SGA-supported churches are ministering to an estimated 14,000 orphans in 190 orphanages across six countries, including Ukraine.

Yet, in the midst of wartime, Ukrainian churches have discovered as many as 50,000 “social orphans” who are neglected in their own homes.

SGA’s Eric Mock says, “We miss the children that remain in these homes among parents that are basically abandoning the children every day. We hear of children that come home from school to find parents passed out, they’re drunk, they’re not providing food — children that are going for days at a time with never getting a meal [and] no clean drinking water.

(Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

“We’re finding over and over where, especially in Ukraine in the midst of this war, we have single moms that can’t figure out how to survive. The husband is gone or he’s fighting on the front line. Most of the aid centers are single women taking care of children. Some of the men just literally disappeared.”

Some of these social orphans are older siblings responsible for the younger ones, and many even end up on the street — a prospect made more dangerous by the bombs and missiles that have become a reality for Ukrainians.

Then there are Ukrainian orphans who “age out” of the orphanage system. “Children, when they turn at age 17, they leave the orphanage there. They’re nonetheless an orphan, and these children don’t know how to buy groceries. They don’t know how to cook a dinner. They don’t know how to wash their clothes. They don’t know how to pay bills.”

Ukrainian believers are expanding their reach to help these social orphans in their communities with the support of SGA.

Mock says, “We’re not only helping orphans in orphanages, but we’re also working with churches as they minister to children wherever they find them. It might be on the street. It may be in troubled homes.

Summer camp for kids. (Photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association)

“Some of the churches are working with families to make sure the tide of orphans heading into orphanages is slowed at least in some measure…. If we sit back and wait somehow for those children to show up in an institution, I think we’re missing an opportunity.”

In reaching social orphans, Ukrainian believers are practicing James 1:27 and representing Jesus Christ to these kids.

You can support SGA’s ministry to orphans in Ukraine here.

Then, pray for Ukrainian orphans to know the perfect love of their Heavenly Father.

Mock says, “Rather than just thinking of orphans in institutions, let us think of broken homes, let’s think older orphans, and what you see is God raising up His Church in these communities to be salt and light among these hurting hearts.”

Header photo courtesy of Slavic Gospel Association.

Changing the Approach

The idea is simple; keep vulnerable kids with families not institutions. Those families can take the form of foster homes, adoptions, or reunification. Home-based solutions offer children a better chance at success and improved emotional well being.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Bethany brought foster care expertise and a good reputation thanks to a successful Ethiopian program, says Naa Adjorkor Mohenu, Country Director of Bethany Ghana. The partnership begain in 2012. Now, the nonprofit is an integral part of policy change, providing needed technical support.

“We became very core in the government’s process with the care reform system… As we speak now, Bethany has been able to help the government launch, it’s foster care training model, which has all the steps in training perspective foster care,” Mohenu says.

What’s Wrong with Institutions/Orphanages?

The Bible asks believers to care for widows and orphans, but what is the best form care can take? While food, water, and shelter are necessities, so is emotional support, love, and a family.

Orphanages aren’t always able to support these pillars of development, and the resulting damage is often permanent. Research shows caregivers are often detached, overworked and not consistent. This results in children with stunted physical and emotional growth, issues that persist into adulthood. Read a summary of these findings here.

Of particular concern to the government of Ghana was that many of these children in orphanages were not actually orphans.

“They did a survey and realize that most of the children…either have one parent, a living parent or even have both parents alive, but were rather taking these children into the orphanages because to them the orphanage looked like they had the best physical facilities to provide for their children,” Mohenu says.

For families in poverty, orphanages looked like a way to give their children the best chance at life. Realizing what was happening, Ghana determined major changes would need to be made to reform the childcare system before the problem got out of hand.

Enter Bethany and their ideas to promote family based care.

What Bethany Brings to the Equation

Thanks to decades of foster care experience, Bethany designed a formalized foster care system. This includes family assessments for foster families and child assessments. Both receive background checks and Bethany provides perspective foster families with 40 hours of training. Bethany works to match a child’s background and needs with what a family can provide, Mohenu says.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Some children remain in orphanages, but measures are being taken to improve their care.

“We are looking at the best practices of orphanages, the few ones that are left to ensure that even if a child stays there for one night, the child gets the best. We train them with topics like attachment, bonding, and trauma and all those things to look out for when a vulnerable child comes into their care,” Mohenu says

Bethany encourages these orphanages to make the child’s stay as short as possible and place them with a family.

