Orphan Sunday-November 7th

Orphan Sunday is only 6 days away. Hopefully, this week I can post daily on what this means and what it means for Christians all around the world. I am looking forward to this Sunday. Our church will be having our 1st ever Orphan Sunday. I am so excited to see what God does in our hearts. I can't wait to see how He will lead individuals, families, and our church to care for orphans all across the world. To gain more knowledge of what takes place go to www.orphansunday.org. I will leave you today with some statistics.

*The newest and most accurate number of orphans in the world, 163 million orphans.

*40 million of these orphans are among the top 100 unreached people groups in the world. (They have no access to a Bible, or for that matter have never heard the goods news of Jesus Christ!)

*15 million orphans have lost one or both parents to AIDS.

*There are 500,000 children currently in the US foster care system. 120,000 of those children are orphans. They are available for adoption right now.

* 60 percent of the girls that age out of the US foster care system will become pregnant within 4 years.

These are only a few statistics. They also can be overwhelming. At times, we can become numb to statistics. Each number represents a child. A precious child created by God. A precious child that needs the love of a family. I do not believe that every Christian is called to adopt, but I do believe that every Christian is called to do something. I hope that this week through these posts, through Orphan Sunday, through reading Scriptures that God will convict us of our lack of responding to what His Word says in regard to the orphans. I pray that we will repent of our disobedience and ask God to do a work in our hearts and lead us to accept the invitation that He is offering us as individuals, families, and churches to be Christ's hands and feet to the 163 million orphans around the world!!!!

James 1:27- Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.