Check out this creative idea....

As I think we’ve mentioned earlier, back when this crazy adventure began, we hopped on a plane to Texas to attend the Together for Adoption conference to see what God might speak to us about the journey we were embarking on. We left after work on Thursday, flew through the night, touched down at 8:30am, just in time to make the half hour drive to the 9am conference! We had no idea just how much God would speak to us that weekend and how blown away we would be by the stories we heard, things we learned and vision we would receive. Throughout the weekend, we heard from many speakers and attended numerous sessions. We came home with our suitcases full of resources and information. Most of the stories we heard, really inspired us and we heard some really practical examples of how the Church is responding to the call to care for the orphan. One of the main messages of the weekend, to the Church, was that every Christ follower is mandated to care for Orphans. It will look different for each person, but we all have that call. We want to share a creative way of how one man responded to that call.

We each attended different seminars, but one that I went to was put on by a ministry called Both Hands. The story goes like this. The founder of the ministry was inspired to raise money for an orphan ministry in his church, so he decided to put on a golf tournament. Sounds like a good idea for a fundraiser. Well, as he was calling his friends to ask for their pledge, one of his friends told him, “I’m not going to pay money for you to go out and golf, why don’t you go help a widow or something and then I’ll think about it!” As he thought about his rude friend’s comments, he started to think, “maybe that is a good idea” and Both Hands was born. Now, we have nothing against golf tournaments for fundraisers, other than the fact that I lose more money in golf balls than I end up raising for the cause, however, listen to this creative idea. Through his Church, he connected with a widow who was in bad need of some house repairs. He then took his team of people that were going to enter into the golf tourney and had them each send out sponsor letters, the same as being sponsored for the golf tourney. However, the catch was, they were being sponsored to put in a days work at the widow’s house. So each member of the team raised their sponsorship goal and committed to work on the designated day at the house. All of the money raised went to providing adoption grants and the widow had a team of labourers take care of the work that needed to be done at her house. What a great idea! In a real response to James 1:27, this ministry helps both the widow and the orphan in the same fundraiser! The ministry carries on like this, helping organize teams that want to help raise support and connecting them with widows that need a helping hand. It is ideas like this that make us dream about what might be possible here in Canada. We will continue to share ideas as we write, maybe you have some of your own that you could contribute?

Don’t forget our Orphan Awareness dessert evening at Christian Life Assembly in Langley on Friday, May 13 at 7:30pm. Whether you’re interested in adopting, wondering how to start an orphan ministry at your church, interested in how you can get involved, or just want to see what we’re up to and support, we hope to see you there! Email tamara@southgatechurch.ca to RSVP or with any questions. Bless you as you pray and dream for the orphan, with us. 

There's something for everyone to do.

Let me start by saying, the adoption seminar was great on Friday. We were so encouraged by the response! Focus on the Family wasn’t sure how many people to expect, but there ended up being around 110 people in attendance for the seminar portion. We had some conversations with people that are really excited to get an orphan ministry started at their church. We are believing for a growing network of people that have the needs of the orphan on their heart. Part of this ministry will involve connecting with people at different churches that want to start something, but aren’t sure of the next step. We want to create a model at Southgate Church, that could be adapted and tailored to the needs of any church. We want to walk people through what a proposal to their elders might look like, what their next steps could be and what their ministry could look like. We feel there are many people that have a passion to start something at their church, but just aren’t sure where to go with that passion. If that’s you, get in touch with us!

Now, the next question might be, what if I’m not someone who can or who feels called to start something at my church? Well, don’t worry, we still have something for you! One of the biggest revelations that we’ve had throughout this whole process, concerns the Biblical mandate for ALL Christ-followers to care for orphans. The Bible is clear that as a follower of Christ, there are many ministries that we can dedicate our time too, places we can serve and ways we can serve our church and community. However, when it comes to the orphan, we are mandated to help them. The Bible even goes as far as to say that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself  from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27). That’s a pretty serious call! We know that not every Christian can or feels called to adopt. So what does this look like for those that aren’t going to adopt? One of the reasons for starting this ministry is the passion we have to see the whole church engaged in this crisis. It is possible and we’ve heard the stories of where it’s being done.

The churches of Colorado have started something called Project 1:27 where their vision is “no waiting children in Colorado.” When they started in 2005, there were 875 children waiting to be adopted out of the foster care system. Today there are only 365 waiting children. The most amazing thing is though, that the whole church has committed to this! Not everyone has adopted a child, but as a church family, they are committed to gathering around these adoptive families to offer what they can. Some provide finances, some pay for the needs of the children, some help with life expenses. Others are builders and have offered services to adopting families. A group of construction workers said they would renovate the basement to add extra rooms for any family adopting. Others offered babysitting services so parents could have a night out together. Others helped with shopping, yard work or house maintenance. Basically, the church said, if you’re going to adopt, we’re going to offer our wide variety of skills and abilities to make your life easier, so that you can focus your attention on the child you’ve provided a home for. Does this sound possible? Of course it does! I could take 5 minutes and think of about 50 different abilities of people I know at our church. We can do this church! One of our dreams for the future is to have a point person in our ministry that just connects people wanting to serve, with adoptive families.

This topic is big and I’ll spend some more time next week on some more thoughts. Please mark Friday, May 13^th at 7:30pm on your calendars. We are having a dessert evening at Christian Life Assembly in Langley (21277 56^th Ave.). It is not a fundraiser, but it is for anyone who is stirred in any way about the plight of the orphan. We want to connect with potential adopting families about how we can help, churches that may want to start an orphan ministry, individuals that feel they want to help, or just anyone who feels they may have a part to play in the orphan crisis. Come hear what we’re doing and how you can be involved. You’ll be inspired for what God is doing!

Some New Updates

Hi everyone, we're happy to give an update on some new things that are happening and some changes we've made. These are exciting times for the ministry, as things seem to be moving ahead rather quickly and we're getting closer to seeing some things that we've been dreaming about, start to happen.

First, we hope you can join us at the adoption conference and Steven Curtis Chapman concert this Friday, April 8th. The Chapman's are real advocates for the needs of orphans around the world, have adopted three children themselves and started Show Hope, the ministry that we were first inspired by. We have modeled much of Above and Beyond Orphan Ministry after what they have been doing in their ministry. Check out the link for the End the Wait Tour if you want to come and hear more about how you can meet the needs of the orphan. We will be presenting during the afternoon conference session and would love for you to come and hear our heart and vision for the orphan. 

Second, we have a dessert evening coming up on Friday, May 13th at CLA at 7:30pm. This is a free event highlighting how you or your church can get involved in the orphan crisis or perhaps start an orphan ministry at your church. We really need help getting the word out, as this will be a major starting point for connecting with other churches about how we can help them start orphan ministries at their churches. Please help us create awareness about this, thanks!

Third, you may have noticed some changes to the blog format. We are very excited to launch our new Above and Beyond Orphan Ministry website! You can now use the website address http://www.above-and-beyond.ca/ when directing people to this ministry. Have a look around as we've begun to build the site. This will be our contact point for families wanting to adopt and people wanting to help. We are also on the brink of being able to receive donations towards adoption grants and no-interest loans, very exciting! Then we'll start seeing some children come into their forever families, the whole purpose of this ministry. 

So please, at this point, awareness is our biggest need! Post our website to your wall on Facebook, tweet us, email about us, tell about us, however you communicate. Help us spread the word. We need churches to hear about what we're doing and come on board to start their own ministries. We need donors to fund the adoption grants and no-interest loans and we need families to know where they can come for help when they want to adopt. Thanks for reading, we appreciate it!