I have the great privilege of being a presenter at the Together for Adoption conference tomorrow in Greenville, SC. While a real benefit of attending the conference will be networking and visiting with other ministries, I am really excited to hear the speakers. Dan Cruver, the Director of T4A, has put together what appears to be a very helpful lineup of topics and speakers. While our main focus at Grace Giving is not adoption per se, it will be good to talk to other ministries whose heart is addressing the orphan tragedy.
My son Noah accompanied me on this trip, so I am interested to see his response to so many people engaged in and loving adoption. We have had many conversations about God adopting us into His family first and that our desire to adopt was to continue that redemptive work.
The conference has a uniquely Christian approach to the issue of adoption and orphan care. I have included some information below on what they do.
For GGI,
Patrick
WHAT IS TOGETHER FOR ADOPTION?
Together for Adoption (T4A) sponsors regional adoption conferences that focus primarily on vertical adoption (i.e., God adopting us in Christ), with a secondary focus on its implications for orphan care and horizontal adoption (i.e., couples adopting children). In fulfillment of our objectives, we desire to see conference attendees walk away from a T4A event:
- understanding why it is that vertical adoption is the highest blessing of the gospel
- rejoicing afresh in the gospel
- moved to act on James 1:27 both locally and globally
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GOSPEL
In his book Knowing God, J.I. Packer identifies adoption as the highest blessing of the gospel because of the relationship that it secures for those who believe in Christ—a filial relationship with God the Father and His Son. God’s gracious work of adoption is an enlarging of the circle of communion that has eternally existed between the three Persons of the Trinity. The good news of the gospel is that God the Father brings us to share in the loving communion that He enjoys with His eternal and natural Son through the work of His eternal and natural Son. It is T4A’s passion to explore and articulate this wonderful truth “to the praise of [God's] glorious grace” (Ephesians 1:6).
THE TRAVESTY OF BEING AN ORPHAN
To be an orphan is to be a human being without filial relationships. Scripture is clear: we were created by God to enjoy a filial relationship with God and other human beings. We were made for filial relationships—and this is why we believe that God is so passionate about His people caring for orphans and why being an earthly orphan is such a travesty. T4A wants Christians to recognize that there is an entire theology of adoption behind, underneath, and around Scripture’s concern for orphans that really needs to be explored and articulated.
GOD’S PASSION FOR ADOPTION…AND ADOPTION
Over the past several years it has been exciting to see much orphan care and adoption ministry work within the church, flowing out of a deep commitment to James 1:27 and Old Testament Scripture passages that speak of God’s concern for orphans (Psalm 68:5-6; Psalm 10:14, 17-18; Deut. 10:17-19, etc). More and more churches are taking these texts seriously.
But why does God stress caring for orphans in their affliction? We are convinced that vertical adoption is what is behind these orphan-care texts and what should ultimately drive the Christian’s James 1:27-involvement in orphan care and horizontal adoption.
WILL YOU PARTNER WITH US?
T4A’s goal is to see churches partnering together with established orphan care and adoption organizations that recognize the importance of vertical adoption, in order to sponsor regional adoption conference events. Ultimately, we believe that these conferences will help serve the church in fulfilling its responsibility to visit orphans in their affliction.
