Pastor's Corner: Child Bridge informational meeting set in Havre

On Thursday, October 7th, 2021, the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association had its second meeting of the new school year, 2021-2022. Our special guest was Andrew Morrow, Child Bridge's Great Falls regional director. We made plans for his coming to our Havre area churches to recruit new foster parents and promote Child Bridge's future ministry here in Havre.

On Sunday, October 24th, Andrew came and preached during the morning service at Havre Assembly of God Church. He outlined the immense need for foster parenting in the state of Montana, and specifically in the Great Falls region, of which Havre is a part. There are 3,400 children in Montana in need of foster parents, and 500 of them are right here in our region! Andrew drove the point home to us that, as we are the hands and feet of Jesus here in our area, God is looking for people to become foster parents to the children, who, through no fault of their own, are having to be removed from their homes and are needing different, healthy homes - and yet, the children are not necessarily wanting that. This is one of the reasons foster parenting is so difficult, and also why foster parents need God's help, specifically the help that Child Bridge can provide.

If you will remember from one of my previous columns, "Child Bridge's mission is to find and equip foster and adoptive families for Montana children who have been victims of abuse or neglect. This mission fits with the scriptures: Psalm 68:5-6, "5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. 6 God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land." Montana children who have been victims of abuse or neglect may not be technically or literally "fatherless," but their parents are definitely not present in the ways that parents should be present in their lives. CPS - Child Placement Services - does their best to place these children in foster or adoptive families - a monumental task that cannot be and should not be done by CPS alone. Child Bridge comes alongside CPS and focuses on equipping foster and adoptive parents to better provide safe, loving families with safe, loving parenting - with no abuse and no neglect. So many times, these abused and/or neglected children come into their foster or adoptive families with trauma. These foster and adoptive parents and families need extra equipping and training to more effectively deal with the trauma these children face.'

After that church service in which Andrew Morrrow shared the ministry of Child Bridge with us, there was an informational meeting at noon. Lunch and child care were provided for those attending the meeting.

Andrew is coming to Havre again Sunday, November 14th, 2021. This time he will be involved with the Van Orsdel United Methodist Church and First Lutheran Church, again presenting at an informational meeting. Anyone interested in finding out more about foster parenting in our area should attend that meeting. Also, anyone interested in helping to further the ministry of Child Bridge in Havre should attend that meeting. For more information about this upcoming meeting, please contact Pastor Sue King (Van Orsdel) or Pastor Megan Hoewisch (First Lutheran).

Child Bridge will begin having monthly meetings here in Havre starting in January of 2022. When and where they will take place has not yet been determined. The instruction and equipping piece will be provided digitally from the Child Bridge Great Falls office. We here in Havre will provide the hosts/facilitators, the meal, and the child care. This is where we all come in. We are looking for volunteer groups within each of the churches that will take turns from month to month providing the volunteers for these Child Bridge meetings so that the foster families in our area receive a good meal and then the foster parents receive encouraging, informative instruction, followed by great discussion - all in a location where their foster children are being taken care of close by, but not with them (they get a break).

Providing the hosts/facilitators, the meal, and the child care during each month's Child Bridge Meeting is how our churches here in Havre are going to "own" Havre's Child Bridge ministry. It is GHAMA's hope and prayer that, as we again establish a Child Bridge presence here in Havre, each participating church will build a Child Bridge support team so that adoptive and foster families can be further resourced with valuable training and help in taking care of children needing help in our area.

At GHAMA's monthly meeting next Thursday, November 4th, 2021, we will be finalizing these Child Bridge plans and also discussing how our participating churches can bless our community during the upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. Blessings!

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Written by the Rev. Edroy "Curt" Curtis, president of the Greater Havre Area Ministerial Association, chaplain of Northern Montana Health Care and lead pastor of Havre Assembly of God Church. Quotes found at the website http://www.childbridgemontana.org .