Check out this creative idea....

As I think we’ve mentioned earlier, back when this crazy adventure began, we hopped on a plane to Texas to attend the Together for Adoption conference to see what God might speak to us about the journey we were embarking on. We left after work on Thursday, flew through the night, touched down at 8:30am, just in time to make the half hour drive to the 9am conference! We had no idea just how much God would speak to us that weekend and how blown away we would be by the stories we heard, things we learned and vision we would receive. Throughout the weekend, we heard from many speakers and attended numerous sessions. We came home with our suitcases full of resources and information. Most of the stories we heard, really inspired us and we heard some really practical examples of how the Church is responding to the call to care for the orphan. One of the main messages of the weekend, to the Church, was that every Christ follower is mandated to care for Orphans. It will look different for each person, but we all have that call. We want to share a creative way of how one man responded to that call.

We each attended different seminars, but one that I went to was put on by a ministry called Both Hands. The story goes like this. The founder of the ministry was inspired to raise money for an orphan ministry in his church, so he decided to put on a golf tournament. Sounds like a good idea for a fundraiser. Well, as he was calling his friends to ask for their pledge, one of his friends told him, “I’m not going to pay money for you to go out and golf, why don’t you go help a widow or something and then I’ll think about it!” As he thought about his rude friend’s comments, he started to think, “maybe that is a good idea” and Both Hands was born. Now, we have nothing against golf tournaments for fundraisers, other than the fact that I lose more money in golf balls than I end up raising for the cause, however, listen to this creative idea. Through his Church, he connected with a widow who was in bad need of some house repairs. He then took his team of people that were going to enter into the golf tourney and had them each send out sponsor letters, the same as being sponsored for the golf tourney. However, the catch was, they were being sponsored to put in a days work at the widow’s house. So each member of the team raised their sponsorship goal and committed to work on the designated day at the house. All of the money raised went to providing adoption grants and the widow had a team of labourers take care of the work that needed to be done at her house. What a great idea! In a real response to James 1:27, this ministry helps both the widow and the orphan in the same fundraiser! The ministry carries on like this, helping organize teams that want to help raise support and connecting them with widows that need a helping hand. It is ideas like this that make us dream about what might be possible here in Canada. We will continue to share ideas as we write, maybe you have some of your own that you could contribute?

Don’t forget our Orphan Awareness dessert evening at Christian Life Assembly in Langley on Friday, May 13 at 7:30pm. Whether you’re interested in adopting, wondering how to start an orphan ministry at your church, interested in how you can get involved, or just want to see what we’re up to and support, we hope to see you there! Email tamara@southgatechurch.ca to RSVP or with any questions. Bless you as you pray and dream for the orphan, with us.