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.
She was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow. Her husband loved her, but still she felt cursed by God. Indeed, she felt that ancient curse spoken over the first woman: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children” (Gen. 3:16). Who is this woman? These words describe Hannah, but many other Hannahs sit in the pews of our churches — empty, sad, and bearing with bitterness the curse in their bodies.
Children’s Children and the Plans of God
God wants a large family because His love is so enormous. We embrace God’s gift of life and of children, and we praise God that He creates and loves so many, including us.
Be Fruitful and Multiply by William M. Cwirla
While all creatures are driven by the creative impulse to “be fruitful and multiply,” man uniquely does this within a narrow context of intimacy, commitment, covenant, and community.
Saved Through Childbearing?
There I sat in Sunday School, paging through my Bible like the saintly child I was, when I tripped on this: “Yet [women] will be saved through childbearing — if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control” (1 Tim. 2:15).
Resolution 6-10: Guidance On Contraceptive Methods
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Sanctity of Human Life Committee offers this document in response to Resolution 6-10 placed before the Synod’s 2004 convention.
Reproductive Ethics: A Summary
We need to distinguish the critique of reproductive technologies from a criticism of people we may know who have made use of them. This information is offered to Christian couples to help them think about the possible use of reproductive technologies.
Not Alone
To our brothers and sisters who long to be parents: You are not alone. Not only are others like you — wanting children to serve and love, to cry and laugh with — but also Mary’s Son. Jesus bears this burden with you.
What About Embryo Adoption?
He is a child. One sperm fertilizes one egg in a petri dish, and a human life begins. He has 23 pairs of chromosomes. He has his own genetic traits and family history. He is a human being for whom Jesus Christ died, just like you and me. He is a gift to his parents from the Lord. “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward” (Ps. 127:3).
The Gift Not Given
This state of barrenness is our reality, and it is painful. Yet, ceaselessly, God gives gifts. He reminds of His sufficient grace.
The Child As a Gift of God
Commended by the 2019 LCMS convention, this paper examines the many subtle ways that American culture rejects life as a fundamental gift of God and instead sees “having a baby” as a human accomplishment.
The Social Doctrine of the Augsburg Confession and Its Significance for the Present
In this essay, Hermann Sasse describes the theology of the “two regimens” (more commonly called “two kingdoms”) of the state and the church. Sasse addresses the widespread misunderstanding of the kingdom of God.
Christian Citizenship
We are all citizens of two kingdoms. One is the kingdom of this world. Christian citizenship will advance the cause of movements that strengthen the guarantees of order and law, keep separate church and state, keep sacred the institution of marriage, and protect the morals of youth.
