“But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Jeremiah 29:7  

At a really practical level, Jeremiah 29:7 is about this: God’s people don’t sit on the sidelines, they lean into the broken places around them and work for healing. “Seek the welfare of the city” isn’t abstract. It’s boots-on-the-ground faith lived out in real communities, with real people, and real needs. 

That’s exactly where foster care, adoption, and family services come in. 

When you look at the work of Connected Families, ABCFM’s child and family services ministry, it gives you a clear picture of what that verse looks like in action. The whole mission is about helping children experience stability, belonging, and care while strengthening families so they can actually thrive. That’s not separate from seeking the welfare of a city, that is the welfare of a city. 

Every community rises or falls on the strength of its families. When families are unstable, kids end up in crisis. When kids are in crisis, systems get strained. But when families are supported, restored, and connected, everything changes. It’s not just the absence of problems, but the presence of health and wholeness. 

That’s why this kind of ministry matters so much. 

ABCFM’s Connected Families ministry doesn’t just step in at one point. The ministry takes a whole-spectrum approach: preventing kids from entering foster care, supporting foster families well, and working toward either reunification or adoption when needed. This is not just reacting to brokenness, it is actively rebuilding what’s been fractured. That’s a direct expression of Jeremiah’s call to invest in the long-term good of the place God has put you. 

In 1 Peter, Christians are described as “exiles”, which sounds like we should disengage. But it actually pushes us the other direction. Because we know this world isn’t our ultimate home, we’re freed up to love sacrificially right where we are. We’re called to live in a way that makes the goodness of God visible. 

That’s exactly what happens in foster care and family ministry. 

• When a family says “yes” to a child, they’re making the invisible love of God visible. 

• When a church surrounds that family with support: meals, resources, presence, they’re embodying community the way it was meant to be. 

• When biological families are coached, stabilized, and given tools to heal, you’re not just fixing problems, you’re restoring dignity and hope. 

That’s why Connected Families emphasizes walking alongside people, not just serving them at a distance. This ministry meets families where they are, helping children heal and thrive through relationships, support, and Christ-centered care. That’s a very 1 Peter kind of ethic; relational, sacrificial, and grounded in grace. 

If seeking the welfare of the city means pursuing what actually leads to flourishing, then caring for vulnerable children and strengthening families isn’t peripheral, it’s essential. It’s one of the most direct ways the Church can bring tangible good to a community. 

So when believers step into foster care, support adoptive families, or invest in family restoration, they’re not just doing social work. They’re living out a deeply biblical calling, bringing the heart of God into the places that need it most, and helping their city become more whole because they were there. 

Seek the welfare of the city.