Launch an Orphans Ministry in Your Church
The following represents an overview of eight steps you can use to help your church get involved in caring for orphans. This overview is adapted from a FamilyLife resource entitled Launching an Orphans Ministry in Your Church. STEP 1: Approach a key leader with your vision In order to start the process, someone in a key position of leadership needs to know your intentions and have the opportunity to guide your efforts. You will need to find the right leader in your church and help them to understand both your desire to start an orphans ministry and your intentions to assemble a team of people and a plan of action. The Big Ideas
STEP 2: Identify passionate families to join you in prayer There are likely people in your church right now who would love to give their time and talents to the needs of the orphan. Your job is to identify them and then lead them to earnestly seek God’s direction for their next steps. The Big Ideas
STEP 3: Dream together about the possibilities Through the process of seeking God’s will and talking with your team, there will be many ideas and dreams that come to mind. Collect those ideas and prayerfully begin to determine what God has put on the heart of your team. The Big Ideas
STEP 4: Determine your channels of orphans ministry At this point, some ideas will have surfaced regarding the general direction your ministry will go. You will find yourself moving toward at least one of the three channels of orphans ministry, if not all three: (1) orphan care, (2) adoption – international private domestic, and (3) foster care and foster-care adoption. The Big Ideas
STEP 5: Plan for the strategies of your ministry Look at your current situation and your long term goals and determine the strategies that will best accomplish the objectives God has given you. These strategies can be categorized into five modes: (1) prayer, (2) physical needs, (3) financial assistance, (4) education, awareness, and recruitment, and (5) support ministry. Each of these modes can be executed in the context of the three channels discussed in step 4. The Big Ideas
STEP 6: Establish a leadership structure Now it is time to formalize the leadership structure of your proposed ministry and to assign specific leadership roles. The Big Ideas
STEP 7: Develop a formal proposal for church leadership You have the basic building blocks to assemble a good plan for your church leaders to consider. Now you need to merge everything you have developed into one cohesive and well-conceived plan that you will present to the key leaders in your church for their approval and blessing (pastoral staff, elders, deacons, board of trustees, etc.). The Big Ideas
STEP 8: Implement first initiatives, engage the entire church and watch God work The launch of your church’s orphans ministry is an exciting time. Engaging the entire church at this stage is key to gaining momentum and building your ministry. Once you have launched, it is time to implement your first initiatives, work in partnership with others, and celebrate what God does. The Big Ideas
A full discussion of these eight steps and some tools that will help you implement them can be found in the book Launching an Orphans Ministry in Your Church produced by FamilyLife’s Hope for Orphans. This book also includes a vision casting DVD that you can use to help others understand how God is working in churches across the country on behalf of orphans. To order your book and the included DVD, order online now or call 1-800-FLTODAY. |
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If you are like so many others, you have a passion to help mobilize your local church on behalf of the orphan but may not be sure where to start. If so, we want to help.