Reclaiming Adoption: Missional Living Through the Rediscovery of Abba Father (Cruver)

One of the ambitious dreams that Reclaiming Adoption and its authors share with the Apostle Paul is that when Christians hear the word adoption, they will think first about their adoption by God. As it now stands, Christians usually think first about the adoption of children. Reclaiming Adoption sets out to change this situation by providing breathtaking views of God’s love for and delight in His children — views that will free you to live boldly in this world from God’s acceptance, not in order to gain it.

Reclaiming Adoption begins by examining Jesus’ Parable of the Prodigal Son because it ultimately puts God the Father’s love on display — a love that embraces the younger son with uninhibited joy (Luke 15:20) and goes out to entreat the self-righteous older son to come join the celebration (Luke 15:28). The book is premised on the belief that behind the Parable of the Prodigal Son(s) is Scripture’s teaching on adoption. The story of the Bible is that God the Father sent his only true and eternal Son on a mission, and that mission was to bring many wayward and rebellious sons home to glory (Hebrews 2:10) in order to adopt them into His family.

That is the Story behind the story of the Prodigal Sons. It is the only story that gives our stories any meaning or significance.

Dan Cruver and his co-authors are convinced that if Christians learn to first think about their adoption by God, and only then about the adoption of children, they will enjoy deeper communion with the God who is love, and experience greater missional engagement with the pain and suffering of this world. That’s what this book is about. What the orphan, the stranger, and the marginalized in our world need most is churches that are filled with Christians who live daily in the reality of God’s delight in them. Reclaiming Adoption can transform the way you view and live in this world for the glory of God and the good of our world’s most needy.

Table of Contents:

1. Adoption of the Prodigals - Dan Cruver
2. Adoption and the Trinity - Dan Cruver
3. Adoption and the Incarnation - Dan Cruver
4. Adoption and Union with Christ - Dan Cruver
5. The Good News of Adoption - Rick Phillips
6. The Freedom of Adoption - Scotty Smith
7. Adoption and Missional Living - Jason Kovacs
8. Adoption: The Heart of the Gospel - John Piper

Author

Dan Cruver and his wife, Melissa, are parents of a multi-ethnic family of three children. Dan is the director of Together for Adoption, an organization that provides gospel-centered resources to mobilize the church for global orphan care. Dan is a frequent conference speaker and writer. He has a M.S. in Counseling and 90+ hours toward a Ph.D. in Theology. Prior to directing Together for Adoption, Dan was a college professor of Bible and Theology and a Pastor of Family Ministries.

Endorsements

“The wonderful good news of our adoption by God is such an important truth for Christians today. Too many of us believe we will be acquitted on the last day, but in the meantime we live as slaves, distanced from God because we do not embrace him as our loving Father. As a result our obedience is reduced to mere duty instead of being animated by joy. How can we put this right? This book is a great place to start. Enriching theology and missional application are beautifully interwoven. The result is a book that will warm your heart and might just change your life.” - Tim Chester, thecrowdedhouse.org, theporterbrooknetwork.org

“Younger evangelicals have taken the lead in putting pro-life convictions into practice by leading the way in the modern adoption movement. While this is obviously a cause of rejoicing, even better is when the motivation is not moralistic or sentimental but profoundly Gospel-driven and theologically-grounded. Dan Cruver and his fellow contributors write to reclaim adoption in such a way that the imperative of adopting is grounded in the indicative of God’s adoption of us in Jesus Christ. The result is a Gospel-drenched book that leads us toward active care for the world’s orphans and unwanted in response to the often surprising and always transforming grace of God. Not to be missed!” - Sean Michael Lucas, Senior Minister, The First Presbyterian Church, Hattiesburg

“This book can make you come more alive to the heart of the gospel and the mission of the gospel. Reclaiming Adoption says better in 100 pages what many have attempted to say in 1,000 pages. This is a fresh telling of the best news in the universe, good news that changes everything: the fatherless receive a Father!” - Justin Buzzard, pastor, San Francisco Bay Area, author of BuzzardBlog.com