Our Methods

 

We believe that it is part of God's plan for His Church to play a major role in caring for orphaned and abandoned children.

"True religion in the sight of God is this: To go to the aid of widows and orphans in their distress, and to remain uncorrupted by the world."

James 1:27

In order to fulfill this role, churches must be equipped, mobilized, and connected to the needs - only then can they develop an effective strategy for ministering to the fatherless. We need to bring the plight of the orphan to the attention of believers everywhere so that we can model our response to their situation after God's unconditional love for us.
Of course, we are all called to evangelize, and should seize every opportunity to do so, but many of these children are too young, too sick, or otherwise incapable of a response to God's word. We do not regard the possibility of a response to the Gospel as a condition for our compassion.

With over 16 million orphans in the world today, the needs seem overwhelming; certainly, we will never have the resources to help them all. The future seems even more challenging with most credible agencies estimating that this number will increase to over 32 million within 10 years. It is therefore imperative that we focus our resources to improve the long-term outcome for as many of these children as possible.

Statistics show us that an institutional background is the primary reason a child will fail to become a functional member of society. For example, in Russia when children leave the orphanage at age 17:

  • 15% will commit suicide within 2 years.
  • 40% will be in prison, or leading a life of crime within 5 years.

By attending to the spiritual & physical health, education, and social needs of the institutionalized child, our goal is to see them:

1. Survive their institutional experience with their health, dignity, and self-worth intact, so that they can:

2. Remain healthy enough to be adopted, thereby ceasing to be an orphan, or

3. Be connected into a community that will care for them as they transition from institutional life.

The primary burden for this care must fall to the local churches situated around the institutions. Social demographics dictate that many of these churches simply no not have the resources availble to be effective. Our role is to facilitate relationships that connect resources so the 'front lines' are supplied.

Our goal is that every local church, regardless of location, would develop a strategic response that reflects God's heart for orphans. If this is something your church would like to do but doesn't know how, we can help. info@orphans.ca

©2003 Restoring Hope. All Rights Reserved.