How to Neighbor: Part 2 - "Orphans Embraced" with Craig Groeschel - Life.Church

Orphans Embraced: The Church Is God’s Plan A

Scripture References

Primary text

• James 1:27

Other references

• Psalm 82:3-4
• Psalm 68:5-6
• Ephesians 1:5

Overview

Pure, faultless religion is caring for orphans, widows, and living unstained by the world. On Mother’s Day, Pastor Craig showed that caring for vulnerable children sits at the center of God’s heart and therefore must sit at the center of ours. With 400,000 children in U.S. foster care—and far more Christians than children who need homes—the local church is “God’s plan A” for meeting this need. Every believer may not foster or adopt, but every believer can do something to defend, rescue, and set the lonely in families.

Context

Pastor Craig honored mothers, acknowledged the pain Mother’s Day can surface, and joked about the chaos of parenting six kids. The message arose from the series “How to Neighbor,” following “Races Reconciled” and preceding “The Poor Empowered.”

Main Points

1. God’s heart beats for the fatherless

• James 1:27 defines pure religion as looking after orphans and widows while keeping ourselves from worldly pollution.
• Repeated emphasis: caring for those in need is “so close to the heart of God.”
• Psalm 82 calls God’s people to defend, uphold, and rescue the weak.
• Psalm 68 describes God as “a Father to the fatherless… He sets the lonely in families.”

2. The scope of the crisis—and the sufficiency of the Church

• Approximately 400,000 U.S. children and 10,500 in Pastor Craig’s state need homes.
• Every child has “a face, a name, and a story.”
  • Illustration: Three-month-old Sylvia (mom in rehab, no dad identified); nine-year-old twins Michael & Jordan (father incarcerated, mother deceased). Hearing names and stories moves hearts to action.
• “There are far more followers of Jesus in the world today than children who need homes.”

“The church is God’s plan A to help children who are in need.”

3. Who pays the price for society’s brokenness?

• Issues listed: fatherlessness, poverty, substance abuse, incarceration, etc.
• Children—those who did not cause the problems and cannot fix them—pay the highest price.

4. Real families who said yes

• Story: David & Patty fostered 46 children over 14 years; helped reunite a sibling set with their biological father.
• Story: Corey & Elle could not conceive, prayed, and adopted a sibling set of five. Elle: “We realized this was our calling.”
• Story: Ella & Jaye – Two sisters served by four different Life.Church families through fostering, respite care, and eventual adoption.

5. Counting the cost—and why it’s worth it

• Honest admission: fostering/adopting will be “harder than you can imagine.”

“If it doesn’t hurt, you’re not doing it right.”

• Promise: the child is worth every cost.
• Not everyone is called to foster or adopt, but everyone should at least pray and ask God what part to play.

6. Practical ways every believer can help

• Serve in LifeKids or Switch to provide consistent, loving adults.
• Offer respite care, throw baby showers for adoptive families, support over-worked caseworkers.
• Use personal influence or resources to fund adoptions or meet practical needs.
• Provide informal spiritual family: mentoring, financial coaching, transportation, or simply safe hugs.
  • Story: A young foster girl sexually abused by multiple men learned to trust again through Pastor Craig’s weekly side-hug, eventually running to him for hugs each Sunday.

7. Gospel motivation: we were adopted first

• All believers were spiritual orphans adopted by God through Jesus.
• Ephesians 1:5—God “decided in advance to adopt us into his own family… and it brought him great pleasure.”
• Inviting a child into your home may be the most God-like act you ever perform.

Key Truths

• Pure religion always includes tangible care for orphans and widows.
• The local church—not government programs—is God’s primary strategy for orphan care.
• Children bear the heaviest weight of society’s brokenness.
• Saying yes to fostering or adoption will be costly, but children are worth any cost.
• We love because God first adopted us into His family through Christ.

Response

• Pray sincerely about your specific role—then obey whatever God says.
• Serve consistently in children’s or student ministry to model Christ’s love.
• Provide respite, meals, babysitting, or financial support to foster/adoptive families.
• Advocate for vulnerable children in conversations, social media, and civic arenas.
• Mentor or befriend a single parent or child who lacks a godly adult voice.

Closing

Pastor Craig invited the church to raise hands in commitment to be open to whatever God asks. He envisioned a day when waiting lists exist for volunteers and foster families, not for children who need homes, because “the church rose up and lived as the church.”

“All of us can’t do everything, but all of us can do something.”

Prayer

Pastor Craig prayed that God would “empower us, Your church, to show the love of Jesus to those who need it most,” asking that no one act from guilt but from Spirit-led obedience, and that children currently praying for families would soon see those prayers answered.