On Orphan Sunday, Nov. 10, 235-plus churches will join together across Mississippi to pray for orphans around the world and children in foster care in every county of Mississippi.
Churches of every denomination throughout Mississippi will use prayer, sermons, video clips and various other activities to bring awareness to the plight of orphan.
These special events and activities on Orphan Sunday are tools used to encourage families to consider adoption and foster care as well as to give tangible ideas on ways the church can support orphans, adoptees and foster children.
Churches praying on Orphan Sunday will include Tomnolen Baptist Church in Webster County.
Every day 39,000 children age out of the system they are in without a mother, a father, a family or place to call home. These orphans and foster children who age out are far more vulnerable to sex and human trafficking, prostitution and homelessness.
The Orphan Sunday campaign propels hundreds of events across America and the world on the second weekend of each November. The Orphan Sunday campaign, led by the Christian Alliance for Orphans and regional coordinator Chris Gray in Mississippi, has helped grow the vision of Orphan Sunday.
Churches can participate in variety of ways, and the website www.orphansunday.org serves as a hub for Orphan Sunday ideas and free downloadable materials on ways individuals can partner with orphan-serving organizations.
The Grays lead an adoption and foster care life group class at Crossgates Baptist Church located in Brandon. The adoption and foster care class is has made available for any family no matter where they live or what church they attend.
The adoption and foster class gives families a wide range of topics that are being discussed so that one will have a good overall understanding of the adoption and foster process. The classes are free to attend and they are held on the first and third Wednesday’s of each month at 6 p.m. in room 218 and childcare is provided for free.
Gray and his wife, Andrea, support adopting families through Zacchaeus’ Tree adoption grants to help defray the costs of the adoption. These grants are administered by LifeSong for Orphans, which is 501c3 organization that manages the adoption fund. All donations are tax deductible and can be mailed to: LifeSong for Orphans, Attn: Rich Metcalf, P.O. Box 40, Gridley, IL 61744 and in the memo line please notate: Zacchaeus’ Tree Adoption Fund and account number P562.
If your church would like to be a part of Orphan Sunday, contact Gray at zacchaeustreeadoptionministry@yahoo.com. Gray would appreciate the opportunity to come speak at one’s church or civic group to promote adoption, foster care and what your church can do to make an impact in the life of fatherless children. More information about Zacchaeus’ Tree Adoption Ministry can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/zacchaeustreeadoptionministry.
