I like this quote from Russell Moore speaking on the answer to Russia’s orphan crisis.

(We feel a similar burden for South Africa and this is part of why we are so excited about the Together for Adoption conference that is coming up in March.)  

He writes,  “The answer to orphanages teeming with doomed children isn’t, ultimately, American adoption.”

(Now please know his point isn’t a critique of American adoptions.  You can read the rest of the article and you will see that.)

But, here’s the part I love:

“The answer is, ideally, a Russia so revived by the gospel of adoption in Christ that Christian families receive children even as they have been received into the household of Christ. Ultimately, of course, we seek a a landscape devoid of orphanages, as American cities are devoid of slave auctions. To that end we pray the gospel would stabilize families and uproot the causes of orphanhood: poverty, alcoholism, illegitimacy, and so on. Until then, we preach the gospel to every creature, including our Russian friends. And, until then, we stand for what Jesus cares about, including the “least of these,” those orphaned in the womb, in foster care, and in orphanages at home and around the world. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. But a different gospel, one that says to the hurting, “Be warmed and filled” (Jas. 2:16), is a gospel to which we must say “Nyet.”  

Read the rest.