WHEREAS, the biblical story entails creation, fall, and a redemption, whereby God declares human beings bearers of His image, the crowning jewel of all creation, and
WHEREAS, God commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply, establishing the home for the flourishment of human society, and
WHEREAS, the fall of man ushered chaos into the world which breaks family bonds, leaving children abandoned and alone, and
WHEREAS, children are the gift of the Lord, the fruit of the womb, His reward (Psalm 127:3), and
WHEREAS, Psalm 68:5 says, “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation,” and James 1:27 says, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world,” and
WHEREAS, the Scriptures reveal adoption to be a picture of our salvation into the family of God through faith in Christ (Romans 8:15, Ephesians 1:5, Galatians 4:5), and
WHEREAS, in August of 2016 the Commonwealth of Kentucky reported 7,894 Kentucky youth under the age of 21 who are not permitted to live with their own families and were in the care of the state.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that we, the messengers to the 179th annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, believe the adoption of orphans is mandated by Scripture and is congruent with a faithful Christian witness to a lost and dying world.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we, Kentucky Baptists, recognize the urgent need to adopt and foster-to-adopt the orphans of Kentucky.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we understand we have a Christian responsibility to provide physical care to those in need and to adopt orphans as we have opportunity.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we will prayerfully consider adding to our family by way of foster care and/or adoption of children.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we support the ministry of Sunrise Children’s Services, which, since 1869, has facilitated Kentucky Baptist ministry to our Commonwealth’s orphans with the love of Christ.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we believe that foster care is a critical ministry to those parents who temporarily cannot care for their children.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we believe in the sovereignty, security, and stability of the home as the initial, domestic hope for orphans of our state.
BE IT THEREFORE FURTHER RESOLVED that we, as Kentucky Baptists, believe the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only life-transforming, eternal hope for the orphans of our state.