Sometimes The Gospel is an Extra Bed

by Matt Cobb

Kayt and I have been foster parents for almost seven years. As we got our first three placements, faces lit up. Questions were asked. “What do you need? How can we help?” Seven years and now thirteen (!) placements later, a lot of what we get is “here they go again…” To be fair, we also say “here we go again…” quite a bit to each other. It’s usually preceded by the phone ringing, Kayt giving the eyes, and me asking ‘You ready?” And off we go.   

If you’re not aware, May is Foster Care Awareness Month. For most people, that means a social media graphic, a statistic thrown out, or maybe a passing thought before moving on with the day. But for thousands of children, foster care is not a campaign or a hashtag. It’s a trash bag packed in a hurry. It’s learning new rules in a new house. It’s wondering if adults are temporary.

And honestly, I think the Church should care deeply about that. Not because it’s trendy. Not because it’s political. Not even because it’s admirable. But because Scripture talks about people like this constantly. The Church has always been known to be pro-life, but from my seat, I have known the Church to be far more pro-birth than pro-life. We preach the biblical stance on no abortion, but often lose sight of the needs of a child (or the parents) once they are born. That is a hard place for me to be in this scenario as someone who is both pro-birth, but also willing to accept that our place as believers is to support and help those who can’t, even at the inconvenience to ourselves.  

There is a statistic out there that states that “If every church in America had just one family to foster or house a child, there would be no homeless or waiting children.” The math behind the quote is generally based on roughly 350,000+ churches in the U.S., and there are far fewer children needing foster placements than that number of churches/families. Roughly 315,000 in 2025.

In the book of James, we’re told that “pure and undefiled religion” (1:27) includes caring for orphans and widows in their distress. Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly describes Himself as a defender of the vulnerable, the forgotten, and the fatherless. That means foster care is not just a social issue. It’s close to the heart of God. And maybe closer to the responsibility of believers than we sometimes realize, and at least closer than what we want to allow ourselves.

Because the number one thing I have heard over these last seven years is this: “Must be hard to give them back. Oh, I could never. I couldn’t let them go.” In the right situation, it’s completely appropriate to give them back. That means that it worked. The parents walked the road they needed to and are now capable of raising the child that the State said they needed to. I cannot wait to give kids back to their parents. But they are home and loved as long as they need to be in our home. 

The Gospel Is an Adoption Story

One of the most beautiful pictures in the Bible is that God did not simply forgive us and leave us at a distance. He brought us into His family. The Epistle to the Romans talks about believers receiving “the Spirit of adoption.” Think about that for a second. Adoption is not just a modern legal process. It is one of the primary ways God chose to describe salvation itself.

We were wandering. We were separated. We were brought in.

That does not mean foster care is easy, clean, or simple. But it does mean that opening your home to a child reflects something deeply biblical. It mirrors the heart of a God who welcomes people in. Foster care becomes a small picture of a much bigger rescue story.

Foster Care Is Beautiful and Hard

I think sometimes people avoid the conversation because they assume they already know the answer.

“We couldn’t do that.”
“We’re too busy.”
“Our house is too chaotic.”
“It would hurt too much.”

And to be fair, foster care is hard. Loving people always is. There are goodbyes. There is uncertainty. There are complicated stories and messy situations. There are moments that stretch patience, faith, and emotional capacity. There are 9 pm calls with a teenager showing up on your steps at 11 pm with their things in a trash bag. But most things God calls people into throughout Scripture seem to begin with people feeling unqualified.

Moses didn’t think he could lead. Peter was impulsive and inconsistent. Esther stepped into something terrifying without guarantees. God has always had a habit of working through willing people rather than perfectly prepared ones. He’s always done that with me. 

Not Everyone Will Foster. Everyone Can Care.

This part matters. Not every family is called to become foster parents. But I do think every believer can move toward vulnerable children somehow.

Some people may foster. Some may provide meals. Some may babysit for exhausted foster parents. Some may help with clothing, school supplies, or Christmas gifts. Some may mentor teenagers aging out of the system. Some may simply be the kind of friend who shows up consistently. The Church works best when everyone carries part of the weight. Too often, foster families are treated like superheroes when they actually need teammates.

Awareness Should Lead Somewhere

Foster Care Awareness Month is valuable if it moves us beyond awareness. Because children do not need us to merely notice the problem, they need people willing to step into it with compassion, wisdom, patience, and faithfulness. And maybe the first step is not asking, “Could we ever do foster care?”

Maybe the first step is simply asking God: “What does obedience look like for us?”

For some families, like us, that answer may eventually involve an extra bedroom. For others, it may mean supporting the families already saying yes. But either way, caring for vulnerable children has never been outside the mission of the Church. It has always been part of it.