Steven Curtis Chapman Calls Adoption ‘The Visible Gospel’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Kirk Cameron and Steven Curtis Chapman are sharing their thoughts on the life-changing experience of adopting a child.
“We are both adoptive fathers,” Cameron started. He and wife Chelsea adopted the first four of their six children, while Chapman and his wife Mary Beth have three adopted daughters.
Chapman said the adoption process has “transformed” his family, adding, “What a picture of the Gospel!”
“I think it’s John Piper that says it’s the visible gospel, adoption,” the musician continued. “It’s this tangible experience or expression of what we as the sons and daughters of the living God have experienced. We get to reenact that, we get to see that unfold in real time when we enter into the miracle of adoption.”
Cameron shared that his wife was adopted as well, saying, “My whole family exists because of the beauty of adoption.”
Chapman also mentioned Show Hope, the foundation he and his wife started to help families who want to adopt but struggle to do so financially.
“Every year, millions of people consider growing their family through adoption, but only a small percentage of those who consider adoption actually move forward,” the Show Hope website reads. “The financial barrier that exists within adoption is one of the main reasons for this.”
It continues, “Through our cornerstone work, Adoption Aid, Show Hope has impacted more than 8,600 children from more than 60 countries, including the U.S., by awarding financial grants to families who are on the adoption journey. The original vision of Show Hope’s Founders, Adoption Aid, continues to impact hundreds of children and families each year.”
Chapman has previously spoken about how adopting children has changed his life.
In a conversation at Liberty University, he said, “One of the things that I learned about God on our adoption journey was that God is wild and God is winsome.”
“I recognized my own spiritual journey and my own [spiritual] adoptedness,” Mary Beth added. “Standing in the hallway receiving [daughter Shaohannah] was more than standing in the hallway receiving our daughter; it was me realizing that that was my experience [as a child of God].”
Movieguide® previously reported on Chapman and his wife’s adoption process:
They had three biological children (Emily, Caleb and Will) and adopted two girls from China, Shaohanna Hope and Stevey Joy and thought their quiver was full when Chapman met, on another trip to China, a little girl Maria Sue. Initially, they both agreed it would be too much to take on another child, but they soon had a change of heart as he recounts the story:
“My wife was not with me, and I called home ,and I said, ‘Sweetheart, I met this little girl her name is Maria. She needs a family.’ My wife stopped me in the middle of my sentence and said ‘Don’t even think about it. No, there’s no room here and we can’t do this, you know?’ And I said ‘I know. I know. Just pray for Maria. She just needs a family’ And I don’t know why she grabbed my heart like she did. And I came home from that trip and by the time I got home my wife had paperwork, waiting on the kitchen counter, that she’d already started the adoption papers for us to go back in and get Maria and bring her home.
So that’s how we became the parents of six children. Not only would we adopt our three daughters but my wife and I would start an organization called Show Hope that helps families that want to adopt that can’t afford it.
This miracle of adoption… we say it was like the glorious wrecking of our plan and threw our lives upside down in so many ways. But also, again, just brought so much goodness and richness into our lives.”
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