It is a thrilling and transformative journey when foster care and the Church intersect! We understand the village’s crucial role in these families’ lives, and our church volunteers and partners are instrumental in providing them with the support, love, and life-changing experiences they need.
The Church should be a beacon of hope for the children we serve. Fostering a child’s sense of belonging and nurturing their personal belief system is of utmost importance, and we, as a church, play a vital role in this.
Assisting them in shaping their personal belief system helps them believe in themselves! Many kids from hard places have given up believing anything good can come from their lives. That is not true.
But kids need to feel what you’re saying; they will believe it over time. Speaking words of life over a kiddo is not a one-time event but a consistent word, week after week. Someone who believes in them, no matter their behavior.
Every child is asking, “What do you see in me?” We have the gift of imparting life-giving words that they will hold onto and that will shape them for a lifetime. Looking beyond what we see through a lens of empathy and care helps us overlook what we might see and fixes our eyes on what is possible.
Foster Care and the Church: A Safe Place to Go
Our Church has hosted a gathering in our community around the holidays for years. We have done this primarily on-site for more than 12 years! Not too long ago, a young man in his early 20s came onto our property on a Wednesday night. A small group happened to be meeting and approached him to see if they could help. The small group meeting asked how he knew to come here for help. “Several years ago,” he said, “I went to a party here for foster kids, and it felt like a safe place to go for help.”
We never know the power or the impact we may have in a child’s life—I like to call it the power of our YES! This young man sensed he was being seen! That people cared and even probably learned his name. What a gift—both for him and our Church. This is how we can change the world, one child at a time. Giving them experiences that one day draw them back to a church and, in turn, receive the opportunity to make Jesus their savior—God’s plan, fulfilled. Jesus uses His Church to give hope to the hopeless.
Churches Supporting Foster Parents
Foster parents are special people in their own right. The work is hard, taking a toll on marriage, biological kids, and real life as they know it! Supporting their YES makes our YES part of God’s plan. The Church exists not just to serve kids; it’s to serve their families.
I vividly remember a large family in our Church that had both fostered and adopted. A few of their kids had some challenging behaviors. They had been attending a church for years and would flip a coin to see who would pick up the kids from the kids’ Church. Neither one looked forward to picking up because the volunteers would have a long list of behaviors and, quite frankly, never had anything good to say about their kids.
They then visited our Church and had what they would identify as a refreshing experience.
Uncertain about their first time picking up, they approached the pick-up area, and a children’s volunteer came over to them and said, “What amazing kids you have! Thank you for sharing them with us today.”
They were blown away. You see, training volunteers to see the good, seeing kids through a lens that they are made in God’s image and that He has a glorious plan for their lives, despite what we might see. We must train to see potential! Foster care support in the church can make a tremendous impact.
Saying YES as Part of the Church
When families in our Church say YES, we must also say YES. Yes, we will support you, love you, extend grace, bring food, rock babies, and let you take a nap. Your YES is our YES. We must make ourselves students of this population and their needs. Finding our place where we are to serve is easy; there’s a place for you to extend yourself and step into a foster family’s story. We love that saying, “It takes a village!” Have we been a part of someone’s village?
As a recipient of someone stepping into our village when we got a new placement and
needed a crib, when I had a hard day and said things I shouldn’t have and someone listened—the time we sent our foster daughter home after three and a half years of sowing into her life—our people, our Church wrapped around us and we didn’t walk alone. No one should walk alone. Don’t let people you know walk alone.
