Eleven Ways Your Congregation Can Help Orphans
James 1:27 teaches that pure religion is demonstrated through helping the most needy and vulnerable in our world. How do we “look after orphans and widows in their distress?” Here are some ways that you can become involved in a work that is close to the heart of God. Will you please commit to at least one of these options for helping orphan children?
1. Orphan sponsorship - Orphan’s Lifeline helps thousands of orphan children through the love and generosity of Christians across the USA. An individual family or congregation can sponsor one or more orphans through our Keep a Child off The Street program. Your monthly gift will provide food, clothing, shelter, medicine, education and more for a needy child. Orphan’s Lifeline with send you periodic updates on how your sponsored child is doing, as well as keep you regularly informed about the home where they live through Facebook, newsletters, email and other means. You can literally give a child a better life and hope for the future.
2. Make a monthly or special one-time financial gift to help the orphans - Such gifts can benefit lots of children all at once. The generous outpouring of a special one-time gift or a year-end gift, has enabled Orphan’s Lifeline to fund an orphanage for an entire year, provide inoculations for thousands of children, purchase beds for children who have been sleeping on the ground, purchase Bibles, fund urgent relief efforts or pay for vital special needs like a life changing surgery, a roof to keep out the rain or books and school supplies for the orphans. These needs are always present.
3 Host a special Orphan Awareness Sunday - Orphan’s Lifeline can provide you with a guest speaker and a special presentation that will touch the hearts of everyone in your congregation. One of our staff will visit your congregation and share a presentation on orphan care. The presentation can be made during a Sunday morning, evening or midweek service, or simply to an eldership or a mission group in your church.
4. Develop your own Orphan Awareness Sunday - Let Orphan’s Lifeline send you an Orphan Awareness packet that your preacher or another church leader can use to prepare a special Sunday focused on this vital topic. Included in the packet is a poster, DVD, brochures, sermon outlines and class notes, also information on the world orphan crisis and suggestions on how to involve church members in helping orphans or in creating an orphan-care ministry in your church.
5. Participate in our annual Fall Orphan Sunday -This is an event held each fall close to Thanksgiving to encourage congregations to focus in on the needs of orphans and at-risk children throughout the world.Orphan’s Lifeline will send participating churches a specially prepared packet to help in planning an entire Sunday worship around the needs of orphan children.By talking about the difficult struggles orphan children must endure, sharing what God’s Word says on this issue, praying for the children, and taking up a special offering for them, Orphan’s Lifeline will be enabled to continue its vital work of caring for orphans in distress and providing for their needs throughout the coming year.
6. Host a Spring or Summer Orphan Sunday: Some churches already have special events planned around or near the Thanksgiving holiday and prefer to have an Orphan Sunday focus during the spring or summer. As with our fall Orphan Sunday, materials are provided that will help you create a memorable and effective Sunday at a time more suitable to your congregations schedule.
7. Host an Orphan Christmas - Organize a special Christmas blessing outreach on behalf of orphan at Christmas. During this wonderful time of gift-giving, many churches and individuals will reach out to help the less fortunate.
8. Involve your church’s teens and children - Churches across the country have shared with Orphan’s Lifeline stories about how they have involved their youth groups. Children helping children is a powerful way to involve youth, parents and teens in orphan ministry. Our young people want to get involved. We have been amazed at how creative churches have been in involving their children. Church leaders and parents alike are looking for ways to teach youth valuable lessons about giving and helping others. Orphan’s Lifeline can help with some great suggestions and ideas.
9. Legacy or Planned Giving – A special and compassionate way that you can help orphans and leave a lasting legacy is through planned giving from a will, a trust or other formal designation. Caring for widows and orphans is a mark of true faith, according to James 1:27, and what better way to help the vital ministry of Orphan’s Lifeline International, than through deliberate and planned giving from your estate. Ask us for more information about making a legacy impact, or consult your financial advisor.
10. Tell others - You can multiply your giving to the orphans by providing referrals to other churches, individuals or businesses that may also wish to help orphans. There are probably other churches in your area that would like to help orphans and widows, or would participate in Orphan Sunday is you asked them. In this way you help introduce Orphan’s Lifeline to others that may not be aware of this good ministry. Spread the word.
11. Fill the Hole! Richard Stearns, head of World Vision, wrote a book titled The Hole in our Gospel. In it he argues that faith is not just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the most serious sins. It is about reclaiming the world for Christ and showing the compassion of God for the “least of these.” Commit your congregation to helping others and showing redeeming love. In addition to blessing you, it will bless your entire church! God has promised to “bless all the work of our hands.” (Deut.24:19). Providing for those in need does not diminish us or our resources. It multiplies them. Believing the verse, “Give and it will be given unto you,” is truly a faith issue for God’s people. Commit your congregation to this vital work and be the Good Samaritan who stops to help the one in need. God is a “Father to the fatherless” (Psa.68:5), and He will help you care for poor, sick, vulnerable and lonely children. Please partner with Orphan’s Lifeline of Hope to bring real hope to thousands of orphan children.