To the Reader

Pharaoh’s daughter took baby Moses into her own home. Mordecai raised Queen Esther as his own daughter (Esther 2:7). Joseph cared for Jesus throughout His earthly life.

So it should come as no surprise that the Church would continue to care for children today in this same way. We take these children into our homes because God has taken us in first: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal. 4:55). That is to say, God builds the Body of Christ by adopting us into His kingdom, and He can build our families by the care of children who have no families of their own.

Our adoption into Christs family is the focus of this months issue of The Lutheran Witness, which highlights the family, foster care, adoption and caring for those who have no parents, siblings or home.

Read Children: Good for Families by the Rev. David Petersen, a look at why children are not only good for couples but good for the Church. Dr. Gene Veith explains how God grounds families in Himself in The Family in God’s Design. Learn about the hundreds of thousands of children currently in foster care and the way in which God placed one of them, Rebecca, into a Lutheran family in Dr. Robert Miles A Place to Call Home.

In Restored Through Mercy, see how LCMS World Relief and Human Care reaches out in mercy to those in need. Discover how one LCMS Recognized Service Organization, Lutheran Family Service of Iowa, is caring for the least of these (Matt. 25:40), and enjoy 10 Minutes with . . . Dr. Paul Devantier who, along with his wife, Ellen, fostered more than 80 children in their home.

God is the Father of the fatherless who settles the solitary in a home (Ps. 68:56). He builds the Body of Christ through adoption, and He can build our families in the same way.

Adriane Dorr, Managing Editor
The Lutheran Witness
adriane.dorr@lcms.org

November 2011