in our church””and the Christians across San Diego County””to get involved in foster care and adoption.” The McClures started Rooted in Love,

June 9, 2012

Christian Standard

Casual Conversation Grows into Citywide Event

By Jennifer Taylor Danielle Ott, a member at Traders Point Christian Church (Indianapolis, IN), began dreaming about the possibility of a citywide foster care/adoption event coordinated by several area churches. A conversation with one like-minded acquaintance grew to a small group of people from five churches meeting at Starbucks to discuss ideas. The Answer the Call Conference launched May 19. “There are so many people who feel God”s call to adopt or participate in the foster care system, but they don”t know where to start,” she says. “We wanted to encourage and equip them to move forward in a meaningful

April 5, 2012

Christian Standard

Virginia Churches, Others Partner to “˜Change Who Waits”

By Jennifer Taylor  Thousands of children around the country need to be adopted, and this spring”s “Change Who Waits” initiative, coordinated by churches and organizations in Virginia, is working to make adults the ones who wait. “Our goal is to recruit so many families that are willing to foster and adopt children that there are no more (kids) waiting””there are actually families waiting for children!” says the CWW website. Dozens of churches””including Area 10 Faith Community, New Venture Christian Church, and Velocity Christian Church (all in Richmond); Fairmount Christian Church (Mechanicsville); Chester Christian Church (Chester); Forefront Christian Church and Avalon

August 5, 2011

Christian Standard

Making a Difference for Foster Care Kids

Students at Journey Christian Church (Midlothian, VA) recently received a grant from The Community Foundation, a local charitable organization, to help kids unable to live with their parents. On Sunday the teens gathered to learn about the problem from area leaders in social work and protective services; after the event Journey distributed empty luggage for the students to fill and return. The bags will be given to children in their county who have been removed from their homes. “We can make a difference for [foster care] kids in the most vulnerable and tumultuous moments of their lives,” the church writes.

July 27, 2011

Christian Standard

Innumerable! (Part 2: Jesus Is in Us and for People)

By Greg Nettle If Jesus is now in us, then it follows that, like Jesus, we must be for people. But unless people see our lives reflecting the fact that God is for them, they will continue to believe that God is against them. They”ll continue to be afraid of God. For us to restore the church to the mission of Jesus, we must communicate to people in every way possible that Jesus is for them and, therefore, that we as followers of Jesus are for them.   Letting Others Know We Are for Them How should this Christology be

July 5, 2009

Christian Standard

Strengthening Families: Community and Church Working Together

  By Nancy Karpenske  Exhibit A: snapshot of a teenager and an older person talking while eating at a fast-food restaurant. Exhibit B: snapshot of that same older person dropping the teen off at his home, stopping for a few minutes to talk with the teen”s mom. Exhibit C: snapshot of that same older person now in the principal”s office with the same teen, serving as an encouraging presence in a “check-up” meeting. Exhibit D: wide-angle photo, large conference room. The participants” name tags identify them as representatives of agencies from across the county: employment services, department of health, probation

June 28, 2009

Christian Standard

Embracing the Ministry of Adoption

By Sonja White READ THE SIDEBAR: “An Adoption Story” by Sonja White   The arc of international flags on the front lawn of RiverTree Christian Church in Massillon, Ohio, might remind some of the United Nations. But for RiverTree”s congregation and the community, the flags celebrate children. Each flag represents the birth country of the 150 children who have been adopted by a family involved in the church”s Born in Our Hearts adoption ministry. Born in Our Hearts is an adoption and foster care ministry dedicated to raising the awareness of children in need of adoption and helping families through the

June 28, 2009

Christian Standard

An Adoption Story

By Sonja White READ THE MAIN ARTICLE: “Embracing the Ministry of Adoption” by Sonja White      Every adoptive family has a story and a journey. For Greg and Julie Nettle, their story began on December 1, 2001. Greg explains, “We had good friends who had decided to adopt [a child] from Kazakhstan. It was a difficult time for our country following the events of September 11th, and our friends had to leave their two biological boys with grandparents to complete their adoption in Kazakhstan, a country just 500 miles north of Afghanistan. At the end of their three-week trip,

June 24, 2009

Christian Standard

Born of the Heart

The 747 lumbered toward the runway at New York”s John F. Kennedy Airport. The preceding plane did not exit the runway quickly enough, however, and the Air India flight had to “go around,” as the air traffic controllers say. We waited another 20 minutes to see our daughter. Jael Neisha arrived at 2½ months of age. She weighed 5 pounds when she was born in Calcutta. But for no discernible reason she began to waste away in the Indian orphanage. When Jael finally emerged from the U.S. Customs arrival gate, her wrinkled face was covered with sweat. She was quite

August 12, 2007

Christian Standard

Ministering to the Least of These: RiverTree Christian Church, Massilon, OH

RiverTree Christian Church Lexington, Kentucky Five years ago, God began building a deep concern for at-risk children into the DNA of RiverTree Christian Church. We discovered that more than 33,000 children around the world die every day from poverty or preventable poverty-related diseases. That”s about 210,000 children per week, or 11 million per year. Did I mention the word preventable? More than 100 million children live on the streets around the world. If we were to say the name of every street child in the world, using one second per name, it would take us more than three years to

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