How Can I Help?

Most donors to organizations like orphanages and adoption services come from Western countries, Mohenu says. Donors often want to see something tangible, such as a child they are supporting or sponsoring. This can lead them to well-meaning support for institutions and orphanages. However, this often isn’t what’s best for the child or community. Instead, Mohenu would like to see more holistic support that keeps children in families and protects their psychological development.

“They can still help a child within their biological family on alternative family and still see the impact,” she says. Rather than rejecting donations, they want to use give those funds more impact by investing in family based solutions and care.

One such program uses $30 per month to support a child and their family, providing food, shelter, and medication. Learn more here.

How Can I Pray?

Mohenu asks believers to pray for this family-based initiative. Changes of government and changes of partner leadership can bring progress to a standstill if these new leaders don’t share the same vision. These obstacles are a consistent threat. Pray initiatives promoting family-based solutions will continue to be supported by those with influence.

Pray more churches will become involved in these programs, as churches are Bethany’s primary partner for advocacy and recruitment. Church support keeps programs like this one running.

Header photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook.

After 230,000 people were killed in the destruction, children were forced to live on the streets or go into orphanages. Many parents were even forced to put their children in orphanages because they couldn’t provide for them.

Now, that pattern continues today.

Overcrowded Orphanages

“The biological families, they send their children to the orphanages because they don’t have [the] capacity to pay the school tuition, to pay the school fees, and to pay for the school supplies because in Haiti, the government doesn’t embrace totally the education of the children. So, this is the responsibility of the parents to make sure their children are going to school,” Bethany Christian Services’ Vijonet Demero explains.

A report from 2015 by Independent says there are 32,000 children in Haitian orphanages, of which 80 percent have one or two living parents who want them but cannot provide for them.

However, though so many children depend on the 750 orphanages in the nation, Demero says only 200 orphanages meet government requirements for orphanages.

“We recognize that some children from orphanages, they are living a good life, but the majority, they don’t live a good life… By staying at an orphanage, they don’t have the possibility to go to school. They don’t have the possibility to experience a true life.”

Demero says orphanages don’t set children up for a successful future because they aren’t able to develop professional and appropriate skills to be self-responsible.

However, the biggest problem kids face in the orphanages, Demero says, is that they cannot make intentional and responsible choices for their physical well-being in fighting off sicknesses and viruses.

“I don’t say orphanage is a bad thing, but I would say orphanage … is not the best place for children to live,” Demero says.

“Orphanages exist for people who don’t have parents, but we understand when someone doesn’t have [a] parent, the government should play the role of parent, or the Church should play the role of parent. When the child is staying at the orphanage, he doesn’t have the possibility to experience love, respect, consideration at the orphanage.

Bethany’s Work

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services via Facebook)

Demero says because of this phenomenon, Bethany felt called to action to help children on the streets or in orphanages by starting their family preservation, family reunification, and foster care programs.

Bethany wants children to grow up with strong, hopeful futures and sees that children being embraced by a family is the best way to achieve that.

Their Family Reunification Program identifies children and works to track down their biological families to reunite them.

“When we do family reunification, we have a program called Family Preservation and Empowerment to help families stay together, not continue to send kids to orphanages,” Demero explains.

The program reinforces and empowers biological families so they will not have to send their children back to orphanages.

Children whose biological families Bethany is unable to locate are placed with foster parents who can help prepare the child for their future, show them love, and embrace them as a family.

“One thing that we consider our strength is the fact that we have the capacity to mobilize qualified foster parents. The reason is the fact that most of them, they are Christian. They use the Bible as an instrument to say, ‘Hey, it is a Biblical mandate to take on the children. This is our responsibility as a Church to take care of the children, to speak up for those who cannot speak.’”

Bethany has seen incredible success stories in all the programs. They’ve even seen foster families take on second children and adopt children.

Get Involved

However, some of the greatest challenges in the process are raising awareness among the government officials so they understand the needs of the children and keeping families motivated.

“We are very dynamic as Bethany Global representative[s],” Demero says.

“We are very committed and engaged, but when we are working with people on the field who are not fully engaged or doesn’t understand the concept or not invested too much in the concept, it is a challenge for us to go through the process of family accreditation until the child placement.”

