08/20/2026
The Church has more empty bedrooms than the system has foster homes.
Sit with that for a minute.
Children are sleeping in offices because there is nowhere for them to go. Teenagers are waiting longer because nobody wants the hard ages. Foster families are drowning because there aren’t enough people willing to step in beside them.
And meanwhile, churches are full every Sunday.
We sing about surrender.
We preach about sacrifice.
We raise our hands and tell Jesus, “Here I am. Send me.”
But send me where?
Because there are vulnerable children right outside our doors, and somehow we have convinced ourselves that caring about them is the same thing as caring for them.
It isn’t.
James 1:27 doesn’t give the Church a suggestion. Caring for orphans and widows in their distress is part of what Scripture calls pure religion.
No, everyone is not called to foster.
But I believe every Christian is called to do something.
Open your home.
Provide respite.
Bring the meal.
Babysit the kids.
Mentor the teenager.
Support the family fighting for reunification.
Give financially.
Show up for the foster family who hasn’t had a break in six months.
Do something.
Because comfortable Christianity was never what Jesus called us to.
Following Jesus costs something.
It interrupts schedules.
It changes plans.
It makes room at tables.
Sometimes it gives up the guest room.
Sometimes it means loving people whose lives are complicated and messy and nothing like ours.
We cannot keep building beautiful churches while children in our communities have nowhere to sleep.
We cannot keep singing about loving like Jesus while expecting somebody else to do the uncomfortable parts.
And we cannot keep asking God to send more workers while refusing to move when He points at us.
Church, we can do better than this.
We HAVE to do better than this.
The question isn’t whether every Christian should become a foster parent.
The question is whether the Church is willing to be inconvenienced for the children Jesus told us not to overlook.
Because they should never have to wonder where the Church is.
We should already be there.
