The Avoidable Social Justice Conversation

During our church staff’s prayer and fasting week, we took a time to pray over the four core areas of our social justice initiatives:

• - HIV/AIDS
• - Extreme Poverty
• - Sex Trade
• - Widows and Orphans

To be completely honest (and show you just how broken I am), when I saw the first three, my initial response was something along the lines of: “oh my, how original”. The moment I realized that was my response, I first repented for minimizing grave global justice issues to mere “church causes”, and then shortly after, I rejoiced. How amazing is it that I think New Life Church is completely unoriginal among local churches for actively taking up the mission to fight against injustices that cripple the lives of hundreds of millions worldwide? These conversations are dominating the Church dialogue, and I think some celebration is in order. Bono certainly helped get the party started at this year’s Willow Creek Leadership Summit.

But I was a bit haunted by the lack of discussion regarding that last point, specifically as it pertains to the orphan (which is not a more substantial issue, only more measurable). Don’t get me wrong, I have come across individuals in churches all over the country with an intense passion for adoption, but it seems like that’s where it ends. Like every local church has their “adoption guy” or “adoption lady” that you can talk to if you’re interested, but it’s not a collective pursuit of the Body.

I don’t pretend to follow the activities tons of churches, but of those I do follow, only Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA have corporately taken up the adoption issue. It’s the one justice issue from the above four that hasn’t been discussed in the last two years at the Leadership Summit. And strangely, it’s biblically one of the most prevalent.

Here are some quick stats from Saddleback’s adoption site (sources: Unicef, USAID, UNAIDS, Dave Thomas Foundation):

• - Approximately 118,000 children in the U.S. are currently eligible for adoption (compare this to the United States’ 350,000+ churches…you do the math).
• - Every year in the U.S. alone, over 25,000 children “age out” of the foster care system with no family and no place to call home.
• - More than one-third of all Americans have considered adoption, but less than 2% have actually adopted.
• - 48% of those who seriously consider adoption first look to their church for information.
• - Every year, 12 million children become orphans.
• - In Ukraine and Russia, 10-15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.

And here’s some of my own research: in the last 18 chapters of Deuteronomy alone (God’s last commands for the Israelites upon entering the promised land), there are 11 references to defending the cause of the fatherless. Not only that, but there is one very poignant Bible reference that reminds us that we were all orphans at one point (Ephesians 1:4-6). Hear my heart on this one: I’m as scared as the next person at the prospect of adopting as it relates to my future family. But the statistics are clear. And the biblical mandate is clear. Pray that the Church’s response (including mine) would be accordingly clear.

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1. The Social Media Revolution