Join Bethany in praying for the ability to raise awareness among government officials and keeping families motivated.

Financially partner with them so they can train families and Bethany workers.

(Header photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

According to Bethany’s Kristi Gleason, a perfect world would be one in which organizations like Bethany were completely unnecessary. The first step towards such a world is moving orphans out of orphanages and into homes.

“We focus not just on orphans but really on families,” Gleason said. “Our day-to-day work really focuses on figuring out how to get children out of orphanages and into families, either back into their biological families or, if that’s not a possibility, into a foster family.”

Photo Courtesy Bethany Christian Services

Once a child is part of a family, Bethany’s work isn’t done just yet. Next, the organization helps with family preservation, strengthening familial bonds so children aren’t put in orphanages to begin with.

Their goal of making orphanages a thing of the past is one they share with several national governments. Russia and Romania, for example, are trying to get every child out of every orphanage and into families. “Rwanda has, in the last several years, also said ‘We are going to close down the orphanages in our country, and we are going to be one of the first African countries to not have orphanages,’” Gleason said.

“What we’re feeling is a momentum shift. It has been a little slow and steady, but now, we have lots of interest from governments, churches, and US organizations interested in helping us move away from orphanage care and into what we call family-based care.”

And the need for that care is as great as ever. Conflict, disasters, and other devastating events have left many children alone and lost. The best remedy for such a widespread need? The global Church.

“This is an absolutely amazing way for the local church to respond to the situations going on in their own countries,” Gleason said. If Bethany and other organizations can assist and train them, there are plenty of families who can help. In other words, the Church is massive, and if they’re willing, its members can make a huge difference in the lives of orphans all over the globe.

There’s no denying the scale of this undertaking. Even after splitting the project into countries and regions, it’s a massive job, and countries that have many strict regulations for orphanages, such as India, Nepal, and China, present plenty of their own problems.

(Photo courtesy of Bethany Christian Services)

Still, partnership can make all the difference. “We partner with governments and we partner with other organizations working on a similar path because we know not one organization or church can address this problem holistically,” Gleason said. It requires mass cooperation of all of the talents and abilities of the pieces of the body of Christ, and it requires support and prayer.

“A really great way that people can start obviously is to pray. Pray for governments and organizations to think about orphan care differently.”

Joanna Mangione of SOAR International says the way Easter is celebrated in Russia isn’t all that different from the United States.

“Not everybody celebrates Easter because of Jesus’ resurrection. You know, there’s the Easter Bunny, there’s the candy surrounding it, there’s the finding of the eggs. There’s a two-fold meaning in it and you have the people who celebrate it for the basis, foundation, the religious perspective of Jesus rising from the dead, and the others that do it simply for the fun of it.”

But, she explains, because people know that it’s truly a religious holiday, they’re often more open to hearing about Jesus.

Churches helping churches

This month, partner churches of SOAR are focusing on getting the word out about SOAR’s ‘Baskets of Hope’ project. This simple project directed towards orphaned and needy children puts a twist on the traditional Easter basket. Instead of candy and frivolous gifts, the children receive much needed hygiene items, age-appropriate gifts and toys, and a Bible. Additionally, sponsors of these baskets can write a letter to a child — to encourage them and let them know they are being prayed for.

(Photo courtesy of SOAR International)

We will talk more about the impact of these baskets next week. Briefly, they let these children know they’re loved by Jesus and His followers.

So, what does this church partnership look like?

“We have quite a few partner churches that partner with us in ‘Stuff-a-Stocking’ as well as ‘Baskets of Hope.’ The way they can participate is first and foremost by promoting the project within their church.”

By letting congregations know about the project, it increases the number of people SOAR can introduce the ‘Baskets of Hope’ project to.

Another way churches have participated in the past is to take up an offering for the project. Many churches have a coin drive to collect money for the Bibles to go into the baskets.

“What’s beautiful in that is, well, the partnership that grows from it — that these are our brothers and sister in Christ, that these are other churches lifting up the churches in Russia who are doing this ministry,” Mangione says.

The partnership provides a simple and effective way for people to get involved in the Great Commission. So, churches within the United States can grow their heart for Russia and the children in need.

Mangione says one church in particular gets very involved in the coin drive they do each year: “They just get excited every time they’re getting ready to participate with a project. And the people within the congregation get excited.”

