Our hosts in Odessa are an amazing family. They have committed their life to caring for orphans and the love they have for God and others is energizing and wonderful. Their ministry, which we are partnering with, is far reaching and effective. The four main areas of ministry consist of Orphan Outreach, Sunday Schools, Kids Games and Summer Camps. The photo above is a picture of two team members preparing to visit sick children in a hospital and bring them joy through clowning (just another aspect of the ministry).
Through the Orphan Outreach they are able to visit orphans in areas where almost no one visits. As they entered one of the orphanages they were told that they were the first people to visit the orphans in over one year.
Imagine not one person coming to see you this year.
Now imagine that you are alone...
You have no family...
No friends...
No one to care for your needs...
Imagine that you are a small child...
And scared...
And no one ever comes to see you.
Now imagine that there are people around the place you are living that are commanded by the God they worship to visit you.
But they never come. What would you think of their religion? What would you think of them? What would you think they really believe?
What if you, as the little orphan child, were sitting on a crowded bus and you drove by a Christian's house one Sunday morning.
The yard was perfectly landscaped.
The house was huge and beautiful.
The people were dressed nicely as you saw them heading for the church building in their fancy car.
What thoughts would go through your mind as you witnessed this year after year after year?
You would understand what was important to the Christian.
And you would understand what was not important.
It is important to them to look good, have a well kept house and yard, have a nice car, be well educated, go to church and know all about good doctrine. It is important to them to be healthy and wealthy.
But you...
And those with you....
You are not important. You do not matter.
The Christian, by their lifestyle, would be reinforcing what you have already been told by others.
It would have been better if you had not been born.
You should go the way of your biological parents.
You are worthless.
You are stupid.
You should die.
Not even God cares about you.
These are the things that some orphans learn...
from the world and from Christians.
These are words that were spoken to our own daughter as she grew up in the orphanage.
Why are we involved in orphan ministry? Because there are thousands of orphans that not only have no family... they also have no one to visit them... no one to teach them... no one to tell them about Jesus... no one to care for them physically or spiritually... and many of the Christians around them ignore them.
What about you, dear Christian?
What is your response to the orphans and widows?
What are we teaching them by our life?
We hosted a girl from Odessa this holiday season and hope to adopt her- if we are blessed enough to do so, we will be spending time over there... is there any way we can be involved in any of their mission work while we are over there? We dont speak Russian but we can still show the kids love...
ReplyDeletefeel free to email me bnew17(at)yahoo(dot)com if we can do anything to help!
Are you saying that if every Christian is not visiting orphants in a foreign country that they are not true followers of Christ? I have to respectfully disagree. Well kept house and good education are not sins, are they? Aren't there other gifts in the church?
ReplyDeleteDear Olya,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. To answer your question, no, I am not saying that true followers of Christ must visit orphans in a foreign country. A true follower of Christ is one who professes that Jesus is the Christ and believes in their heart that God raised him from the dead.
I am saying that God calls his people to care for orphans and widows. This can be done in many ways without leaving the country. All Christians are called but the calling is different for everyone. Some can only pray. If that is what you can do, then pray.
A well kept house and a good education is great and a wonderful blessing. It is not, however, what our life should consist of.
There are many gifts in the church, but none exempt us all from reaching out in mercy to those in need of mercy.
Dear Matthew,thank you for your follow up comment.I agree with you completely, exept you yourself said:'Now imagine that there are people around the place you are living that are commanded by the God they worship to visit you.
ReplyDeleteBut they never come. What would you think of their religion? What would you think of them? What would you think they really believe?' My husband is one of those people. He never comes. But he works 16 hour days to support people that DO. But the orphans don't know that. What I personally hear is you saying that if I am not a 'foot' that actually goes than I am not a Christian.
My two cents - Matthew, you've hit right on the passion of God for all of His children - the lost, the poor, the brokenhearted - there are the religious well-to-do folks (Pharisees) passing them on by, leaving them for a foreign national (Samaritan) to come and care for them. They're too busy (or blind) to care for their own community, sometimes their church, and sadly, many for even their own family...
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed reading your blog. It is awesome that God is using you to reach out to these kids! Blessings to all of you!
ReplyDelete