Stories are some of the most powerful tools we have to help people understand the needs of vulnerable children and families and inspire them to respond.
A compelling story can make an overwhelming issue feel personal, help someone see an opportunity they hadn’t considered before and move them toward meaningful action. And incorporating powerful and compelling stories into your Pure Religion Sunday experience is one way you can help inspire people to long-term engagement. But when the stories we tell involve children and families who have experienced trauma, loss, separation or significant hardship, we carry a unique responsibility.
The people whose stories we share are more important than the outcomes we hope those stories produce.
Six key principles of storytelling on Pure Religion Sunday
At CAFO, we believe the images and stories we share are representations of real people, each created in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect and protection. Storytelling, therefore, requires both intentionality and discernment. Below are six principles of storytelling to consider before sharing someone’s story on Pure Religion Sunday:
1. Protect dignity before pursuing impact.
The first question we should ask is not simply whether a story will move an audience but whether sharing it will honor the person whose story it is.
Powerful storytelling doesn’t require displaying someone’s worst moments to produce an emotional response. Children and families should never be reduced to their most difficult experiences or portrayed primarily through their vulnerability. We want people to see their humanity, strength, relationships and inherent worth.
Images of suffering and stories of hardship can certainly communicate the seriousness of a need. But when used carelessly, they can perpetuate stereotypes, exploit vulnerability and reinforce unhealthy “rescuer” dynamics between those who serve and those who are being served.
CAFO’s Wise and Honoring Representations of Children in Media specifically connects wise storytelling to child protection, emphasizing the importance of guarding children against exploitation. The goal is to awaken genuine compassion rooted in understanding rather than generating an emotional reaction rooted primarily in guilt or pity.
2. Recognize that someone’s story belongs to them.
We may have the privilege of walking alongside a family, serving a child or witnessing an incredible transformation, but that doesn’t automatically give us the right to tell their story.
Appropriate storytelling requires informed consent, respect for confidentiality and sensitivity to what individuals may or may not want shared. With children, this includes considering whether they are developmentally able to understand the implications of sharing their experiences publicly, even when a caregiver has granted permission.
3. Tell stories that are truthful, complete and appropriately nuanced.
It’s tempting to simplify stories into neat narratives of hardship, intervention and transformation. But the realities of foster care, adoption, family preservation and global orphan care are rarely that simple.
Ethical storytelling resists exaggeration, oversimplification and manufactured emotional outcomes. It acknowledges complexity and avoids suggesting that a single intervention solved every problem.
For example, a child entering foster care may be experiencing safety and tremendous grief simultaneously. A story that celebrates placement without acknowledging loss can unintentionally communicate an incomplete picture.
4. Recognize people’s agency in their own stories.
The people we serve should be represented as active participants in their lives. This means being attentive to whose voice is heard, whose perspective shapes the narrative and who receives credit for progress. Whenever appropriate and safe, invite individuals to participate in deciding how their stories are told.
We should also be careful with narratives that elevate the organization, volunteer, donor or foster/adoptive parent as the hero while portraying vulnerable children and families primarily as people needing to be rescued.
5. Connect powerful stories to meaningful action.
A story may move someone emotionally, but what happens after that matters just as much.
Effective storytelling helps people understand both the reality of a need and the meaningful role they can play in responding to it. It creates a bridge between awareness and engagement.
For churches and Christian organizations, this means telling stories that invite people into faithful, informed and sustained involvement. Sometimes that next step is fostering or adopting. Other times it’s supporting a family, building relationships, providing practical assistance, praying or investing in the long-term work of strengthening families. Our stories should connect to the next step we are inviting people to take.
6. Use wisdom and discernment when sharing your own story — or your family’s story.
Many of us are passionate about caring for vulnerable children and families because of our own experiences or the experiences of those we love. Some of us are foster or adoptive parents, and some of us might have experienced vulnerability and the child welfare system ourselves. So on Pure Religion Sunday, the story you share might be your own.
All of the above principles of storytelling still apply even when we are sharing our own story. But there are also added layers:
How do I figure out what’s appropriate to share about my story so I don’t share too much, especially if it involves my children? I technically have consent to share it all, but what is wise to share? I think I could tell my story in a more compelling way, but how can I be sure it doesn’t come across as manipulative or share too much about my biological family’s background?
When in doubt, even when it is your story, lean into restraint. What you or your child might feel comfortable sharing today may differ from how you or they will feel in the future.
If you’d like to dig deeper into sharing your story, check out CAFO’s Telling Your Story on-demand workshop, which was created by More Than Enough, our US foster care initiative. It will guide you through telling your story in a way that mobilizes others, honors the complexity of your story and respects all the people in it.
Share stories of impact in both directions
There’s always more than one side to a story! When we tell stories of impact, we naturally tend to focus on the difference being made in the lives of those being served. We share stories of children finding stability, families receiving support and communities experiencing meaningful change. These stories matter. They remind us why the work is important and help people see the tangible difference their involvement can make.
But there’s another side of the story we often overlook: the impact this work is having on those who are serving.
When individuals and churches engage in caring for vulnerable children and families, God is at work in more than one direction. The children and families receiving support are being impacted, but so are the people offering it.
Volunteers are growing in compassion. Relationships are being formed. Faith is being stretched. People are discovering new ways to live out what they believe, and churches are experiencing spiritual formation through the very act of serving others.
Both stories deserve to be told.
This is particularly important in church engagement because our goal extends beyond mobilizing people to meet needs. We also want to help churches recognize how God is using their involvement to shape them as followers of Jesus. When we only tell stories about the impact being made through the Church, we miss opportunities to celebrate the impact God is bringing to the Church.
Sharing stories in both directions gives us a fuller picture of what God is doing. It helps church leaders see that engaging in this work is an opportunity to care for vulnerable children and families while also cultivating discipleship, strengthening community and forming people more deeply into the likeness of Christ.
Stories as catalysts
Pure Religion Sunday is a great opportunity to share stories that celebrate what God is doing in the lives of vulnerable children and families, as well as in the lives of those who are serving them.
As you plan for this Sunday, tell stories that honor the people involved, celebrate the impact being made in both directions and invite others to consider how God might be calling them to participate.
Ultimately, the stories we tell can help make Pure Religion Sunday more than a moment of awareness, opening the door to meaningful engagement long after the day is over.
