The Orphan Crisis and our Spiritual Family
When we think about the global orphan crisis, most of us may feel overwhelmed or detached from the realities these children face daily. These figures are the number children with no parents or with one parent who cannot look after them due to poverty or illness. Let’s take a moment to let the numbers speak.
Globally, an estimated 160 million children live without a stable family, including 56–60 million in Africa and 1.5 million in Zimbabwe alone. The staggering scope of this crisis highlights a deep, universal need for family, love, and security. We were created to live in families, and it is devastating when this doesn’t take place for any reason. An orphanage is far better than a life on the street, but living within the nucleus of a loving family is God’s perfect design for us.
There is an amazing story of how a British social worker named Robert Glover, in an unlikely alliance, has partnered with the Chinese government and helped facilitate over a million adoptions, placing 85% of the children in state care into families. Robert and Elizabeth have achieved remarkable success in implementing family placements across Asia. Their work has seen a generation of orphans lives transformed through the love of a family.
In 2008, an abandoned baby boy was dropped off by police at the home of Jonathan and Tracy King for temporary care. The family fell in love with him, and ended up adopting this baby boy. They discovered a pressing need in their community, and went on to form the King’s Children’s Home, which has since seen over 400 vulnerable children placed in loving families since 2008.
In Zimbabwe, organizations like The Michael Project are also working tirelessly to help address this crisis. Over the years, the project has grown to encompass a children’s home, pre-schools for disadvantaged children, and a prison ministry.
We’re invited to consider the question, “What might God be calling us to do in our nation?”
The Unconditional Love of Adoption and Our Place in God’s Family
Adoption, at its core, is an otherworldly choice. It’s a family’s decision to embrace and adopt a child who, in most cases, has nothing to offer in return, solely because they choose to love. It’s entirely one-sided. There is no obligation to say yes. It’s an immensely powerful moment when a family chooses to welcome in someone who is not their own flesh and blood.
This one-sided, grace-filled act mirrors what God does for us. Spiritually, we start as orphans—no family, no hope, no eternal home until God Himself steps in and says, “I choose you.” Through the cross, Jesus paid the price, and we are invited to leave our orphaned existence behind and walk into a forever family.
This is what God does for us when we become part of the family of God. We start out living as spiritual orphans. No family, no lasting hope, no eternal inheritance. Then God the Father says “I choose you.” There is no social welfare fee, but instead a blood stained cross. There is no physical home, but an eternal home that last forever. There is no small nuclear family, but the great family of God. We don’t have anything to offer as payment for His choosing us, we need only to accept Him as our new Father through the price paid by His son, and we walk out of the orphanage and into a new family.
John 1:12-13 says: 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Isn’t that a wonderful picture of us being welcomed into God’s family? We do no earning, just believing. It doesn’t matter our earthly family, or lack there of, we become God’s children because He wants us to be. We just need to say yes!
Overcoming the Orphan Mindset
However, many of us struggle to fully accept our place in God’s family. Like adopted children wrestling with their sense of belonging in their adoptive family, we often wonder if we truly fit in. We question our worthiness, feel the need to earn God’s love, or worry that we’ll be pushed away if we fall short.
In the same way, we try to prove our worth, but God’s love has nothing to do with our efforts. Even though we intellectually know God is our Father, sometimes we act as if His love is conditional – holding back our requests, doubting His provision, or wondering if He truly cares. Yet God chose us long before we ever had anything to offer, and nothing can separate us from His family. Our view of God can be shaped by imperfect earthly relationships, making it difficult to see Him as the unchanging Father who provides, forgives, and truly cherishes us.
We still think like orphans, even though we have become sons and daughters.
Becoming Part of God’s Spiritual Family Through the Holy Spirit
One of the great blessings of the person of the Holy Spirit in our lives is that He helps us to know that we are part of a faith family. He gives us Assurance of Faith. Jesus taught us to pray, saying, “Our Father in heaven…” (Matthew 6:9), emphasizing God’s heart as a loving parent and our place in His family. The Spirit even brings us the confidence to call God “Abba,” an intimate term for Father.
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24
We see in many places throughout scripture that we become part of a spiritual family when we become Christ-followers. So, when we struggle with doubt, it’s simply that we need the Holy Spirit to help us sense that reality more deeply.
In Romans 8:14–17, we’re given a roadmap to understanding our place in God’s family:
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[a] And by him we cry, “Abba,[b] Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
- Being Led by the Spirit: Accepting Christ’s invitation is our entry point into God’s family. If we’re living in ways that oppose Jesus’ teachings and feel at ease with it, we may need to question whether we’re being led by the Spirit. But if our hearts genuinely desire to follow Him, even if we stumble, we can be assured that we belong.
- Living in Freedom, Not Fear: Through the Spirit, we’re released from the cycle of striving to earn God’s love. We no longer need to live in fear, worried about falling short. Our relationship with God is not one of fearful obligation but one of joyful freedom.
- Experiencing Sonship Over Slavery: The Spirit enables us to approach God with the affection of a child, not as a fearful servant. This intimacy allows us to call Him “Abba, Father,” knowing that we’re loved just as we are.
Our Inheritance as God’s Children
Verse 17 teaches us that as God’s children, we inherit both the joys and challenges of following Christ. On the one hand, this path is promised to involve some level of suffering. It’s part of the journey, as the early church knew well. We may face rejection or hardship for our faith. But here’s the incredible part: we are heirs with Christ, promised an eternal inheritance of joy, security, and a place in God’s family that can never be taken away. Any trial is temporary, and God’s eternal promises far outweigh them. What a hope we have in this family!
Stepping Into Our Spiritual Family
If you desire a fresh encounter with the Spirit today, if you want to know God more intimately as your Father, or if you long to experience the fullness of life in His family, don’t hold back. Take the step, open your heart, and receive the incredible love that God has for you. This is life in the Spirit: belonging to a family that spans eternity, loved unconditionally, and embraced by a Father who chose us long before we ever thought to choose Him.
