Church promotes adoption/foster care; Love endures after Tops Market shooting; Pastor tips for abuse care.

More pastors are encouraging members to adopt and provide foster care at a time when adoptions have declined in the U.S.

A Lifeway Research study found more than 2 in 5 U.S. Protestant churchgoers (44 percent) say their congregation and its leaders are proactively involved with adoption and foster care in at least one of seven ways. A similar percentage (45 percent) say they haven’t seen other churchgoers or leaders provide any of the specific types of care or support, while 11 percent aren’t sure.

More than 1 in 10 churchgoers say someone in their congregation has provided foster care (16 percent), adopted a child from the U.S. (13 percent) or adopted a child from another country (11 percent) within the last year.

Compared to five years ago, fewer churchgoers say they’ve seen members of their church actively participate in adoption and foster care. In a 2017 Lifeway Research study, 25 percent of U.S. Protestant churchgoers said a church member provided foster care, 17 percent said someone adopted domestically and 15 percent said a member adopted internationally in the past year.

Faithful Stones Church Pastor Mark Hamilton has observed three stages of grief in the neighborhood he serves surrounding Tops Market, the site of a racially charged mass shooting that killed 10 shoppers May 14 a year ago.

Hamilton, in partnership with Send Network church planter Eric Napoli, will host a community outreach block party from noon-4 p.m. May 13 in his church parking lot as the community continues to grieve. The outreach follows monthly block parties held through November 2022 and resuming on a monthly schedule on the anniversary weekend of the tragedy.

Sheridan Parkside Community Church in Amherst, a church plant of Amherst Baptist Church that Napoli pastors with Scott Gillette, is sponsoring the outreach in partnership with Hamilton, North Buffalo Community Baptist Church and the Frontier Baptist Association.

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The statistics on sexual abuse are staggering, and this should give pastors pause as they consider how to care for people who have been sinned against in this way. 

Here are three action steps you can take to move towards developing an action plan for caring well.

1. Remember victims of abuse are often protective of their stories and vigilant toward possible threats. 
   
   
   
2. Educate yourself and identify resources – Familiarizing yourself and any church staff with local and community resources that can help is a good start. Visiting your local child advocacy center (every county has one), talking with local counselors, and asking for referrals to those specialized in dealing with trauma is a good way to begin to build your list of resources.
   
   
   
3. Put a caring well team in place – So often as pastors we have to move quickly from task to task, solving problems, but if we approach abuse in a similar way, we’ll miss what the victim needs most: someone who will listen, believe and help them take the next steps toward healing.

Oppressive trauma can lead to feelings of isolation. Ecclesiastes 4:1 says, “Again, I saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And behold, the tears of the oppressed, and they had no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors, there was power, and there was no one to comfort them” (ESV).