Healthy families = Healthy churches

Eron Green, President and CEO of STCH Ministries

The family unit is the building block of society, and the church is the hope of the world. We know that healthy people make healthy families, and healthy families make healthy churches. A primary goal of STCH Ministries is to help families become healthy and stay healthy. We do this through our nine ministry programs in various and unique ways, depending on the needs of each family.

As we all try to live out the biblical imperative from James 1:27, Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you, we know that it is the responsibility of the church and its members to meet the needs in caring for today’s widows and orphans.

What are the needs foster families and adoptive families have and how can the church and other ministry organizations help in the process? We know from research that families who feel called by God to foster and adopt are much more successful in the effort.

First, we should pray for our brothers and sisters that are foster and adoptive parents. It is not an easy ministry, but with the correct types of support and understanding, it is an experience that is life-changing for both foster and adoptive parents, and the children they care for.

As a church, we can help those families called into this ministry be prepared for the task at hand. Real examples of this might include assisting foster or adoptive parents prepare their homes for licensing inspection, or helping paint a bedroom and providing toys that are age-appropriate for the children entering the home.

The church family can minister by walking through the process with those that are fostering or adopting children. Individuals can open up their home for respite home or become a babysitter, or churches can host church-led date nights for foster and adoptive families where childcare is provided.

The church can also recognize and highlight the foster and adoptive families in their congregation and appreciate their call to ministry. This calling is as real as someone serving in a distant country, and our domestic missionaries should also be honored.

The needs of a foster or adoptive family are unique and complex.  The church ministry can provide much-needed support by ensuring that foster and adoptive families have the resources they need to be successful. This can come in the form of being a “shoulder to cry on.” It can also be making sure the mental health needs of the family are being met.  We need more believers fostering and adopting but we also need to keep the ones we have healthy so they can continue their ministry.  

The church has an important role to play in the complex needs surrounding foster care and adoption. STCH Ministries is willing and able to be a resource for these churches as they minister to foster and adoptive families.