Archive for category The church
“For a Dollar a Day”
Posted by Keith Moore in Issues, The church on March 4, 2011
If you have a few minutes to be inspired and challenged, check out a recent post on the Journey 177 blog. http://bit.ly/gNwXTV
Why the Church is important in the Orphan Care Solution
Posted by Keith Moore in Current Affairs, Issues, Orphan Care, The child and the church, The church on February 17, 2011
Cost of Providing care for 40 Million Orphans vs. The Cost of Sin.
I will admit it upfront that this might be a stretch comparison, but do you think God might see that it all fits together.
For the sake of a comparison, using $400 a year to care for an orphan works out to be about US $ 160 Billion, for the estimated 40 million double orphans in the world. While that’s a lot of money, in the world view of things it isn’t much.
“Annual Estimate of the Cost of ‘Structures of Sin’
Money Laundering . . . . U.S.$ 1.5 trillion
White Collar Crime. . . . U.S.$ 1.5 trillion
Financial Fraud . . . . . . . U.S.$930 billion
Gambling . . . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 815 billion
Organized Crime . . . . . . U.S.$ 750 billion
Tax Cheating . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 250 billion
Drug Traffic. . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 200 billion
Shoplifting. . . . . . . . . . . U.S.$ 100 billion
Computer Crime . . . . . . U.S.$ 51 billion
Pornography . . . . . . U.S.$ 25 billion
Arms Black Market . . . . U.S.$5.8 billion
Electronic Warfare . . . . . U.S.$5.8 billion
Credit Card Fraud . . . . . . U.S.$1 billion”
—Bryant Myers, Exploring World Mission, 2003, pg 47.
By this comparison the annual cost of caring for 40 million orphans falls somewhere between the cost of shoplifting and drug trafficking. It’s no where close to the “white collar crimes” that are in the trillions of dollars each year. Cutting drug trafficking and shop lifting in half, would cover caring for each double orphan.
Do you think that if the church impacts the lives of those involved shoplifting and drug use, they could turn that into a way to care for others?
Haiti: “Keep Fighting For You”
Posted by Keith Moore in Haiti, Orphan Care, The church on January 18, 2011
Here is a video by Paige Armstrong that serves as great reminder that the work in Haiti is not completed. How cool would it be if the pictures in the video could be pictures of the Church being the ‘one they could turn to’?
A Truth From the Institute of Creation Research
Posted by Keith Moore in Current Affairs, Religion, The church on December 7, 2010
I get a devotional email each day from the ICR. If you haven’t heard of them I suggest that you check them out. Here is a devotional that is fitting for America at this time of year.
“At Ease in Zion
December 7, 2010
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!” (Amos 6:1)
Zion (or Jerusalem) was the capital of Judah, the southern kingdom, and Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, Israel. Despite the ungodliness rampant in both nations, as well as suffering due to drought and other judgments sent by God, the leaders in Zion and Samaria were still living in decadent luxury, and most of the people were following their example. The rustic prophet Amos was thus called by God to pronounce coming judgment on both nations and especially on their leaders.
God’s nature and God’s principles do not change. “For I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). If God was angry with those of His ancient people who were living in affluent ease while indifferent to the sin in the nation and in their own lives, must this not be true also in modern “Christian” America? Have evangelical Christians today . . .
The New Middle Road
Posted by Keith Moore in Religion, The church on October 20, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/v/A7MdYV8gRws?fs=1&hl=en_US
Questions: Is a church without a holistic orphan ministry on the middle road?
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be a radical!
Bringing Hope to Desolate Places (Iraq)
Posted by Keith Moore in Orphan Care, The church on October 5, 2010
Decades of conflict and strife have torn Iraq apart. While sectarian violence and international war wreaked havoc on the land, more than 100,000 Iraqi people were killed and two million were displaced.
In a place hostile to Christianity, reaching out with the Gospel is no easy task. Relationships must be formed, trust must be earned, and the right to engage in people’s lives must come first. In Northern Iraq, an area called Kurdistan, World Orphans is reaching out to a hurting community of orphans and widows in hopes of doing just that.
This area, known as the Freedom Martyr’s Village, was established by the Kurdistan Regional Government as a refuge for those families whose relatives died at the hand of Saddam Hussein.
While these families have new homes, housing continues to be a problem for the thousands of Kurds returning to the area. Squatter homes surround Freedom Martyr’s Village and serve as a reminder of the continued desperation of the Iraqi people.
Few Western aid organizations have been able to help, but in March 2009, the local Iraqi government gave World Orphans an acre of land in the center of the village. World Orphans is reaching out to the people of the Freedom Martyr’s Village by constructing The Refuge. It will be a place that enables local believers (and overseas short-term teams) to display their faith by their deeds; a place where the witness inherent in the love and care of orphans and widows is seen by the surrounding community. It will be a place where the love given us is shared with those in need; a place where, by the grace of God, obedience to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment happens. We seek to love our God, love our neighbor and make disciples.
