The Evangelical Adoption Whisperer

• Post by: Megan Lestino
• January 9, 2016

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches (Updated and Expanded Edition) Russell D. MooreCrossway Books, 2015; 256 pages, $17.99 Dr. Moore shares that he originally wrote Adopted for Life as a resource to lessen the influx of office visits from families with questions on orphan care and adoption. Ultimately, he provided a much greater service with a far broader reach in this in-depth, articulate, and thoughtful review of the many sides of adoption. Touching upon the Christian theological implications, his personal story of becoming an adoptive parent, and his passion for the local church’s responsibility to engage in adoption, Moore’s book is an approachable and helpful guide for prospective or current adoptive parents, theologians, and church members alike—particularly in this second, updated and expanded, edition. “Are they brothers?” “Have you met their real mother?” The Moore family, like most adoptive families, faced such questions from inquisitive strangers, questions that although not necessarily ill-intentioned were at their best ill-informed, and at their worst could cause children to question their sense of belonging in an adoptive family. Although frustrated by these questions, Moore’s responses did the good work of giving his kids a sense of belonging while giving strangers a gentle lesson in adoption sensitivity: he would share that they are brothers now or that they, too, had met their mother, his wife, Maria. Perhaps more interesting, though, are the insights these comments inspired in his theological understanding of adoption. The questions always bothered him, he shared, not only because they dealt with the identity of his family, but because they pointed him to his own struggle and that of all Christians to live out their belief in the authenticity of a gospel that leaves similar questions: “Are you really a son of the living God? Does your God really know you? Are these really your br