(Note: these portraits of people who have inspired me in showing hope to orphans will not fall in order of importance, though this first person certainly is near the top on my list)
Few people have helped me catch the vision of caring for the fatherless like Emily Chapman. Her name is familiar to many, recognized as belonging to the oldest daughter of well-known Christian pop singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman. Though I have never met this amazing young woman (but hope to someday!), God has certainly used the very public platform He’s given to her and her family to impress on me the need to show hope to orphans and advocate for adoption, especially in the Church. For those of you who don’t know the story, Emily played a huge part in her family’s decision to adopt three little girls from China in recent years. At age 13, she began campaigning for her family to adopt and persevered in prayer (despite initial resistance from her parents to the idea) until her efforts were at last rewarded with the adoption of Shaohannah a few years later. Stevey Joy and Maria soon followed in joining the Chapman family. Emily’s example as a prayer warrior, even at a young age, has been inspiring to me itself, but she has taken the call to Show Hope much farther since. She has spoken at conferences, written articles, blogged, and joined staff with the non-profit organization her parents started called Shaohannah’s Hope (which I highly recommend supporting if you’re able. It is a wonderful ministry). She has shown herself to be a passionate advocate for the fatherless and an inspiration to many. I look up to her in many ways and am so challenged by her example of how a fellow young person (just a few years older than me) can do so much to spread the vision of showing hope to so many. God has truly used Emily Chapman’s model to awaken my own heart to the needs of orphans and motivate me to stop sitting around and do something with this call. To close, I’d like to give you a glimpse of this incredible woman’s heart for orphans and adoption by sharing some of my favorite lines she’s written and quotes she’s shared. I hope they encourage and challenge you like they have me!
Few people have helped me catch the vision of caring for the fatherless like Emily Chapman. Her name is familiar to many, recognized as belonging to the oldest daughter of well-known Christian pop singer/songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman. Though I have never met this amazing young woman (but hope to someday!), God has certainly used the very public platform He’s given to her and her family to impress on me the need to show hope to orphans and advocate for adoption, especially in the Church. For those of you who don’t know the story, Emily played a huge part in her family’s decision to adopt three little girls from China in recent years. At age 13, she began campaigning for her family to adopt and persevered in prayer (despite initial resistance from her parents to the idea) until her efforts were at last rewarded with the adoption of Shaohannah a few years later. Stevey Joy and Maria soon followed in joining the Chapman family. Emily’s example as a prayer warrior, even at a young age, has been inspiring to me itself, but she has taken the call to Show Hope much farther since. She has spoken at conferences, written articles, blogged, and joined staff with the non-profit organization her parents started called Shaohannah’s Hope (which I highly recommend supporting if you’re able. It is a wonderful ministry). She has shown herself to be a passionate advocate for the fatherless and an inspiration to many. I look up to her in many ways and am so challenged by her example of how a fellow young person (just a few years older than me) can do so much to spread the vision of showing hope to so many. God has truly used Emily Chapman’s model to awaken my own heart to the needs of orphans and motivate me to stop sitting around and do something with this call. To close, I’d like to give you a glimpse of this incredible woman’s heart for orphans and adoption by sharing some of my favorite lines she’s written and quotes she’s shared. I hope they encourage and challenge you like they have me!
“People are depressed, others are dying, orphans are waiting, and children starving. So we ask, ‘God, where are You, on this earth, amidst the mess and the muck and hurt and the pain and the wars and the death and the brokenness?’ He said, ‘I am in you.’” ---Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Autumn 2007, p. 4.
“Why do I want to be with those in need? Maybe it’s because that’s where Jesus so often went in His life. I want His purpose. Maybe it’s because Jesus said He is the one I serve when I serve the least of these; and I want His joy. Maybe it’s also because that’s where I need to be for the sake of my faith. James 2 says that if I have faith but I don’t provide for those who have material needs, then my faith is dead. I don’t want a dead faith. I want an authentic faith that’s alive. So that’s why my family is involved with orphans.” ---Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Autumn 2007, p. 4.
“I think we, as the active body of Christ, are on the cusp of a revolution in outreach ministry. A generation is rising up [yeah!] that is not only willing to meet the practical needs of those who are broken, but are ready and wanting to marry social activism with the hope of the gospel. Because that’s what faith is according to Hebrews 11:1—evidence of our hope, the substance of what we believe. And it looks a lot like love.” ---Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Autumn 2007, p. 5. Interjection is mine. :)
“Hollywood has made social activism attractive and appealing. However, I am eager to see a faith-based group of teenagers and young adults come to the front lines in the fight against social injustice. After all, it is we Christians who have the best example of a humanitarian to follow. Jesus came and not only healed the leper, but he walked up to the leper and healed him through physical touch. What a radical way of ministering to people in his own day and age! Who did more for humanity than Jesus?
