Remembering orphans this Sunday

08 Nov, 2015 - 00:11 0 Views
Remembering orphans this Sunday Sunday Mail

The Sunday Mail

Mandida Gusha
ORPHAN Sunday is our opportunity to be a torch bearer for orphans around the world and in your community.
Churches throughout the world will be celebrating Orphan Sunday today, a campaign that originated in Zambia and honours children without parents and adults who have adopted or are helping orphans in many ways.
By celebrating God’s heart for the orphan, one can reveal the Gospel orphan ministries.
Orphan Sunday has grown from the idea of a small church in Zambia to an awakening of churches worldwide. The concept for Orphan Sunday began in small community churches in Zambia. A Zambian pastor, Billy called members of his church to care for orphans in the local community that had been ravaged by HIV/AIDS and poverty.
However, as the service ended, congregation members stepped forward with money, food and other goods. Some even took off their own shoes and placed them in the offering basket for the orphans. Some took tomatoes, cabbages and anything that they had to support the orphans and those who were looking after them.
You too can be part of this in your own special way. You know of orphans in your community, just go there and help out. You can go with a bar of soap, second hand clothes, or bread, or just a few kind words to those looking after orphans and provide that moral support.
One does not need to give a big offering, just let your heart lead you and help those orphans and strengthen those who look after them. That is true religion.
Orphan Sunday is not an emphasis on a program, a cause or a special interest group.
It is not an offering or a volunteer recruitment tool. Orphan Sunday is the Pearl Harbour for spiritual warfare in churches that remember orphans. Every Christian is called to care for the fatherless (James 1:27) in different ways to be sure.
No one is exempt from this mark of the Christ’s followers. Orphan Sunday carves out a space for every Christian and encourage one another, together, toward that end.
Facts about orphans
There is an estimated figure of 150 million orphans globally and every 15 seconds, a child somewhere becomes an orphan.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of orphans around the world mainly because of poverty, HIV/AIDS, maternal mortality, unwanted pregnancy and war.
The role of the church in
caring for orphans
Something must be done to help these orphans.
Development agencies are struggling to design and implement strategies that are effective in dealing with the challenges of orphans.
Development agencies rush to deal with the individual orphan instead of helping strengthen and support the communities and families that look after orphans. This is where the church comes in.
Mobilising the churches is not simply a means to an end, it is an end in itself. God sets the lonely in homes and is a father to the fatherless, and as his children we are called to live out his love.
The church endures
I have always been amazed in conflict areas where war would have torn the places apart; schools are closed, houses burned down, roads are impassable yet there is one thing still standing — the church.
They may be meeting under a tree but still they meet.
Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16 verse 18: “On this rock l will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The economy might sink businesses, funding for that non-profit organisation might be lost but nothing can prevail against the church and the work of God.
In the midst of poverty, oppressive cycles and systems, the church endures. There is need to build stronger networks with other churches to be able to speak with one voice in taking care of orphans.
The church knows how to bring in meals, how to share resources and how to be there in those tough moments.
On Orphan Sunday, Christians stand for the orphan.

Mandida Gusha is a member of Word of Life Ministries.

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