Sojourn is partnering with Louisville Orphan Care Initiative (LOCI), a non-profit who believes that the Church and individual Christians are the solution to the foster care problem.  Read here to find out how you can get involved in making a difference in the lives of pregnant teens who are in the foster care system.

This is an initiative/partnership with LOCI and the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, where LOCI is coordinating with 12-15 churches in Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Our goal is to connect Christian women with foster teens who are pregnant.  The desire is to see Christian women coming alongside and mentoring these young pregnant teens.

Beginning in March, Sojourn will host a program, along with several other churches, that brings together the pregnant teens and Christian mentors.  This first round will be a 12 week training program, held on Monday nights, that will assist the teen moms with practical life skills.  The opportunity to be a mentor is open to Sojourners, who if interested, should attend the Informational Meeting/Orientation on March 1, 2010.  Let us know you are coming by filling out this reservation.

Dates

March 1                        Mentor Orientation Meeting

March 8 – 20               Mentor Interviews and Background Checks

March 15                      Kick-off Party with Foster Teen Moms

March 22-April 12    Three Weeks of Training for Mentors

April 19                         First Week of Mentoring Begins

July 5                             End of the first 12-week training/class

All meetings will take place at the 930, Sojourn’s Midtown Campus.  Times will be posted soon.

To read a previous post about LOCI and orphan care, click here.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. – James 1:27

I have read and heard this verse from James many times but never really stopped to think about what it truly means until recently. The term orphan is not one that we use very often and we certainly wouldn’t apply it to ourselves. We are often told that caring for orphans is considered a demonstration of true sacrificial Christian love because of their inability to reciprocate in any way. The truth is that we were all orphans until we accepted Jesus Christ and became adopted sons and daughters of the most Holy Father. We were unable to give anyone anything of true value or worth. Now that we have accepted Christ we are equipped and able to respond to others with the most important gift of all – the good news that is Jesus Christ.

Church family I want to present you with an opportunity to get involved in the lives of orphans in the Louisville area. The Louisville Orphan Care Initiative (LOCI) is an association of biblically based Christian churches that are working together to build redemptive relationships with orphaned youths and to help Christian families foster and adopt orphaned children.  Through LOCI, there are two primary ways to get involved and develop redemptive relationships with teen girls who need love, compassion, and direction.

Mentoring

One way is providing mentoring to teen girls in foster care that have become pregnant – these women are grown-up babies having babies.

Foster Care

Another is simply providing respite care for foster parents, you would be surprised to know how many foster parents we have right here at Sojourn that could use your help in this way.

We typically think of children when the word orphan is used but we must remember that anyone outside of community with Christ is an orphan. Recently God worked through LOCI to literally bring a 21 year old girl in out of the rain. Anna had been in foster care through most of her life and aged out of the foster program because she was not adopted. The young lady ended up living on the street and spent several nights out in the rain. Through a “serendipitous coincidence” Anna was introduced to a LOCI member. God called the family to adopt her and now Anna has a home where she lives in community with Christians and has the opportunity to see the Gospel lived out everyday. Please check out the following website to get more accounts of Christ’s redemptive love. www.louisvilleorphancare.com

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my very first blog ever. Each week I will bring you new and fresh accounts of God’s mercy and how he is reaching out to orphans through ordinary Christians like you and me.  Please pray for the world’s orphans and for clarity on how you might personally get involved.

Michael Whitten, the author of this blog, is a Sojourn member and is involved with Louisville Orphan Care (LOCI).  You can reach him via email at m0whit06@louisville.edu.