By David Melber | BCH Chief Executive Officer
In 1792, as William Carey prepared to leave England to carry the gospel to India, he compared the mission to going down into a deep, unexplored mine. “I will go down,” he told his friends, “if you will hold the rope.” Andrew Fuller and a small circle of pastors made that promise. For years they prayed, gave, wrote letters and kept the work going from home. Carey went down. They held on. Neither could have done it alone.
I think about that picture often, and especially at Thanksgiving. It describes what God has been doing through His Church at BCH since the beginning.
In 1885, John Mills went church by church across North Carolina with a burden for children who had no one. Churches said yes. They gave, they prayed, and they sent their people. Churches started this ministry, and churches have carried it ever since. This month, as we gather for our annual convention and churches across our state receive the Annual Offering, I want to thank you for holding the rope. Every child who has found safety, family and hope through BCH has been carried in part by your faithfulness.
Bringing children home
You will hear us say something more often in the months ahead: BCH means bringing children home. It is the simplest way we know to describe why we exist.
We are bringing children home to family. Every child needs safe, lasting family. Foster care provides it for now; reunification and adoption provide it for good. The first goal of foster care is always reunification. When a child goes back to his or her parents, it is hard but right, and a foster family who loved that child well has sent a little missionary home.
We are bringing children home to community. They need belonging that continues beyond a placement or program. Belonging is exactly what a local church was designed to give.
And we are bringing children home to Christ. The gospel is our motivation, and the Church is central to the mission. Counseling and support have great value, but only Jesus has the power to change a child’s circumstances, mind, body and future.
Why the rope matters
More than 14,000 children pass through North Carolina’s foster care system in a given year, and about 11,000 are in care on any given day. Each one needs someone willing to go down: a foster family, an adoptive family, or cottage parents who provide care as a bridge until a child can go home.
But those who go down need someone holding the rope. Foster and adoptive families carry real weight. Children who have come from hard places bring grief, fear and trauma through the front door with them. Families who feel alone are families who get tired. Families surrounded by a praying, trained and present church are families who keep saying yes.
The Church is God’s Plan for serving the vulnerable and pointing them to the gospel. That is why we are inviting every church in North Carolina to Hold the Rope through three simple steps:
- PRAY. Prayer is where every yes begins. We are asking God for 5,000 prayer partners by the end of 2027 who will pray faithfully for children in care, for their parents, and for the families who serve them. Would you be one of them? Become a prayer partner.
- TRAIN. Loving children from hard places well takes understanding. BCH offers gospel-centered, trauma-informed training that helps church members, teachers and volunteers understand why a child reacts the way he or she does and how to respond with patience and grace.
- SUPPORT. Rope holding (you may know it as wraparound support) looks like a meal on a hard week, a trained babysitter so parents can rest, a ride to an appointment, a friend who shows up and stays. These ordinary acts of love tell a family, “You are not doing this alone.”
As your church prays, trains, and supports, BCH is here to lead you as your partner for foster care licensing and adoption, equipping the families God raises up among you to foster or adopt. Some in your church will be called to go down. All of us are called to hold the rope.
Our thanks and an invitation
This Thanksgiving, I am grateful to God for you. Your gifts to the Annual Offering make it possible for a child to be cared for today and for a family to be ready tomorrow. Because of generous donors, your gift will be matched, doubling its impact for children and families.
If you are attending the NC Baptist Annual Meeting in Greensboro, please stop by the BCH booth. We would love to meet you, pray with you and talk about what holding the rope could look like in your church.
Carey went down because someone promised to hold on. Today, children across North Carolina are waiting for families to go down for them, and those families are waiting for a church to hold the rope.
Thank you for holding on. Let’s keep bringing children home together.
Questions about holding the rope
What does it mean for a church to “hold the rope”?
Holding the rope means a church surrounds foster and adoptive families with prayer, training and practical support so they never serve alone. The phrase comes from missionary William Carey, who told his friends in 1792, “I will go down if you will hold the rope.” Foster and adoptive families are the ones who go down; church members hold the rope with meals, rides, childcare, encouragement and prayer.
What does BCH mean?
BCH means bringing children home: home to family, home to community and home to Christ. Foster care provides family for now, reunification and adoption provide it for good, the local church provides lasting belonging, and the gospel offers every child hope in Jesus.
How can my church get started?
Every church can take three simple steps: pray, train and support. Start by praying faithfully for children in care, their parents and the families who serve them, then equip your people through trauma-informed training and build practical support around the foster and adoptive families God has already placed in your church. Visit bchfamily.org/for-churches to take the next step.
How do I become a BCH prayer partner?
Sign up at go.bchfamily.org/pray-with-us. Prayer partners receive a monthly prayer email with specific ways to pray for children in care, their parents and the families who serve them. BCH is asking God for 5,000 prayer partners by the end of 2027.
How many children are in foster care in North Carolina?
More than 14,000 children pass through North Carolina’s foster care system in a given year, and about 11,000 are in care on any given day. Each one needs a family willing to care for them and a church willing to hold the rope for that family.
