I think family ministry is a big thing. Investing in your home is critically important for their discipleship and for the sake of the Great Commission.
I would be remiss though if I did not make an appeal for men and women to step into the lives of some children who are less fortunate.
As Paul served as a father figure in Timothy’s life where there was an unfortunate void (1 Tim. 1:2), your church, your community, and this world are filled with children who are without parents. Some of those children live in homes where they are not valued or taught, and some of those children are placed in an orphanage or group homes.
If I began to write concerning the need for Christians to step in an nurture orphans and neglected children in this world, this post would get considerably longer. In short, I beg you to pray concerning what your role may be to step into the lives of those who are in a less-than-ideal situation. As you care for the children in your home, please be mindful of those across the street and around the world who need you as well.
- Maybe God is calling your family to adopt a child into your home just like he called our family.
- Or maybe you could serve as foster parents.
- You could assist foster parents by getting involved in respite care and providing temporary childcare for those foster children when that family was in need.
- You may just know some teenagers in the church who could join your family on a camping trip, or a young boy who could use a soccer coach.
Whatever the need is, you will never regret being the hands and feet of God to provide love and consistency for children who are loved by God.
When God called us to adopt, we had one child in the home who was only one year-old. We felt compassion for the orphans of the world, but we always expected we would put “feet” to our compassion later in life. As God showed us, we had an extra bed in our home that was not being used. God led us in a journey of adoption that changed us forever.
God has given us children through different manners, but each of them are unmistakably our children, and we couldn’t imagine our home without each child God has placed there.
You might be concerned that caring for other children will take attention away from your own. As long as you continue to provide the instruction and consistency that your children need, investing in other children will help your own children as well.
As they watch their parents give of their time and affection to assist in unfortunate situations, it allows your children to see the gospel displayed in a tangible way that will forever impact them.
Adoption or foster care will not hurt the children in your home. In fact, it might help them. It might help them remember that the world does not revolve around them.
Caring for other children will not scar your own – it might actually heal them.
It will change the way they see other children in the world. Who knows who your Timothy might be and all that he or she might do for God’s Kingdom because someone took the time for him or her.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
