The “LCMS Guide to Supporting Foster Families” is intended to provide Lutheran couples with a basic overview of the foster care system and the process of becoming foster parents, so they can prayerfully consider taking on the joys and challenges of caring for these children in need.
Christian families are especially poised to care for children in need, and the local congregation (and larger church) can provide a healthy framework of love and support for foster children and their foster family. Sadly, the number of children in the foster system is increasing, and the number of families willing to provide a temporary home for these children is decreasing. Lutheran parents are needed to fill this gap and provide love and care to children and their biological parents.
Are you a foster family or a congregation looking to support a foster family? The “Foster Family Support Planner” is a form that foster families can use to list their needs (whether that be meals, transportation, or items) for their foster child(ren). Once filled out, the form can be printed off and circulated amongst congregation members so that they can provide creative yet personalized support for families who are fostering in their midst.
It can be hard to keep your children occupied in church. Included are tips for making worship more meaningful for them — and for you.
‘Hope and Healing’ Bible Study
Sexual assault, rape and domestic violence are difficult topics to address. They are emotionally volatile and heartbreaking life events, and for women who are suffering and trying to heal, the perfect peace of the Gospel is vital.
In Christ, there is hope and healing for survivors of sexual assault. This Bible study and its companion materials are intended to help fill this need in churches.
‘You Are Not Alone’ Prayer Book
You Are Not Alone: A Prayer Book for Victims of Domestic Violence, is the newest resource from the LCMS Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Task Force. This devotional prayer book will help victims give voice to their heavenly Father in the midst of heartache and despair.
Ten Ways to Give the Greatest Gift
What is the greatest gift you can give your child? Perhaps this hint from God’s Word helps: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). The greatest gift Christian parents can give their children is what you might call “soul food.”
Ten Things Your Teen Won’t Tell You
One of the most difficult tasks facing parents today is keeping the lines of communication open with their adolescent children. No longer “children” in the narrow sense of the word and not quite adults either, adolescents are often a mystery to their parents (as well as to themselves).
Ten Things Toddlers Wish They Could Tell You
Tips for helping your young child or grandchild grow spiritually, socially and emotionally.
Ten Things Toddlers ...
Three Worldviews Parents Need to Confront
A review of common contemporary challenges to a Christian worldview along with takeaways for parents seeking to confront them.
The Meaning of the Presence of Children
“It is my aim here to explore the venture of parenthood … from within the perspective of Christian faith — which has, after all, been one of the principal sources of our culture’s formation on this question, but which … may help to point us in the direction of a true humanism.”
The Gift of Children
Children are not only a gift to their parents but also to the world. God desires that all children come to know the grace and mercy of Christ Jesus.
Jolt Junkies
Many parents are accustomed to a constant complaint litany from bored children. Have kids always been so easily bored? Have there always been so many antsy kids who can’t sit still in a classroom? There is no doubt that a major cause is the impact of mass media on kids.
How to Talk With Your Children
The first duty of love is to listen. When we really listen to a child, our compassion helps us sense the youngster’s needs, anxieties, joys and sorrows as if they were our own.
