Orphan Sunday is an event near and dear to my heart. As an adoptive parent I have come to understand God's heart for the orphan and even better understand the Father's heart for me - a former orphan until He adopted me into His family. Orphan Sunday is a day to celebrate adoption, foster care, and global orphan care that reflects God's heart as revealed in His Word. Psalm 68:5-6 says A father to the fatherless...is God in His holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families...
Orphan Sunday is an annual event on the 1st Sunday of November. On Orphan Sunday Christians stand for the orphan on One Day - with One Voice - for One Purpose! I invite you and your church to join us along with thousands of others across the United States and around the globe to celebrate this November 3rd.
Why celebrate Orphan Sunday? As Christians, WE are the people God has called to defend the fatherless, to care for the child that has no family, to visit the orphan in their distress. It is mandated in His Word: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...James 1:27. It is not the government's job to care for orphans - it's OURS! There are approximately 163 million orphans in the world - some adoptable, some not, but all need to know the love of God. Not all of these children are found in distant orphanages overseas. Did you know that the United States has orphans? There are over 400,00 children in the American foster care system. Over 100,000 of them are available for adoption with 250,000 entering the system annually. ALL of these children are created in God's image and every one of them needs and deserves to know the love of God and it's OUR responsibility to be the hands and feet of Jesus to these kids.
There are over 350,000 churches in the United States. If just one family from each church were to take in 1 or 2 of the children from the foster care system alone that would leave zero kids in the system - they'd be in Christian homes!
I know not everyone is called to adopt or foster - but I do believe that if more Christians prayed, and sought the Lord on what He'd have them do for the fatherless, and if they walked it out in obedience - there would be a whole lot less orphans in the world and a whole lot more sons and daughters in families. I challenge you to pray as individuals, as families, and as a church. Ask the Lord what He would have you to do, and trust me - there will be an answer to that prayer.
Orphan Sunday is about waking the Church up to consider these things. It is simply taking some time during your Sunday service to share God's heart for the orphan. A church could spend as little as 10 minutes or as much as an entire service dedicated to celebrating God's love for the fatherless. Just visit the Orphan Sunday website at http://orphansunday.org/ to access free video downloads, event ideas, posters, post cards, bulletin inserts, and even sermon notes. The 3 minute video clips are perfect for showing in church on Sunday. Adding a testimony from a foster or adoptive family is a powerful message too.
This year on 11/3 my own church, Gospel Community Church in Coxsackie, NY, will be presenting a 30 minute video featuring Ukraine's orphans as part of our celebration. Anyone in the area is welcome to attend our 10:30am service. The Sound of Life radio ministry will also be broadcasting live from our church that morning. Please join us - or better yet - get involved by getting your own church to celebrate Orphan Sunday! And if you do, please let me know. As the Orphan Sunday regional coordinator for New York, I'd love to hear what your church is doing for Orphan Sunday. You can contact me at this blog, email me at sandraflachjfo@gmail.com, or by going to my ministry's website:
http://justicefororphansny.org/.
Join us in defending the cause of the fatherless!
http://orphansunday.org/
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