Summit VIII was nothing short of amazing. Even for those of us who spent a lot of time scurrying behind the scenes, the passion and wisdom and experiences brought not only by formal presenters, but by virtually every attendee, left us full-to-the-brim. Many of the workshop and plenary sessions will be available for download online in the weeks ahead, and we’ll share more stories and reflections as well. But here’s one window from an article in the Christian Post that accurately captured the theme that pulsed in every aspect of Summit: Justice and Mercy Flow from the Gospel.
LAKE FOREST, CA — A growing movement among Christians to combat a global orphan crisis should not just be a passing fad, an evangelical pastor insisted during the opening session of a two-day summit. Instead, caring for orphans should reflect the heart of God as shown in the Bible.
“Sometimes we can be faddish about justice issues, where it becomes the ‘in’ thing to do,” said Crawford Loritts, the senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Ga. “We need to see how profoundly, deeply rooted this (orphan care issue) is in the very heart of God. The Gospel is about justice, and justice is rooted in the Gospel. You cannot speak about the Bible without speaking about justice.
“The heart of God is a heart of inclusion. It’s all about bringing people together. People were meant to be a part of something that’s inclusive. People were meant to belong,” Loritts explained.
A worldwide online audience and about 2,000 people in attendance at the Christian Alliance for Orphans’ annual summit at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., were asked to take a step closer toward helping mobilize churches to end the crisis.
Jedd Medefind, president of the Alliance, urged Christians to help connect orphans to families “not from guilt, or from duty, or even idealism, but from the simple truth that He loved us first.”
“That’s why we say justice and mercy flows from the Gospel,” Medefind added….
READ the FULL ARTICLE HERE.