Praise God for adopting us into His family and making us co-heirs with Christ. Pray for God to help us all see the role we have to play in caring for the fatherless. Ask God to strengthen all of our families involved in adoption, foster care, and orphan care of all kinds. Pray for God to use us to tangibly demonstrate His love, care, and compassion to vulnerable children here in our city and around the world.

This week we are praying for ministry to the fatherless through our Brook Hills faith family. Many in our faith family have sacrificially responded to the biblical mandate to care for the fatherless, whether that has been by serving through foster care, adoption, WRAP Ministry, orphan care partners, or in Marks Village and Oliver Elementary where there is a high percentage of fatherless households. Let us lift up these individuals, families, small groups, organizations, and the children for whom they are caring. We’re also praying this week for Mountaintop Community Church and Pastor Carter McInnis.

Day 1: Pray for the children in foster care in homes across our faith family. Ask the Father to comfort them in their loss and confusion, and to protect their hearts so that they do not become hardened, but instead remain open and receptive to the love of their foster family. 

Day 2: Pray for our foster and adoptive parents to guard and protect their time with the Lord. Pray they will spend time in the Word and in prayer each day so that they are able to parent out of His provision and not their own strength. Pray God will call out more adoptive and foster parents from among us.

Day 3: Pray for our Birmingham agency and ministry partners that provide the training for and licensing of foster parents. Ask the Father to encourage them as they spend countless hours facilitating classes, doing home studies, and dealing with mountains of paperwork.  

Day 4: Give thanks for the amazing WRAP Ministry volunteers and leaders who are giving of their time and talents to come alongside many of our foster families in providing prayer, encouragement, meals, tutoring, quilts, blankets, and lots of love. 

Day 5: Pray for the many Birmingham agencies and ministry partners that support foster and adoptive families, including Brook Hills WRAP Ministry, Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries, Pathways Professional Counseling, Lifeline Children’s Services, Lifesong, Alabama DHR, APAC, Grace House, King’s Home, and The Forgotten Initiative.

Day 6: Pray for the fatherless children in Marks Village and Oliver Elementary School, and for the members of our faith family who have gone out of their way to provide godly influence in their lives through the Bible Club, Oliver Breakfast Club, Oliver Discovery Club, Oak Tree Reading Club, and other avenues.

This week we want to focus our prayers on the worldwide orphan crisis. There are between 140-153 million orphaned children in the world. This number excludes institutionalized children, children on the streets, or children who are at risk, neglected or abused. Of these children, only .5% will have the opportunity for international adoption. This means our care for the orphan has to extend beyond adoption. This is why Brook Hills partners with Lifeline (un)Adopted to care specifically for orphaned children living in Liberia and Pakistan. Through this partnership with (un)Adopted and the financial gifts given through our Global Offering, we are able to help care for orphans who will most likely never be adopted and develop opportunities to hear the Gospel, learn life skills, develop career awareness, and receive education that will sustain them and offer a healthy transition into productive adulthood. For more information about Lifeline (un)Adopted visit unadopted.org.

Day 1: Thank God for the lives of the children throughout orphanages in Liberia and Pakistan. Pray for God to open their hearts to the gospel so they can be saved.

Day 2: Pray for the young men and women who are attending and who will graduate from the REAP Life Skills program in Liberia. Pray for students to feel confident in what they are learning and more importantly to have confidence in their future because of what Christ has done on their behalf.

Day 3: A goal of the REAP Life Skills program in Liberia, is to equip students with skills needed to transition into productive adulthood. Pray for the participants to be eager to learn, persistent to grow in knowledge, and disciplined to persevere as they refine the skills they have learned.

Day 4: There are 36 young women who live at the Developing Hope girls’ home in Pakistan. Pray they will continue to flourish under the love of their caretakers and that they will hear the gospel and know Christ as their Savior.

Day 5: Pray for the four sewing centers that (un)Adopted opened to help give opportunities to the young women at the Developing Hope home and to other vulnerable women in the community. Pray for these sewing centers to be a refuge and a place where women can grow and develop skills for the future.

Day 6: Thank God for the leadership at (un)Adopted. Pray for God to continue to give them wisdom and clarity on how best to care for orphaned children, make disciples, and glorify God through their organization.