Antioch Waltham's ministry to vulnerable children and families
THE VISION
Every child has a name, a story, and infinite value in God’s eyes and in ours as a church.
Every child deserves a safe and loving home that will reflect God’s heart of love for them, even amidst their fear and trauma. God is the “father to the fatherless” and the “defender of widows.” He “puts the lonely in families.” Christ and His church are the solution to both the local orphan crisis and the chronic issues that cause families to break apart in the first place.
We are launching Mosaic Ministries in response to our congregations’ desire to serve our community. During a period of congregational discernment for our 5-7 year vision, we felt God directing us to focus on serving vulnerable children and families. Mosaic Ministries is a core ministry of our church, connected to our deepest vision of what it looks like to demonstrate Christ-like love in our community.
THE NEED
Our communities are plagued by chronic and systemic issues that lead to rejection, trauma, addiction, and abuse.
Ultimately, this leads to families that are broken apart. The opioid crisis, alongside the steady decline in the number of foster homes, has led to a major shortage of homes and a quickly growing foster care crisis. Beyond the foster care crisis, countless families in our state face broken marriages and toxic relationships.
OUR STRATEGY
We believe that the Church can be the solution.
Christ creates in us compassion that compels us to enter into places of hurting; to love children who are vulnerable, displaced, or suffering trauma; and, to bring hope to parents dealing with the pain of their own abuse, addiction, and traumas. We, as recipients of God’s extravagant grace and redemption, must humbly build relationships with hurting parents and their children. As their pain becomes our pain and their burden becomes our burden, their victories will also become our victories, and their joy, our joy. When we see pain in our communities, will we enter in with our neighbors and together cry out for something better?
Mosaic Ministries is our church’s overarching ministry to vulnerable children and families. Our initial strategy is to respond to the foster-care crisis in Massachusetts, and in the future we hope to expand even beyond that. In Massachusetts alone there are more than 9,000 children in foster care, and approximately 2,800 of those children are waiting for an adoptive family. Our church equips and supports families who choose to foster through our Wrap-Around Care ministry. We are also building a strong relationship with DCF (Department of Children and Families).
TAKE ACTION
Though not everyone can foster or adopt, we want to empower everyone in our church to be a part of Mosaic, if they feel God's leading. To get involved, email us for more information.
For further resources, see below: