Adoption opens doors for ministry in China.

China (MNN)–China often gets a bad rap for being a persecutor of Christians and the church. Also noted is an increasingly large body of Christ.

Many ministries tread carefully when working as a Christian agency in a non-mission capacity. However, that also means their actions must cover the groundwork.

Such is the case for an adoptive family working in China. They recently adopted a little girl through Adoption Associates, a known Christian agency. However, due to their vocation in China, this couple asked to have their names changed for security reasons.

We spoke to the husband, whom we’ll call ‘Mark’. He says a number of reasons factored into their choice to adopt a Chinese child. “Because we were living and working there, it made a lot of sense, logistically, for us. We also thought that, being familiar with the culture and the language, would be helpful for her because we could keep the connection with her in terms of speaking the language to her and going back and being able to be part of the culture again. Aside from that, the children from the Chinese orphanages are usually well cared for. It seemed to work out all the way arouund for us. We wanted a younger child and we were able to get her when she was 10 months old.”

‘Mark’ explains how their adoption through Adoption Associates opened doors for the hope of the Gospel. “The idea of adoption is pretty foreign to most Chinese people because family and bloodline is so important that most people don’t understand why anybody would take into their family, as a member of their family, somebody who wasn’t of their own bloodline.”

‘Mark’ says while theirs wasn’t an overtly evangelistic experience, it did allow them a chance to draw an evangelistic comparison for those asking questions. “In many instances, people seem to be very touched by that. It’s a good introduction and comparison to the heart of God, and adopting us as His children and bringing us into the kingdom.”