Adoption workshop urges biblical support of orphans

May 2, 2006
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

PENSACOLA (FBW)–With 135,000 children in the foster care system in the United States and an estimated 35-70 million orphans worldwide, Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola is taking a closer look at how it can be part of a larger effort to promote adopting children into Christian homes.

An April 21-22 workshop, “If You Were Mine,” was designed to help church and community members understand the biblical mandate to care for orphans. At the same time, believers learned about reaching out in what associate pastor Johnny Carr called the most intense type of world evangelism possible – adopting a child.

Beth and Johnny Carr with their children, Jared, 7, Heather, 11, and James, 5. The Carrs adopted James, who is deaf, from an orphanage in China. Courtesy photo

Carr, pastor of small groups/leadership development at Hillcrest, is familiar with the subject. Last year, he and his wife, Beth, adopted James, 5, from China. This year, the family of five – with biological children, Heather, 11, and Jared, 7, plans to add a little girl to their number. She also is an orphan from China.

The idea of a blended family came naturally to Beth Carr who said she and Johnny talked about wanting to adopt a deaf child long before they finally got the ball rolling and made the commitment to adopt James. Beth is proficient in American Sign Language and teaches deaf middle-school children in an Escambia County school. Both James and their daughter-to-be from China are deaf.

In navigating their own adoption, the Carrs became aware of a need in their own church and community for resources and support related to adoption and a whole host of issues related to orphan care.

“We just feel like it’s following Scripture,” Johnny Carr told Florida Baptist Witness. “So few churches really have an outreach to orphans. This is going to help bring that to the forefront.”

The four myths of adoption

“Adoption costs too much.”

Reality: Depending on the circumstances, the cost of adoption ranges from $0 – $30,000 and assistance is available.
“Isn’t there a great chance that a child’s birth parents will get a child back after the adoption?”

Reality: In modern adoption, laws have been established that nearly eliminate this possibility.
“Adopted children probably have many emotional issues I won’t know how to handle.”

Reality: It’s true that some children who have had traumatic experiences may have an increased chance of having emotional and behavioral issues. But the truth is that any child, adopted or biological, may present these types of challenges.
“I may not be able to love an adopted child as I would a biological child.”

Reality: While many people fear this very thing before adopting, according to research, 95 percent of adoptive parents say they experience a strong attachment to their child.

Excerpt from Hope for Orphans @ www.familylife.com/hopefororphans

Carr said he hopes the ministry will make people in the church more aware of the needs and issues surrounding adoption and infertility in the community and how they can be a part of the solution. A bonus is that people from outside the church can look to Hillcrest for answers in how to address the growing need.

“We very much see the entire ministry as an outreach,” Carr said. “We want to be able to draw people into the church if they are not churched already or don’t know the Lord yet.”

Offering support for people who are in the midst of tough decisions is one way Carr sees the church reaching out. Although they will not directly handle adoptions, the ministry will provide resources and support groups.

“One of the areas we are going to be focusing on in the future, and this is a delicate issue … is a ministry to those who are infertile,” Carr said. “It’s such an emotional issue, whether it’s a man or a woman.”

Acknowledging the ministry of the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes which has a campus just a few miles away, Carr said he enthusiastically supports their efforts in taking care of children.

“If someone came here now and they were looking at domestic adoption, then that’s the first place we are going to send them,” Carr said of the local campus. “And someone wanting to do foster care and anyone wanting to do anything locally, that’s the first place we would send them.”

The April workshop, a ministry of FamilyLife’s Hope for Orphans, is part of Hillcrest’s comprehensive adoption resource ministry “His Chosen Children,” launched in February. Carr said it took about seven months to get the ministry off the ground with a full year’s calendar of activities and solid list of resources and literature.

Dennis Rainey, president and founder of FamilyLife ministries, spoke to about fifty workshop participants via a DVD presentation on a biblical view of adoption.

As one who has adopted both internationally and domestically, Rainey said “the world sees children as a weight,” regularly releasing information on how much it costs to care for them and provide them a college education. Instead, believers should view children as “a heritage of the Lord,” according to Psalm 127:3, Rainey said.

“Children are a reward, they are a blessing,” Rainey said, declaring all children, whether given biologically or through adoption, will be a message to future generations. “We in the Body of Christ need to value what God values.”

Protecting orphans is a mandate throughout Scripture, Rainey said, quoting James 1:27: “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans….”

Caring for orphans, does not mean, necessarily that everyone should adopt, Rainey cautioned.

“Just because there are orphans does not mean everyone has to adopt one, Rainey said. “It is not a storybook, fairytale rescue of a child, it is hard work.”

Most important is that each person surrenders to God’s will.

“You can’t have 35-70 million orphans in the world and have Christians in America doing nothing,” Rainey said, adding that while adoption is not God’s ideal, the adoption of orphan children into Christian homes is an example of “how God has taken something less than the ideal and His grace is sufficient.”

Other sessions during the two-day workshop offered a look at staggering statistics and the scope of the need for adoption and gave insight into the processes for both international and domestic adoption.

The Carr children just moments after five-year-old James was welcomed into the family at a Chinese hotel by Jared, 7 (left), and Heather, 11. Parents Johnny and Beth Carr are from Pensacola. Courtesy photo

Ronnie Girouard, a FamilyLife staff member, said the response to the need calls for adoption as the alternative to abortion, and adoption as meeting spiritual as well as physical needs – and includes adoption as a means of evangelism.

Girouard and Jason Weber, also a staff member for FamilyLife, used a workbook to help participants navigate through examples of international adoption procedures and domestic adoption, which includes adopting children in state foster care.

Sharing about his own experience of adopting special needs children, Weber said he and his wife adopted twin girls who were born prematurely and at risk for cerebral palsy. In filling out paperwork ahead of time, Weber said he didn’t remember signing up for what he eventually received, but cautioned participants to ask God what He wants when faced with the actual situation.

“Where God calls you, He will equip you,” Weber said. “Ask Him what He would have you to do.”

Other sessions throughout the workshop featured questions to ask, questions frequently asked, adoption and family life, and the legacy of adoption. A wide range of breakout sessions addressed adopting from China, Russia and foster care, as well as adopting minority or special needs children and starting a ministry to orphans.

Appendixes in a workshop manual provided information on documents needed, agencies offering adoption, companies providing adoption benefits, and the definition of various types of adoptions. The workshop also offered exhibits related to various adoption agencies and financial resources.

For more information, go to www.hischosenchildren.org/adoption.htm. Other websites of interest are: www.fbchomes.org/ and www.familylife.com/hopefororphans/.

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