Spirit of Adoption

The Spirit of Adoption is sweeping through the University Church in Tuscaloosa, AL. Praise God for the work He is doing on many hearts in this church family. FOURTEEN families are now on the adoption journey! 5 of those are domestic. The other 9 are international adoptions. The families have organized a support group meeting regularly. And watch out - we have our own logo (above) and Facebook group!! The church leadership is praying about what is happening and working to think of all the ways the congregation can love and support the adopting families as well. A general fund for donations has been set up and plans for an official orphan care ministry team are also in the works. In terms of long range plans, adopting families hope to begin a perpetuating fund to which we contribute some/all of our federal tax credits (The U.S. government does issue a substantial tax credit for adopting families - very helpful.) These funds could then be loaned at no interest to other families who decide to later join this area of God's mission. These truly are exciting and encouraging times at UCC. We pray that God's Spirit continues to fan these flames so that more and more families make the decision to adopt one or more of the many orphaned children of this world!

J. I. Packer (Influential Canadian theologian) in his book, Knowing God writes, "Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption."

Thanksgiving Surprise

Thanksgiving was an encouragement to us in new ways this year! Jenny and I were blown away when we figured out the entire Forrest family had secretly agreed to wear shirts they had purchased through our GO SEEK LOVE fundraising site. When the first family arrived I thought, 'oh what a nice gesture!' But, it was pretty cool when one right after the other filed in sporting short sleeves, long sleeves, hoodies, etc. Thank you all so much!

If you or someone you know might like to have your own, we would really appreciate your support ;) They would make great Christmas presents!

AFRICA

The Orphan Crisis

an excerpt from my recent research project concerning the orphan crisis...

Today, a world-wide orphan crisis of unprecedented proportions is spiraling out of control. Few regions around the globe are exempt from this overwhelming plight affecting millions of children of all ages. Most research agrees there may now be as many as 145 million children around the world who would be considered orphans by standard definitions. On one hand, researchers carefully present many qualifications and offer various definitions for the digestion of the latest and very discouraging statistics. Nonetheless, the scope of the orphan predicament has undeniably reached catastrophic dimensions. The concerned people of the world, especially the Church of Jesus Christ, must move more rapidly toward innovative global solutions for this major, expanding dilemma.

Many nations around the world, including the United States, have growing orphan numbers and stumbling orphan care systems. However, three regions of the world in particular draw a great deal of attention – Asia, India and sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers indicate there are over 67 million orphans currently living in Asia. Data collected in sub-Saharan Africa reveals there are over 43 million orphans now living in this region. Over 25 million children live as orphans in the relatively small land mass of India. While statistics vary depending on the sources themselves, the number of orphans in these three areas of our world alone is simply staggering.

The United States also faces a growing orphan care problem. In the U. S there are currently 500,000 orphans who are in the foster care system. It is reported that over 130,000 of these children are available and waiting to be adopted. In other words, these children have been separated from their family in some way and/or parental rights have been terminated. While an estimated 51,000 children are adopted out of the foster care system each year, another 79,000 children remain in the orphan care system at the end of each year.