Watch our video to learn more about our work in Iraq. (*Warning: some graphic war footage/photos in the first 1:45*)
Bringing Hope to Desolate Places (Iraq) from World Orphans on Vimeo.
“Urban Halo”- affirmation to the Home Based Care model.
Posted by Keith Moore in Books, The child and the church, The church on September 13, 2010
Jesse Blaine recently suggested a book, "Urban Halo" by Craig Greenfield, as a book for new staff members. After spending a few minutes banging around on the book website, www.urbanhalo.org I could see similarities between his approach and the Continuum of Care and Holistic Care. Here is part of his solution through the local church.
"THE SOLUTION
Role models, disciplers and mentoring for orphans
One of the greatest needs of orphans is someone to take an interest
in them, to care about how well they are doing in school and to simply
spend time listening.
Our vision is to see every orphan matched up with a mentor who will
disciple and encourage them in the context of a long term relationship.
The movement: an overview
Mentors (18-30 years old) are recruited from local Christian
churches, and volunteer to become a ‘Big Brother or Sister’ to one child
each.
The mentors meet together regularly for prayer and visit the
children on a one-to-one basis every one or two weeks. They often
organise themselves to go out as a group to visit, then return to base
and debrief. Once a month they organise an outing for all the children
and mentors. It has been a joy to see the bonds forming between bereaved
children and their new older ‘siblings’.
Key Principles
1. Encouragement
Meet and pray with the leader(s) of the youth mentors regularly to
encourage them. Hear their feedback and ask how you can support their
efforts.
2. Ownership
Give the young people as much control as possible to develop
ownership. For example, our mentors decide on and plan the monthly
outings. They decide who should be a mentor and have so far made good
decisions.
3. Sacrifice
Encourage the young people to use their own resources to help the
children, even though they may be poor themselves. Mentors have
contributed spontaneously in our experience, helping to repair houses,
for instance, and bringing gifts of food.
4. Activity resources
Provide activity resources for the mentors to use when visiting the
children. This gives a reason for the visit and something to do with the
child while they are there. For example, we provide a children’s
magazine which the young people help the children to read and fill in.
5. Flexibility and creativity
Be creative in solving problems and flexible enough to accept local
ways of implementing ideas. In one situation, for instance, young women
did not want to visit by themselves, so now they go as a group.
6. Non-financial incentives
Ensure that mentors are motivated by compassion rather than money.
Incentives can encourage and motivate, such as: monthly outings,
identification badges and T-shirts, a notice board at the young people’s
meeting place showing photos from outings and information about
upcoming events, small Christmas gifts"
Check out the website at www.urbanhalo.org for more affirmation of the Church-to-Church model, and the Continuum of Care.
Thanks Jesse!
Mar 23 Pray4projects @WorldOrphans
Posted by Keith Moore in Orphan Care, Prayer, The child and the church, The church on March 23, 2010
Praise!- Four of the projects that were without western church partners at the beginning of the year are now in partnerships.
Fountain of Life – Juja is now partnered with Hill Country Bible Church – Northpoint in Austin TX
Fountain of Hope – Nairobi is now partnered with River Oaks Church in Knoxville
Lunkon Thmei – Cambodia is now partnered with Rutherford Bible Chapel in Rutherford N.J.
Jesus Savior Church – Moldova is now partnered with Restoration Church in Arlington VA.
This is a great answer to prayer!
- Christian Life Centre Chatsworth, South Africa
- Ebenezer Bible Church Temba, South Africa
- Nayla Presb. Evang. Church Darfur, Sudan
- United Community Methodist Church Jinja, Uganda
- Bethel Gospel Chruch Hyderabad, India
- F. S. Training Center China
- A total of 138 former orphans being cared for by these churches.
- Pray for the Haiti Orphan Relief Team as they roll out
the strategy to connect the
first 10 churches in the US with 10 churches in Haiti to provide care for
the orphans. To learn more go to, www.Haitiorphanrelief.org - Pray for the team deploying to South Africa on April
8th, led by Mike Krick.
A Cord of Three for Haiti
Posted by Keith Moore in Current Affairs, Orphan Care, Prayer, The church on January 31, 2010
A strategy has been compiled to coordinate the response of churches to the crisis in Haiti that will bring focus to what needs to be accomplished for the church and the orphan at the same time. The Haiti Orphan Relief Team is a multi-disciplined team that will begin to map out churches in Haiti that have the heart to rescue and care for orphans, and will include some members of our staff. We are all aware of the setting they will be going into and the need to have a prayer team backing them up every step of the way.
