PRAYER TEAM
Serving and caring for vulnerable children can be a difficult calling. It’s essential to have this work undergirded by prayer. The prayer team is a group that is committed to praying for our ECI families as well as vulnerable children in our community and world.
This team meets once a month on Sunday evenings to pray together for ongoing needs as well as specific circumstances in the lives of our families and our community.
Interested? Contact Us.
SERVE TEAM
At Summit, we partner with a number of wonderful, hardworking ministries and agencies that care for vulnerable children. We want to be a place that encourages and blesses the organizations in our community. This group strategizes ways that we can care for the workers who are serving day in and day out. This volunteer opportunity would mean blessing one ministry/agency a quarter.
Interested? Contact Us.
Adoption
Adoption is first and foremost a response to the Gospel: the loving Father who sought us, adopted us, and invites us to live as his sons and daughters. When you choose to adopt, you choose to emulate the heart of the Father.
"In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace..."
The decision to adopt, the adoption process, and post-adoption life are not simple or easy. It must be a calling from the Lord. Often times adoptive children have been wounded deeply. Therefore adoptive families must be willing to support, care for, and provide continued care to their adoptive child so that they may experience the wholeness and healing available to them in Christ.
Many families within our church have chosen to adopt, and many of them have gone through the agencies listed on our resource page. These agencies are gospel-centered and we are thankful for our partnerships with them.
Foster Care
Although Foster Care is different from adoption in that it is not designed to be permanent, it is, however, still an active response to the Gospel. A Foster Parent is given the opportunity to display the love of Jesus as they feed, clothe, care for, and welcome the vulnerable into their home and heart.
"For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
Similar to adoption, foster care is not an easy road. The foster care system is primarily designed to reunify children with their biological families, however there are instances when children become available for adoption. Foster care is an incredible opportunity to share the love of Jesus with foster children, their parents, and the foster care system.
We have chosen to partner with One More Child because they are a gospel-centered organization and because they care for and fight for the highest possible good of foster families and the foster children in our community.
Guardian Ad Litem
Another way to serve vulnerable children in the foster care system is through the Guardian ad Litem program. A Guardian ad Litem plays a vital role in the life of the child whom they represent.
Guardians gather information about the child’s life. They meet with the child they represent, the biological family, teachers, and other important people in the child’s life. Based on the information gathered, a Guardian ad Litem speaks on behalf of the child in court and shares their opinion on what is in the child’s best interest.
LEARN HOW TO BECOME A GUARDIAN AD LITEM
Better Together
Better Together is another organization that we partner with that falls under temporary care. Though it is separate from and different than the foster care system, it is designed to come alongside of the foster system and tries to prevent children from ever entering into foster care.
Better Together’s vision is to see families in crisis receive the help and time they need in order to stabilize their lives, thus preventing any possible neglect that could possibly occur without the support they receive through Better Together.
Wrap Around Care
Over the past several years, the Lord has been faithful to call many people from Summit Church to care for vulnerable children. As people continue to step out in faith and participate in foster care and adoption, some significant needs have arisen. Foster and adoptive families are in need of resources and strong support systems. These needs present opportunities for the rest of the church to participate in helping to care for vulnerable children. The Wrap-Around ministry of Summit Church exists to equip and empower God’s people to come along side of adoptive and foster families through prayer, care and service.
Wrap-Around care provides tangible ways of coming alongside foster and adoptive families. The hope of wrap-around care is that as the church comes around these families with support and care, the community will be strengthened and the calling on the adoptive and foster families will be sustainable.
We know that not every Christian is called to become a foster or adoptive parent, but we do believe that every Christian is called to care for the plight of the orphan.
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
The Wrap-Around Ministry provides various avenues for any individual or family to be able to participate in the Every Child Initiative. But more than anything, the Wrap-Around Ministry is a clear example of the members of the body coming together to carry out God’s redemptive mission.
prayer team
Serving and caring for vulnerable children can be a difficult calling. It’s essential to have this work undergirded by prayer. The prayer team is a group that is committed to praying for our ECI families as well as vulnerable children in our community and world.
This team meets once a month on Sunday evenings to pray together for ongoing needs as well as specific circumstances in the lives of our families and our community.
Interested? Contact Us.
CHILDCARE
One of the most significant and universal needs in the area of foster care is free childcare. Foster families have unique and extensive demands on their time. Obligations such as court, Judicial Reviews, WIC appointments and staffings put financial strain on foster families as they pay for childcare in order to attend these appointments. Being a childcare volunteer would help minster to these families as they manage these responsibilities.
(Requirements: Background check, Staff/Elder reference, attend orientation)
Interested? Contact Us.
service / meals
With so many various and specific needs, this aspect of wrap-around care is really wide open. Service could range from mowing lawns, helping with cleaning or laundry, handyman help around the house, or even assisting with construction for those needing help to make their home more functional as they bring in vulnerable children.
Bringing in a new child can be a hectic occasion. Something as simple as having dinner provided can help to ease the transition of adding in a new family member.
(Requirements: Background check for Service projects)
Interested? Contact Us.
mentoring /tutoring
Mentoring involves spending quality time with a foster or adoptive child; building relationships, discipling, and working with the foster/adoptive family to be an additional support to them. Many children who come into care (adoptive or foster) are behind in school, making tutoring a vital need as well. Often these children have not had proper attention and care. They may also have been moved around a great deal and therefore have significant gaps in their education.
(Requirements: Background check, Staff/Elder reference, attend orientation)
Interested? Contact Us.
RESOURCE COORDINATOR
Volunteering as a resource coordinator involves organizing, caring for, overseeing, and advocating for families that have brought in a vulnerable child. Resource coordinators work on behalf of the foster and adoptive families within their designated region. When a family takes a child in, their resource coordinator is notified. The resource coordinator then does the work of finding out the family's needs (crib, clothes, booster seat, meals) and works towards collecting all that they can in order to meet the needs of that family. Resource Coordinators are also responsible to continue checking in with the families and making sure that the families feel cared for and supported. This is a year-long volunteer commitment.
Interested? Contact Us.
RESpite care
This ministry involves helping out foster families who are in need of an extended break or are traveling.
(Requirements: Background check, Staff/Elder reference, attend orientation)
Interested? Contact Us.
DONATIONS
Have items that you could donate for use by a family that is caring for a vulnerable child? Please bring items to Hope 4 Kids located at:
16440 South Tamiami Trail
Fort Myers, FL 33908
Other opportunities
Pregnancy Resource Centers
We cannot talk about caring for vulnerable children without recognizing the unborn. All life is precious to God, as he is the Creator of life and created man in his own image.
"...for you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made."
We have been blessed to connect with gospel-centered pregnancy and medical resource centers in our area that serve women, men, and children during the pivotal time of an unplanned pregnancy. We support these organizations and their staff because they firmly believe that if the heart of the mother and father truly grasp the reality of Christ and his work on the cross for us, then they will deeply desire to care for life as preciously as Jesus did.
Find Out How to Get Involved with Pregnancy Resource Centers
Human Trafficking
Human Trafficking is a devastating reality of the fallen world that we live in, and it is an issue that cannot be ignored. Our desire is to see the needy saved, the afflicted defended, and the oppressed rescued.
"For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight."
We partner with three organizations that are engaged in the fight against human trafficking. Wings of Shelter not only brings restoration to girls rescued out of trafficking, but also serves our community with education and awareness. One More Child also works hard to educate our community as well as provide gospel-centered, trauma-informed care to victims of trafficking. Into the Jordan is located in the heart of downtown Fort Myers and provides counseling and help for trafficked and exploited women.