Why Adoption? Pt. 3
When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them. ~ Deuteronomy 26:12-13
AN ISSUE WE CAN RESOLVE
Depending on where you get your information, it is estimated that there are between 143-163 million orphans in the world. The population of the world is somewhere around 6.8-6.9 billion people. So, let’s take the largest orphan number and the smallest population for the greatest percentage of orphans. Here’s a picture of what this looks like.
163 million orphans in a world with a population of 6.8 billion people.
Now, in regards to that number of 163 million, an orphan is defined as a child who has lost one or both parents. That means there are children counted in that number who still have a living parent. Some would say that is the case for as many as 124-140 million of them. If that’s accurate, then there could be as few as 15 million “double” orphans, meaning that they have lost both of their parents.
However, there are some realities that doesn’t take into account. Many of the reports used to come up with that number of 163 million don’t take into account abandoned children, trafficked children and orphaned children in countries that don’t report their orphans (like many Middle-Eastern Islamic nations). So, all things considered, a pretty good guesstimate is that there are approximately 40-50 million double orphans in the world in need of a family. Now, our chart looks like this.
40-50 million "double" orphans, which includes children who have lost both parents and/or been abandoned or trafficked.
Okay… let’s turn our attention for just a moment to the Church. Notice the big “C” in “Church”. I’m not talking about your local congregation. I mean the worldwide Church, the greater body of believers. Just like in the case with orphans, there are varying reports on just how many Christians there are in the world. But, in general, the estimates fall somewhere around 2.2 billion people who self-identify themselves as Christians. That is almost a third of the entire world’s population and, as you can see, is quite a lot.
2.2 billion people (nearly 1/3 of the world's population) self-identify as Christians
But let’s be honest here. Not all of those 2.2 billion people are actually Christ-followers. Jesus, himself, acknowledged this would be the case (Matthew 7:21-23). Some identify as Christians because of family or culture. Others claim the Christian religion but are not orthodox. There are any number of reasons why someone might self-identify as a Christian without actually trusting in Christ for their salvation. So, where does this leave us? Worldwide, there exists around 800 million who have been born again into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And that looks a little more like this.
800 million who have been born again into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
So, now that we’ve got those crazy Christians worked out, let’s go back to the orphans. 800 million Christ-followers. 40-50 million double orphans. Notice which one is bigger than the other. Significantly bigger.
Only 6% of worldwide Christ-followers would need to adopt in order to solve the problem of orphans in the world.
It’s from these numbers that people draw the conclusions that only one in sixteen or seventeen Christians, around 6%, would need to adopt in order to completely solve the problem of orphans in the world. And that sounds awesome, more than doable. But I fear it’s not very realistic. After all, some of those 800 million are children themselves. Others are single and too young or not ready to adopt. Others are too old, and others are divided into family units. So, let’s break this down even further. Just for the sake of this exercise, let’s use the size of an average family in America. That’s 3.14 people, by the way. So, once we do a little division, we find that there are approximately 250 million Christian families in the world. In that case, one in five, or 20%, of Christian families would need to adopt to solve the problem of orphans in the world.
Approximately 250 million Christian families would mean 1 in 5 need to adopt to solve the world's orphan problem.
That’s a little more daunting. After all, there are a lot of those Christian families who don’t have the resources available to them to adopt and/or care for another addition to their family. But I’ve got good news. Notice that in order for the one in five statistic to work each family is just adopting one orphan. I know many families who have adopted multiple orphans. In face, I personally know two families who have adopted six and seven. Google “adoption blogs” and you’ll find that tons of people adopt more than one orphan. In fact, though we’re just focusing on Haven right now, Liza and I plan on adopting again in the future. So, just to keep things as simple as possible, let’s do this.
By my math, estimates, guesses and optimism, I think about 1 in 8 Christian families need to adopt to solve the world's orphan problem.
One in eight. One in eight Christian families needs to adopt in order to ensure that there are no more orphans in the world. Lack of food, clean water, war, terrorism, sex trafficking, climate change, energy alternatives… all of these are huge issues facing the world, and they just scratch the surface. The Church can do all kinds of good in any of these areas. But when it comes to the issue of orphans, we can not only do some good. We can do all the good. We can see that issue completely resolved.
Again, I don’t think every Christian or Christian family should adopt. But all Christians should care for orphans. I think the best way to do that is to adopt. The second best way? Help someone else adopt.
So… which one will you do?