The news shocks me from time to time. Usually, it shocks me because of the mundane sorts of stories that make the front page or the racial inequality of stories that are reported. But today, I was shocked because something really good and gospel driven made the headlines.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/07/chapman.orphans/index.html
Steven Curtis Chapman wrote an article about adoption. But, it was all his words…no reporter looping a quote here and there in his summary. The article was up front about how we, as Christians, are adopted into God’s family because of the work of Jesus Christ, and Christians should model that example. He said that all it would take is for 7% of Christians to adopt one child to take care of all of the orphans in the world. He has an adoption foundation that helps give grants to families who want to adopt and need help subsidizing the cost, and it encourages people to support each other within the church to adopt children vis adoption funds.
Clayton and I are convinced that adoption is a way we can mirror God’s family and make an impact on the larger issues of poverty and abortion. While reading Shane Claiborne’s Irresistible Revolution this week, I was struck by his reference of an early church father, St. John Chrysostom. St. John Chrysostom is noted for his writings and services to the poor, as says that those of us who are rich steal from the poor every time we pursue material comfort and possessions over a life of generosity and service. How can I buy yet another coat when the homeless man under the bridge of the train station across the street sleeps in the cold?
This idea has been on my mind a lot lately, and when I think about the possibility of adoption vs. having 4-5 kids of my own, I wonder if I would be stealing life away from the poor by bringing more kids into the world. There is nothing wrong with having kids from our own flesh, but I think when we examine our motives, we realize that the reason that adoption is peripheral is because we want our children to be and look like us. We want to know that we gave them life and that they will function as smaller versions of ourselves. And…the common misconception…we know their medical history.
But who cares? Rich smart people have higher occurrances of mental and emotional disorders and cancer than the poor. Would it be selfish of me to birth several children when I have students in my own high school that I teach in who will get pregnant next year and give up their children for adoption? When there are girls being dropped off in dumpsters China? The early church was known for having huge families because they rescued the orphans and abandoned children in the Roman Empire. Why are wealthy American Christians known for their homogeneous 2 child homes?
Also, Chapman pushes for churches to support families in their midst who want to adopt. Currently, Christians send out support letters for their short term mission trips, and it is rather successful way of obtaining funds to go on a trip that is only days or maybe weeks long. Why not do that for adopting? If a friend us a letter to help raise funds to adopt a child, I would be so excited to give. That has a life-long impact on many people and is a genuine response to fighting abortion and poverty.
