FOREVER FAMILIES

From Natasha at The 28:19 Call Blog (the2819call@blogspot.com):

The worldwide orphan population is between 143 million, and 210 million. That is about the whole population of Russia (143,056,383 as of January 1st 2012) to give you a better picture of this colossal epidemic. Twenty thousand children die everyday from malnutrition and preventable diseases. The good news is that God chooses to work through you and me to be His hands and feet.

I truly believe that you cannot lead a child to a place of healing if you do not know the way yourself. That is why we want locals who are completely sold out to Christ Jesus for this vision in East Africa. A forever family is basically a family model. People willing to open up their house and hearts for orphans in their community. They may need a little financial support initially to get livestock and/or agriculture up and running for self sustainability. The important thing is that we don't want to create an orphanage setting; we're reestablishing Christian families where God is the head of the household. Right now these children don't have a model of what they can become... they are street children. Through education, vocational training, and business development we are going to prepare these children for adulthood. But most importantly will be discipling them for the kingdom of God. The orphan crisis in Africa is the greatest opportunity we have to reach Africa with the kingdom of God. These children are looking for hope, and purpose; through forever families, that is what we can give them.

This is the vision. We have a long road ahead of us. First and foremost, we need to research the laws for adoption/legal guardianship in Kenya and hopefully Uganda. We need to find other organizations that have made this work successfully. So we will be contacting the Orphan Care Alliance for some information. An application needs to be made for individuals who feel led to care for "the least of these." Charlton has already started on that. We ask for prayers. We feel like this is a call on our life from the Lord. As followers of Christ we are called to make disciples, and to love. We are building the Lord's army! Rather then rescuing one orphan, we are talking about five, six, seven at a time! Lives transformed by the love of Jesus. The possibilities are huge! All things are possible through Christ who gives me strength!

We add a wholehearted "Amen" to this and our prayers are with this ministry as they wait on God to serve the least of these!