BY  :  Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter

Bethany Christian Services announced Wednesday that its Board of Directors voted to clarify and reinforce its Christian faith commitments and beliefs, with its CEO telling The Christian Post that he hopes doing so will help attract like-minded individuals to their organization.

Employees of the Michigan-based Evangelical foster and immigrant resettlement charity will be asked to personally believe and adhere to an updated Statement of Faith and Belief, which is based on the Apostle’s Creed and other biblical principles previously affirmed by the organization, according to a press release from the organization shared with CP.

Bethany, which was founded in 1944, will also maintain its ongoing partnership with churches to find foster families whose beliefs and practices align with their faith and Christian mission, the release said.

Bethany CEO Keith Cureton told CP that the move to reaffirm its Christian distinctives “is really about three things: it’s about clarity, it’s about conviction and it’s about faith and belief.” He said when he first came on board with the company in 2023, he discerned “we were really struggling with our identity.”

Cureton made headlines in 2024 when he told staff the year before that the organization would no longer make exceptions to hiring non-Christians. The organization implemented a policy to hire only Christians who align with its core beliefs, and also prohibited them from promoting political causes in the workplace, which reportedly led to backlash from some staff at the time.

Citing Matthew 16:13-17, when Jesus pressed His disciples to articulate what they believed about Him, Cureton emphasized to CP the importance of Christians finding their identity, both personally and corporately, in what they believe concerning Christ.

“I had come to believe that we really had an identity crisis, and this was about the clarity around our sincerely held Christian beliefs and identity,” he said. “Because we believe, our leadership team and our board, that it’s essential to the long-term health and sustainability and impact of our mission.”

Bethany, which drew scrutiny in 2021 before Cureton’s arrival for allowing LGBT couples to foster and adopt, will also “move forward with only licensing and re-licensing foster families whose beliefs and practices align with our organizational beliefs and Christian mission” beginning in June 2027, he said.

He added that families who determine they cannot align with that framework will be respectfully aided “through a transition process to another child placement agency, with a goal of minimizing disruptions for children, because that’s our number-one focus.”

Regarding what impact Bethany’s affirmation of faith might have on employee recruitment and the diversity of families they serve, Cureton said, “This is about who we are, what we believe; we’re not trying to convince anyone of anything.”

Noting Bethany wants to be an organization “of attraction, not promotion,” he said Christians are the most likely demographic to participate in foster care or adoption, and that he hopes standing strong on their foundational Christian beliefs will attract other faith-based individuals to their ministry.

According to data from a recent national survey from the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), Christians were nearly twice as likely to have adopted and three times as likely to have fostered than those with no religious faith. The study also found such a trend “holds true in relation to other faiths, with Christians having adopted or fostered nearly twice as often.”

“I always say, we’re looking for people looking for us,” he said. “Christians are nearly two times more likely to adopt than people with no faith. So, the Christian response is not marginal. It’s the primary driver of engagement, I think, in the U.S., in the foster and adoption system.”

“Nearly two-thirds of Americans want churches to be more involved in helping vulnerable children and families,” he said. “That’s why we’re going to use the church as our main way of recruiting.”

Regarding how Christians can be supporting Bethany Christian Services, Cureton said he hopes that “the broader Christian community sees Bethany as a clear commitment to Christ-centered service.”

“We want to be a place where Christians can trust to invest their time and their treasure as we serve vulnerable children,” he added.

Photo Courtesy  :