Editor’s note: As Foster Care Month ends, Jessica Mathisen urges pastors to see foster care not as a burden to their congregations but as a meaningful way to live out the gospel.
Foster care. The phrase alone can stir up anxiety, confusion, or even guilt. Some churches want to lean in. Others want to look away. The call seems too difficult, too big, and too complicated. The easier thing to do when you’re overwhelmed is to hide. But God hasn’t called us to hide from hard things. He has called us to step toward them.
For many, foster care is still a mystery. It’s often lumped together with adoption, but the two are not the same. Adoption seeks permanence. Foster care, when possible, seeks reunification—helping birth families heal so children can return home to a place of health and stability. It’s about restoration.
So why step into the mess of hurt and pain and turmoil? Why open your life to hurt that isn’t yours? Because God cares for the vulnerable. The thread of caring for orphans is woven throughout Scripture. We ourselves were spiritual orphans, separated from God our Father and offered the gift of adoption in his Son—by grace, through faith. God defends the fatherless. In Deuteronomy 24:19, he instructed his people not to harvest every last sheaf, but to leave some behind “for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.” It would have been easy for the Israelites to hoard all of their extras to themselves. But God’s economy is always completely different from our own, and he asks us to give from the storehouses of abundance He’s given to us.
Still, many believers hesitate and steer clear of foster care. Why? Not because they don’t care—they often do—but because they don’t quite know where they fit. They don’t understand how they can use the time, talent, and treasures God has given them to serve “the least of these.” This is where the church comes in. Not everyone is called to become foster parents and welcome children into their home, but everyone can certainly play a meaningful part. While one family opens their home, another delivers meals to them, and another mows the lawn, runs errands, or babysits for a few hours. Together, the body of Christ becomes a lifeline to the foster child as each member uses their different gifts to build one another up and point a hurting world to the love of Jesus.
God designed each of us to flourish within a family. But the enemy works to shatter that design, chipping away at the stability and love that families are meant to provide. When a child loses their home, God grieves. His heart breaks for the fatherless. He enters their sorrow. But that’s not the end of the story. He also has a plan for them—a perfect, ultimate plan to right every wrong, because he is a God of both justice and lovingkindness.
If someone in your church is sensing a call to become a foster parent, there are many faith-based organizations and local child welfare offices that can help them get started. When my husband and I stepped into foster care, we were not alone. Several families in our church—including a pastor on staff—were already involved. This culture of caring for the vulnerable permeated our church body, and soon it became impossible to not know someone who was involved in foster care. When a church leader chooses to enter into foster care, the congregation begins to pay attention. People begin to see that the life of a Christian is always one of service, and that service is not to be contained within the four walls of the church.
As a pastor, your plate is always full. There are sermons to write, committees to meet with, and people to lead. While being a pastor is often a more-than-full-time job, developing a culture of care doesn’t have to be a burden. It only takes a few small steps to grow a culture of care within your church body.
Start by asking: Is there anyone in my church who is currently fostering? If so, make it a point to connect with them and learn their story. Once you put a name to the statistics, the call to care becomes more feasible.
The task of mobilizing volunteers to serve foster families may feel daunting, but it is not impossible. It simply takes knowing the gifts and talents of your flock. Are there retired women without grandchildren who might love an opportunity to babysit? College students with free afternoons could provide transportation for school or sports practices. Each person within your church body has a unique gift or service that can benefit another. One of the sweetest gifts we received while fostering came from a local landscaper who cut our grass and serviced our lawn free of charge. He did this for several foster families in the area. It wasn’t flashy—it was simple, but it meant a lot.
Before my husband and I began training to become foster parents, we started by serving a foster family in our church. Each month, we brought them a meal. Over time, they invited us to stay and dine with them. Watching them parent both their children and the children in their care made foster care feel less intimidating. It showed us you don’t have to be a “super Christian” to step in and care for the vulnerable.
If no one in your church is currently fostering, consider how you can begin to encourage and educate your people to respond. You don’t have to manufacture a sense of conviction—the Holy Spirit alone can do this. However, when people have an awareness of a need, they are much more likely to do something to meet it. Look for ways your church can partner with local organizations and highlight opportunities to serve vulnerable children and families in your community. Calendar events like Orphan Sunday (the second Sunday in November), Foster Care Awareness Month (May), or Adoption Awareness Month (November) that can help shine a light on the need and point your congregation toward meaningful next steps.
Psalm 68:6 says, “God places the lonely in families; he sets the prisoners free and gives them joy” (NLT). He hasn’t forgotten the child waiting for a safe place. He hasn’t turned a blind eye to the teenager who keeps moving from home to home. He sees. He cares. He knows the pain, the fear, and the heartache, and he has made a way out from it. And he invites his people to join him.
So what about your church?
Will you lead the way in caring for the vulnerable in your community? Will you ask God to reveal how you can play a part in loving the children he hasn’t forgotten?
Let’s start now.
Resources to help you begin:
Christian Alliance for Orphans
Jessica Mathisen is a writer, Bible teacher, and foster mom. She hosts the podcast The Fullness of Joy and is the author of Fostering Prayer: A 40 Day Guide for Foster Parents and No Matter Where I Go, a children’s book about foster care.
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