The decentralized World Orphans model does not afford the staff with the luxury of being in close proximity to one another, we can't all gather together in one place at one time. Yet, being spread across the country does afford us the luxury of being in several time zones, having influence in multiple regions and churches. We need to begin today to use the disbursement of our staff to the advantage it affords us, in corporate prayer, as preparations are being finalized and while the team is on the ground.
I do not mean to imply that you are not praying for the crisis in Haiti, I am saying that we need to ramp it up. I'm not saying that the needs of the team are over and above the needs of those already on the ground and in the midst of the suffering chaos, the need is different but the same in importance. I'm not saying this is more important than the upcoming teams going to Nicaragua and South Africa, the difference is that the HORT Team will not have the focus of a sending church to form the chorus of prayer that will be needed like the other trips will have. Our ministry, You and I will be the sending body that needs to be standing in the gap for those going and their families. You and I need to include this strategy in every aspect of our daily conversations with God. It needs to be on the minds in in the prayers of everyone you and I have contact with.
The situation they are going into is tough. Yet, the bible reminds us about the need for a team. "And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12 (ESV) We need to build a strong team. Building off the theme of three, the Lord, the Team, and you and I, this team can stand tougher than the circumstances they will face.
Taking the theme of three further, I am asking each of you to join me in adding an additional layer of prayer to what has already been discussed above. I am asking you to pray at :03 past the hour every waking hour during your day for this strategy and the team. You may need to set your watch, your phone or a clock as a reminder, but take a moment at :03 past the hour to pray. Praise the Lord for what He is doing, lift up the team at that moment, and pray for the rest of our ministry. Encourage others in your life to do the same.
This is not meant to be a ritual, but a reminder that "in all these things we are all more than conquerors [only] through Him who loved us."
If you want your church to get involved in caring for the hundreds of thousands of new orphans in Haiti go to the Haiti Orphan Relief Team page.
You can keep up to date with the teams progress by following them on Face Book and invite your friends to join the fan page as well.
The numbers from Haiti can be staggering
Posted by Keith Moore in Current Affairs, Orphan Care, The child and the church, The church on January 26, 2010
Some of the numbers of orphans in Haiti are beginning to be reported in articles like this one from the AP,
"Haiti's children on their own on shattered streets". This article estimates there are now 1 million orphans in Haiti; children that have either lost one or both of their parents.
I'm not going to get into the debate concerning single or double orphans. I think it is fair to say that the orphan population will have at least doubled, if not tripled since the quake.
The AP article points out how the response is falling short when it comes to the needs of children. UNICEF, the Red Cross and Save the Children are all doing the best they can under the circumstances. Save the Children has set up 13 "Child Spaces" zones in the settlements. These zones are not meant to provide the care needed by 600,000 new orphans. The Red Cross has begun to search for parents and next of kin for children, and the effort will go on for months if not years. The task is bigger than relief agencies alone can provide. A larger network is needed.
Using the numbers available from one of the networks, the Florida SBC, the estimate of the number of Protestant churches in Haiti could be extrapolated to be 1600. Is this network big enough to care for 600,000 new orphans? The answer is: with a strategy, Yes.
If each church cared for 20 to 40 children in family style homes on church property they could care for 32,000 to 64,000 children. Which leaves 536,000 children to care for.
So some of the 'experts' will use this staggering number as justification to set up large institutional orphanages. The rationale being that the warehouses are better than the streets. But there is a better strategy, the Continuum of Care. Residential care is one point on the continuum, but another point is community based foster care.
Churches will be able to facilitate and support the care of hundreds of children in foster homes in the surrounding community. If only the 1600 evangelical churches are involved, it would mean that each church would only need to facilitate the care to 335 children their surrounding community through foster and kinship based care.
Another sad fact is that the earth quake that produces orphans also produces widows. The widows are also in need of support and resources. Eighty-four (84) widows in a community surrounding a church could care for 335 children, with a ratio of 1 care-giver to 4 children.
So the numbers may be staggering, but this shows that a church based network response is feasible. Yes, many other factors come into play. Will the number of orphans needing care be 600,000? Probably not, it could more, it could be less. Will all 1600 churches get involved? Probably not, but other faith based organizations will most likely also respond. A big factor that I have not covered yet is that the scripture is clear that it is totally possible since it's what the Father wants, Eph. 3:10, James 1:27. That trumps all the other strategies of the world.
Churches wanting to get involved in a strategy to partner with Haitian churches can contact World Orphans by emailing me, or info.worldorphans.org, or calling 720-386-4881. World Orphans is working with several network partners and agencies to formulate a strategy to tackle this issue. Contact us now to get on the distribution list for the strategy when it is completed. Churches that begin to participate now by giving to World Orphans Haiti Response Fund on our giving page will be the first to be partnered with churches, and the first to go on trips when the time is right.
