There is a unique beauty in orphan care. Jason Johnson in All In Orphan Care puts it this way: “Caring for the marginalized, oppressed and orphaned is not only one of the clearest expressions of the heart of God but also one of the most tangible demonstrations of the gospel this world will ever see.” I’m so grateful that God has allowed our family to get a taste of experiencing our Heavenly Father’s love anew through our own journey in orphan care. And as we launch our first Orphan Weekend this weekend, I’m so excited to see others at our church get a taste of God’s love through this lens.
Johnson’s book is unique and practical, engaging the heart, the head, and the hands in concert. Johnson roots our call in the gospel and God's adoptive work with us through Christ. It is because God has adopted us, because he has brought us into his family, because he has given us a new name, because he has given us a new story that we are compelled to reflect his adoptive love to those in need.
Johnson marries this strong theology of adoption with a call for us to be all-in as the family of God in the work of orphan care. He helps walk those considering involvement through where their role might be. The church needs not only couples to step up and make the choice to foster or adopt, but the entire body to step forward in small and big ways and participate in our broad mandate to reflect God to the world in orphan care.
I would recommend All In Orphan Care to anyone involved in orphan (foster/adoptive) care or considering orphan care, even if that is in a support role to someone who is fostering or adopting. As Johnson says, “Jesus is constantly inverting the order of things and setting into motion a new and better way of living.” May we be blessed in participating in even a small way in this inverted Kingdom order as we participate in caring for orphans.
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