South Africa (MNN)—Christian World Outreach is partnering with Single Moms Raising Sons to help reach and encourage fatherless boys. The ministry was developed by a couple of single moms who understood the difficulties of raising sons alone and wanted to share the Gospel with mothers and sons. A key aspect of the ministry is providing male mentors who can reach these boys.
The Men Around the Fire
“There’s a desire for men to speak into boys’ lives there, and so we have what we call Men Around the Fire,” describes Greg Yoder of Christian World Outreach. “What we found is many of these men were raised by single moms, and so they know what these boys are going through.”
Men Around the Fire provides opportunities for the mentors to be in community with each other and open up about their own experiences, so they can process the challenges they grew up with and be better equipped to mentor others.
“We provide a time for them to come together, so that they can look back again, telling their story to each other—time to just relate to each other and see that they’re not the only one out there who’s had to deal with being raised by a single mom—and those times are very valuable.”
These mentors provide the boys with a healthy example of someone who has lived through what they’re going through and overcome similar challenges.
A mentor sits with a young boy.
“They can relate to an older man who can speak into their lives, share how God has changed their life,” says Yoder. “The key for us is being able to share the Gospel and share that, yeah, they may have had an earthly father who abandoned them and didn’t provide for them, but there is someone who loves them enough to give their Son up—to share that Gospel story, so that they know who Jesus is, they know who God is, and they can relate to him as a heavenly Father. Hearing from an older man who has gone through that and loves the Lord can be very powerful and impactful.”
It’s costs 90 dollars to send a boy to a three-day camp through this ministry. Pray that these mentors would continue to grow as men of God, so they can best invest in the young men they’re leading, and that God would continue to open doors and provide staff for this ministry.
Photos courtesy of Christian World Outreach.