But it’s not just about getting people to sponsor the baskets, but also to encourage them to pray.

(Photo courtesy of SOAR International)

“Having prayer going in Russia and in the US does wonders for the project itself, whether that’s how many kids we’re able to reach, [or] whether it’s the ability we have found to not run into any issues.”

As we shared recently, God answered many of your prayers that SOAR’s ‘Stuff-a-Stocking’ project would not be hindered by Russia’s anti-terrorism law. The trip went well (read here). Please continue to pray for this ministry as they come alongside the Church in Russia.

The other side of the partnership is the churches who are distributing the gifts. They are encouraged by this event each year. It gives them a tangible way to bless the children and families they are ministering to throughout the year.

“As far as the churches in Russia, knowing how many Churches and individuals get involved with giving of the gifts and participating in ‘Baskets of Hope,’ they are encouraged that there are other people, right alongside them.”

This Easter, what about your church?

If you think your church might be interested in this project, get a hold of your pastor or mission team. They can contact SOAR for an informational packet. If it’s something they’re interested in, SOAR will send them the promotional packet which includes a DVD, PowerPoint slides, bulletin inserts, and more. You can also find these resources here.

But hurry! This year, Easter on the Russian Orthodox calendar falls on April 16th, so there isn’t much time left. To contact SOAR, click here.

Next week we’ll share about how you as an individual can help, and the impact these gifts make.

(Photo courtesy of Orphan’s Heart International)

Romania (MNN) — Sometimes changing a life for the better begins with paying attention. That’s essentially what Orphan’s Heart International is doing in Romania — alongside their national ministry partners, they’re paying attention to the needs facing orphaned and vulnerable children and taking the time to address them.

Alison Wilson of Orphan’s Heart says they recognize in order to meet the spiritual needs of these children, you have to meet their physical needs as well.

“Our partner there is fantastic and they have a very holistic outlook on what they do,” She explains.

Wilson says their ministry in Romania can be split into four parts, although all the projects are ultimately integrated.

Hospital care

Orphan’s Heart and their ministry partner have been allowed to work in part of a hospital to address the needs of children who have been abandoned.

“Children who are abandoned by their parents for a variety of reasons are often left at hospitals because families know that’s a safe place to leave your child if that’s the decision they’re making. Although they don’t need medical care, they still need care until they can be put into a foster care home or some sort of situation that’s better for them.”

Sometimes this provision is the difference between life and death, as you’ll see further on.

Foster care

According to Wilson, the orphanage system in Latvia is phasing out. They are more heavily relying on foster homes. This is why Orphan’s Heart is also working to help find children good homes once they leave the hospital.

“By supporting the ministry in Romania, we’re able to help develop Christian foster homes, to recruit those through Church plants our partner has done.”

By finding these children long-term, loving homes, they’re helping give them the best chance these kids have for a good life.

Orphanage

While foster care is more common, there are still some public orphanages. Orphan’s Heart works at a large public orphanage to provide guidance for the kids living there.

Their ministry partner has developed some resource rooms that help the kids see beyond the orphanage walls. They have a life-skills lab, something incredibly important for children growing up in orphanages. They also hold regular Bible studies and have a teen hangout lounge.

“There’s just these safe places where the staff, the national ministry staff can go and they lead regular Bible studies every day for both the children and teen groups, they help to mentor and build relationships with these children who don’t have any other real leaders in their life, often, who are Christians leaders and also who can help them make life decisions.”

The Roma

(Photo courtesy of Orphan’s Heart International).

Finally, Orphan’s Heart assists their national partner with two different villages of the Roma people. Wilson says this people group has a totally different language and culture than the rest of Romania. They are also quite impoverished.

“What’s happened in these two communities as there has been an evangelical church plant that started this ministry, and now we’re building a children’s ministry around that church plant.”

They have a local pastor and want to continue supporting the growth of child ministry. They are also doing a feeding program for families that are struggling.

Excitement for the future

Wilson says they’ve only been partnering with their national partner in Romania for about two years. They are excited for the ministry to grow. Right now they’re taking two short-term mission trips a year to Romania, but eventually they want to take four.

They are looking for people to join them — dental and medical professionals, and others with special skills or a passion for children ministry. There is a variety of ways your skills and talents can fit in to the work Orphan’s Heart is doing.

