Tag: Churches

Join with churches around Australia in celebrating our Foster and Kinship Carers and raising awareness of the needs in this space, as well as the opportunities for the local church to be part of the solution! Foster Care Sunday provides an opportunity for the Church to come together in unity to: Foster Care Sunday 2025 is …

Engaging in the Out-of-Home Care space is a weighty undertaking, inspired by a clear biblical mandate and full of potential for healing and restoration. It can however be complex and challenging, full of both joy and pain. We need to move far beyond good intentions, wishful thinking, or any quick fix solutions. A sturdy theology …

One Sunday morning, Tommy* was brought to church by his carers. Carrying his action-figure everywhere he went, five-year-old Tommy was cuddly, determined, and funny.  Tommy had been in foster care homes since he was a little boy. Most placements had lasted only a few months, some just a week or two.  Tommy’s foster carer was …

Today is the final leg of our journey to discover what the Bible actually says about God’s heart for the fatherless. Over the past six weeks we have been studying the Hebrew word yātôm, translated into English as ‘orphan’ or ‘the fatherless.’    As we have studied how the Hebrew Scriptures use the word yātôm, four …

Let me tell you about a beautiful little girl. Within hours of being born, she was placed into foster care. By the time she was three months old, she had already been cared for by four different “mums”. Statistics tell us that the outlook on her future is bleak. 71% of girls who age out …

I love the movie Lion King. I think it’s one of Disney’s best animated films. And any fan of the movie will tell you that the most pivotal scene is not – contrary to popular opinion – when Scar convinces little Simba that his father Mufasa’s death was his fault.   The most pivotal scene happens after adolescent …

I hate letting people down. I hate that feeling of realizing that you promised to do something but failed to follow through, especially when it comes to my kids.   The other day I told my four-year-old daughter that I would take her to the park after I got home from work. She was really looking …

What does it mean to be blessed? According to Bruno Mars in his hit song 24 Karat Magic, it’s “Cuban links,” “designer minks,” and “Inglewood’s finest shoes.” It’s having “money in my pocket” and “so many pretty girls around me.” Endless parties, bottomless drinks, beautiful bodies and all the money you could ever want, that’s the …

As a church community, you have a unique opportunity to bring compassion and practical support to children and families involved in the child protection system. Every small step can have a big impact. Here are three simple but powerful ways your church can make a meaningful difference for vulnerable children in your own backyard this …

When most Bible teachers talk about God’s heart for the fatherless, they all seem to draw from the same few verses (ie. Psalms 68:5-6; James 1:27). But the Bible – especially the Old Testament – is full of passages that disclose God’s heart for the fatherless. This is a problem. It’s like we have been …

Jen* climbed out of her window at 12 years old, needing to escape. It’s been a journey of unlearning and learning; ultimately breaking a cycle and leaving a legacy for the next generation. The love shown by her Foster Carers helped break through the lies that she’d come to believe about herself and she learned …

I grew up with a deep love for the outdoors. From a young age, my dad would take my brother and me camping and backpacking. One year we were gearing up for a 50-mile backpacking trip with several of my friends and their parents in Lassen National forest through the beautiful Cascade Mountains of California. …

Connected Carers, in Western Sydney, exists to build a strong community where foster carers feel loved, valued, encouraged, supported and inspired whilst doing the ministry of caring. The heart of Connected Carers is to gather Christian carers to be a light in the Out-of-Home Care space.  Inspired by James 1:27, Religion that God our father …

In Australia, thousands of children need a safe, loving home—but what does it take to answer that call?  With two biological sons and three sons welcomed through Out-of-Home Care, Mary has experienced the joys and challenges of foster care firsthand. Through her work with Fostering Hope in Tasmania, she’s helping other carers embrace this life-changing journey, one …

This Christmas season, one local church is modelling a beautiful spirit of local partnership to help lighten the load for families to be able to have gifts under the tree – and this year they’re including a focus on foster carers. LifeHouse Care, the community arm of LifeHouse Church on the NSW mid-North Coast, wants …

The cry of my heart and the work of my life has become to give voice to children and families experiencing foster care.  I am a biological, foster and adoptive mama and God has shaped our family in unexpected ways along this journey, as we’ve had the privilege of caring for children for a chapter …