Listening to the myriad of speakers at Idea Camp expounding on Orphan Care, I was struck by the fact that we live in a fallen world. An ugly, broken, fallen, world. And even the best of intentions can be distorted into well, evil.
It breaks my heart. Really.
Before Idea Camp I over-simplified the problem and the solutions.
There are under-resourced kids desperate for parental care. And there are over-resourced people who want to expand their families and follow God’s not so subtle commandment to look after the orphans. We just need to implement system that is a win-win. A system that matches the haves and the have-nots. And remove all that sticky-red-tape.
But sadly it is not that simple.
We are too used to getting what we want, when we want it, in just the right package. Money exchanges hands. Children are plucked out of their homelands to start a new life.
Sometimes beauty is made from ashes. But, the alarming reality is that, sometimes families are not just created in the process, families are broken.
There are difficult questions the Church needs to be asking about how we ethically “do” adoption (I do wholeheartedly believe in adoption) and other forms of orphan care, about how we help without hurting, and about how we leave everyone we encounter confident in the the hope of the Gospel.
We must refuse to accept ignorance because it is easier, because it is more convenient, and because we are afraid of what answers we will unearth. Our efforts on behalf of the orphans need to be clothed in knowledge and in Truth.
I left Northwest Arkansas with more questions, more ambiguity, and more confusion, than I had when I arrived. But I also left with an ignited passion to learn everything I can about how I can best serve this important group of children that God loves so fervently. I consider myself blessed to have been a part of such an incredible event, and of such an open and raw conversation.
Did you attend or follow along with Idea Camp: Orphan Care? What were some of your takeaways?
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