When I became part of the leadership in our church community – and every community is unique – I was quickly drawn into the wonder that is choosing the church mission partners. It felt really important to me that this partnership would be more than just a list of charities and organisations and a cheque in the post. We embarked upon a journey as a team, exploring who we should partner with and in what way. We carefully considered a number of organisations that we felt reflected the heart of God and that we believed we could connect with spiritually, prayerfully and relationally. Home for Good is one of the charities our journey brought us to, and now that path takes us onward as we continue to figure out what this partnership looks like on a daily, weekly, quarterly and annual basis.

A huge part of our growth and development as a church has been in our Life Groups – this is the name we give to our regular weekly small groups for our congregation to connect with one another. We are in the process of setting up our 15th group, which is something that makes my vicar’s heart so glad! Each of those groups regularly receive material and prayer requests from Home for Good, and I am confident that every time that happens, those words are held, engaged with and prayed for by more than 200 people.

One of our Life Groups, which I myself am a part of, has a number of members who have only very recently decided to follow Jesus. We were turning to the book of Colossians together, and one individual shared that he wasn’t yet familiar enough with the Bible in his hands to know which book was where, or how to find the pages we were about to read together. I thought some index tabs or page markers could be a helpful tool in helping him get to know his Bible, so I brought him into my office; I was sure I had some in a drawer somewhere! He spotted some Home for Good material sitting on my table, and he enquired about it. “Home for Good – what’s that about?” I had the opportunity to share about the need for safe and loving homes for children and young people here in the UK, to share with him the vision that the Church can make a difference, and let him know that this is something that’s important to us as a church family. Integrating the mission of Home for Good into our wider church culture and our conversation with our community means that individuals who are new to or exploring faith and church can quickly understand that this is something that matters, and that feels like a powerful thing.

So, why is it something that matters?

Oscar* and Val* are a couple who are part of our church. More than 35 years ago, they were foster carers. They can’t believe that our church cares about Home for Good and fostering, adoption and supported lodgings! I feel that God is giving honour to their story and their service, and there is something truly beautiful, redemptive and kingdom-like about that.

Helen* is in her late twenties and is single, and her life hasn’t turned out exactly as she imagined it might. She is just beginning to explore fostering and adoption with Home for Good, reimagining what her family could look like and exploring what it could mean for her to offer welcome and care to a child or young person. That is a consequence of our church partnership, and that has moved me deeply.

I hope that our partnership with Home for Good mobilises disproportionate amounts of people to give generously of their time, their resources and their ideas. My hope is that we would bring honour to many, many stories from individuals and families in our community who have welcomed care-experienced children in to their homes. I want to mobilise a crowd of ‘Helens’, of all ages and stages, so that precious children will receive the love and stability they deserve in a safe and welcoming home.

I’d love to help our church community step into meaningful partnership in all sorts of ways, because Jesus is good. Whatever life serves up, we can be part of his kingdom, his goodness and his grace. That makes such a difference.

*names have been changed for anonymity