Father to the Fatherless

The theme for our banquet this year will be Father to the Fatherless. Of course, that describes our Heavenly Father and his role in the lives of his children. But at CSC, it has an additional meaning. We have some very dedicated, loving and compassionate men working here who have taken on the fatherly role for children who have lost their biological fathers. Some of their fathers died, some just left them. Some were loving, but most were absent or abusive. Most of the kids that come to live with us have had a very bad experience with their father.

CSC plays a crucially important role for these kids in three ways. First, we try to restore trust. At CSC they have subsitute father images who offer understanding, acceptance and loving discipline - something most of our children have never experienced. Our desire is to stop the cycle of abuse and neglect in our children's lives, and it often starts with the love of a CSC father, either a house father, or a staff member.

Secondly, we are preparing many of our children to be able to accept the love of an adoptive father once they are placed. That might sound a little simpler than it actually is. They need to learn about expectations, and learn to accept that they will be loved and not abandoned by the next father in their lives. They need to observe good, Christian men who, though far from perfect, are doing their best to follow biblical patterns for their lives and for their parenting of their own children and the CSC kids.

The third way that the fathers of CSC impact our children is helping teaching them, through their example, about the unconditional love of their Heavenly Father. This is crucial for them. They need to be able to love God, to experience his love for them and to accept his gift of salvation. Those kids who have experienced the anger, violence and lack of acceptance from an earthly father might have a problem with the portrayal of God as a loving Heavenly Dad. If we are doing our job well at CSC, we can be giving them a different way of thinking about what a dad is.

We look forward to developing this exciting theme at our banquet on April 28th at Bethel University.