Never been on a mission trip before? Perfect! Wilson says their short-term mission trips are good experiences for first-timers. They do a great job to prepare you, and help you take care of the logistics behind the trip so you can focus on ministry. Check out the trip opportunities here to see where you might fit.

Melvina

Wilson shares a story that exemplifies the kind of impact this ministry has in Romania. This is Melvina’s story.

“When I met her,” Wilson says, “she was on a scooter, racing down the road.”

Melvina is a lively and happy little girl. But about 13 years ago, she almost died.

A ministry partner of Orphan’s Heart was passing through the hospital and saw the baby girl not receiving any care. She had been abandoned at the hospital. Doctors explained that she wouldn’t eat, and they couldn’t use resources on a child that was likely to die.

But the ministry partner wasn’t about to give up on her.

“Eventually they realized, she had a basic acid-reflux issue as an infant, and so she wasn’t taking typical formula. And so they stayed in the hospital and provided care for her until she was able to start gaining weight and gather the right formula and the medication she needed, which was actually very inexpensive but it just took somebody having the attention and time to identify the real problem that was going on and find a solution for her.”

Today Melvina is in Christian foster care with foster parents who love her. She knows Jesus as her Savior and has been baptized. Her reality is the goal Orphan’s Heart has for all the children they help.

“They absolutely consider these children their own. They protect them, they love them, they’re so proud of them. They know their individual interests and things they really excel at and they want to help them reach their potential.”

Child sponsorship

You can sponsor a child in Romania who is in need of a little extra help. For $35 a month, a child will receive adequate medical care, education, food, and have other needs met.

(Photo courtesy of Orphan’s Heart International).

“It truly is life-changing for many of them. In some countries it provides opportunities between getting to go to school and not, and having food and not, or having the vaccination they need or not.”

These children are well looked after by national partners who work to counsel and mentor them and make sure they’re doing okay. But, Wilson reminds, it’s important to recognize that it’s best to commit to a sponsored child until they’re 18-years-old.

It’s also possible to meet your sponsored child when you go on a mission trip with Orphan’s Heart! Learn more here. 

Perhaps it’s not feasible for you to go on a mission trip or to sponsor a child. But your prayers are the most important way you can help Orphan’s Heart. Could you pray for the children, the national partners, and for Orphan’s Heart? Ask God to continue to bless them.

Christmas opens doors

SOAR International is waiting to see if and how things might change for them. For now, they’ve been able to go along with their work as usual — supporting the Church in Russia in their ministry outreach. Joanna Mangione of SOAR explains Christmas is a time when the door for ministry opens just a bit wider.

“Christmas provides a unique opportunity that SOAR has to reach the people of Russia with the Gospel. Christmas is a holiday they celebrate and one they acknowledge. So, it opens the door to allow us to reach a little bit more than we normally would.”

SOAR works in a variety of ways and locations in and around Russia. Their Christmas catalog this year reflects the many ways you can support their work.

Mangione’s favorite project is “Stuff a Stocking.” Sponsored stockings are stuffed with gifts and hand-delivered to children in orphanages or from struggling families.

The gifts included are necessities like hats and gloves as well as quality toys. In addition, each child is given a Bible. SOAR works with churches that are already involved with the orphanages and communities. This annual project allows them to give something they normally would never be able to.

Mangione has been fortunate enough to go along on the “Stuff a Stocking” trips to deliver the gifts. She says, “You just can’t beat the look on the children’s faces — but not only the children’s, even the staff! To see the joy in the children they oversee, they get smiles on their faces.”

If you choose to give to SOAR this year to support their Christmas projects, 100 percent of your donation goes towards your gift. Click here to see the giving options this year.

Prayers for guidance under new law

(Photo courtesy of SOAR International)

Whether you give or not, there are ways to be praying for this work. First, pray for the children receiving these gifts, and for the staff members. Pray for their health, interaction, and safety. Ask God to use this project for His glory.

As for the anti-proselytizing law, SOAR is seeking God’s wisdom as they look to be obedient to Him while acknowledging the new law.

“The anti-proselytizing law is one that is hard to fully understand how it will impact. There [are] a lot of nuances with the law, a lot of different ways it could be interpreted. So the prayer is that the freedoms it should still allow remain freedoms, and that it won’t prohibit the ministries we should still be allowed to do. It’s a little bit of a waiting game with our projects and with knowing how it will be enforced.”

