Adoption

As the parent of an adopted child, the idea that God has chosen me – adopted me into his family – is something precious to my heart. But because God has adopted us, I believe that means we too have a duty to 'adopt' other members of our family. Every time I encounter persecuted Christians, I feel a personal responsibility for their nurture, support and care – because they’re family.

How do we do this? By using all our gifts to help them. An Open Doors field director from one of the toughest parts of the world recently shared his belief that if God has given you any gifts then you must invest those in the kingdom of God. To him there was no distinction between spiritual and secular gifts: all our gifts can be invested in the kingdom.

Sometimes those with business expertise think that their gifting is purely secular, but I believe that such expertise can create a bridge between people in the West and the persecuted church. Obviously there’s the gift of financial provision, but there are other ways of helping people starting a business, even down to the extent of organising a spreadsheet and a business plan.

Helping people to set up and run their own business is one of the best ways we can support persecuted Christians, who are often ostracised and isolated within their communities. In fact, I’m always struck by the entrepreneurism and creativity among those in the persecuted church. Often their very survival relies upon their ability to multiply the smallest things – so the attitude and aptitude is already there. But they need our help. They need finance, of course. But they also need people to support, encourage and pray for them. Adoptive parents, if you like.

And we should help them however we can. Why? Because they are part of our family. And this is family business.