It is the great responsibility of the church, as the living body of Christ in our hurting world, to turn outward and make the vertical love we receive from God a horizontal reality to those around us. When I take time to sit at the foot of the cross and reflect on the hope that was so undeservedly shown to me by my broken and humble Savior, I am motivated and even excited to turn around and show hope to my neighbors who are hurting and in need.” ---Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Autumn 2007, p. 5
“God does get all the glory for all the amazing things he is doing in the realm of orphan care/advocacy! I love that he is inviting us in, as his dearly loved children, to be a part of showing hope to his other dearly loved children. What an amazingly gracious God we serve.” ---from an email
“When you experience firsthand, with your own eyes and own hands, what breaks the heart of the God we serve, you can’t help caring and desiring to show hope. When Jesus came and lived among humanity 2,000 years ago, he came to the sickly and the ill to comfort, heal and serve. We want to be his hands and feet by going to the orphans of China and loving them because Christ has first loved us. We realize that without his love and sacrificial death on the cross, we would be orphans of a sort. We would not be able to belong to God’s righteous family. However, because of Christ’s death on the cross, we can now be adopted heirs into the family of God! How amazing! Understanding the love we have been shown encourages us and inspires us to turn outwards and love others by showing them hope!” ---from an email
“What is so amazing and unique about this gathering [the Adoption and Orphan Care Summit] is that it seeks to marry the call to holiness that marks the evangelicals of my parent’s generation with the active love that my generation yearns to take part in. You are bringing together the first and second halves of the James 1:27 mandate, ‘…to care for orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained by the world.’” ---in her speech to the Adoption and Orphan Care Summit, 2007. Quoted in Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Summer 2007, p. 4.
*This quote has been a special inspiration to me as I seek to Show Hope. It makes me excited about what my generation can do, but also challenged to combine the holiness required from the second part of James 1:27 with the “active love” I long to show, as Emily says. May we be a generation who can truly live both parts of this verse out!
“God does get all the glory for all the amazing things he is doing in the realm of orphan care/advocacy! I love that he is inviting us in, as his dearly loved children, to be a part of showing hope to his other dearly loved children. What an amazingly gracious God we serve.” ---from an email
“When you experience firsthand, with your own eyes and own hands, what breaks the heart of the God we serve, you can’t help caring and desiring to show hope. When Jesus came and lived among humanity 2,000 years ago, he came to the sickly and the ill to comfort, heal and serve. We want to be his hands and feet by going to the orphans of China and loving them because Christ has first loved us. We realize that without his love and sacrificial death on the cross, we would be orphans of a sort. We would not be able to belong to God’s righteous family. However, because of Christ’s death on the cross, we can now be adopted heirs into the family of God! How amazing! Understanding the love we have been shown encourages us and inspires us to turn outwards and love others by showing them hope!” ---from an email
“What is so amazing and unique about this gathering [the Adoption and Orphan Care Summit] is that it seeks to marry the call to holiness that marks the evangelicals of my parent’s generation with the active love that my generation yearns to take part in. You are bringing together the first and second halves of the James 1:27 mandate, ‘…to care for orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained by the world.’” ---in her speech to the Adoption and Orphan Care Summit, 2007. Quoted in Shaohannah’s Hope Today, Summer 2007, p. 4.
*This quote has been a special inspiration to me as I seek to Show Hope. It makes me excited about what my generation can do, but also challenged to combine the holiness required from the second part of James 1:27 with the “active love” I long to show, as Emily says. May we be a generation who can truly live both parts of this verse out!
As you can see, many of these quotes come from a wonderful article Emily wrote in the Autumn 2007 issue of Shaohannah's Hope Today. I would greatly encourage you to read this article if you can, because it is a challenging call for us all to Show Hope.
Have any of you been inspired to care for orphans through the example of a peer? Or maybe some of you have also been blessed by watching Emily Chapman from afar. Whoever's inspired you, whether they're near or far, a close friend or distant acquaintance, I'd love for you to post a comment about them. Let's encourage each other by sharing the stories of fellow young people who have inspired us!
Photo copyright of Shaohannah's Hope. Scanned with permission from the cover page of "Shaohannah's Hope Today", Autumn 2007.
3 comments:
Hi Annie...
This is an interesting story about Emily Chapman. It reminds me of you! :o) I checked out the other website, and Victoria and Savannah want to peruse it as well. I now have another friend interested in adopting a child from somewhere around the world. They are looking into South America, China and a few other places. God is amazing, isn't He?
Love you, Aunt Alison
That's so neat that the miracle of adoption is spreading to more of your friends! May He get the glory!
Emily is truly an inspiration, isn't she? And so are you, Annie! May others be inspired, as well, through your website. God's love is being spread around the world.
Love, Nana
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