Ask God that if some doors are closed, He will open others. We’ll share a story about how He’s done that in the past later this month.

Joe Richter of FARMS International recently visited the country and brings back some news.

He says, “They’re facing very difficult situations. We’ve been working in Moldova for a number of years helping Christians especially and farmers and beekeepers and small businesses with loans to help them have a better income, and also to support their churches through their tithes and offerings.”

Working through churches to reach a nation

FARMS works through local churches to distribute micro loans to members who qualify. The loans support a family’s efforts to establish an income-providing business. When the interest-free loans are paid back, they agree to tithe back to the church. This supports the church’s outreach to local communities.

While Moldovans are experienced farmers, they often lack the resources to produce sufficient crops to support their families. Richter says because they are so poor, even tedious tasks like hoeing are still done by hand.

Overall, Richter’s trip revealed the exciting work taking place in Moldova. “We were very encouraged by their industry and their skills and their ability to adapt to new conditions. Many of them were using their own homemade greenhouses to get their crops to market early.”

He says they were also impressed at Moldovan Christians’ commitment to sharing the Gospel with their neighbors.

Richter and his wife attended church meetings during which people dedicated their lives to Jesus or asked for forgiveness for attitudes of bitterness. “These things just would not have happened without a real Christian witness in that country.”

Greenhouses grow plants, and opportunities

Photo courtesy of FARMS Interntional.

Because Moldova is a society that depends largely on agriculture, greenhouse technology can greatly impact a farmer’s sustainability.

There’s a great interest and need for greenhouses in Moldova.

FARMS got a call recently from a man who sells greenhouses. He wants to send 16-18 greenhouses to Moldova, and he’s willing to pay the shipping cost, too.

This has the potential to impact several families—in more ways than you would think.

Because the country is so poor, children are often abandoned by their parents. But FARMS makes it financially possible for caring families to adopt orphans.

Richter visited an orphanage while he was in Moldova. He visited some of the families who had adopted several orphaned kids.

“We’re seeing these children come to know the Lord as they live in a loving family environment, and these families have been helped by FARMS in the past. What we’re hoping to do is increase what we call their Homes of Hope—increase the number of families who are able to adopt children out of these orphanages.”

The Gospel moving through Moldova

BBC says the main religion in Moldova is Christianity. However, Richter estimates probably less than five percent of the country are true believers in the Gospel.

The majority of so-called Christians are members of the Orthodox Church which Richter says does not preach the Gospel there.

The Ceban family had a heart for orphans, and thanks to help from FARMS and their partner ministry, they were able to raise the funds to adopt.

But true followers of Christ can find healing from the scars of the country’s recent past and current financial woes.

Richter says, “Pray for the Moldovan Church. It’s growing. We saw even some teenagers come to know the Lord while we were there, and young people witnessing in their village and seeing their families come to know the Lord. People are looking for something hopeful because it’s a very dire place to live and a very difficult place without hope, and without the Gospel it’s a very dark place.”

Richter and his wife met a young lady exemplifying what it means for a Christian to be financially independent and have a desire to tell others about Jesus. When she became a Christian, this woman wanted to travel overseas as a missionary. She trained through Operation Mobilization. But God called her to reach out to her own village, so she went back.

Richter explains that her village is very closed to the Gospel, but most of the woman’s family are now believers, including her brother who is now a pastor.

As well as spreading the Truth of the Gospel, this woman is interested in pushing community development in her village. She’s currently building a small center for abused children and wants to build one for elderly people.

With her greenhouse, she is able to grow peppers that bring a great amount of income through her contract with the local pizza place.

She’s only about 27 years old.

If all this is the result of just one woman coming to Christ and establishing a business that allows her to give back, imagine what could happen for the whole nation as this project grows.

As they navigate the legal waters of getting these greenhouses sent to Moldova, would you pray for guidance, protection, and acceptance of these greenhouses into the country?

It’s possible there will be additional financial costs as this goes forward. Contact FARMS here to learn how you can help. You can also donate in general by clicking here.

(Photo courtesy SOAR International via Facebook)

Russia (MNN) — Russian orphans “graduate” out of the system between the ages of 15-18 years old. But how do they adapt to life when it’s so abruptly forced on them?

“They go to school, but they don’t always have the life skills necessary to succeed after they leave the orphanage,”says  Greg Mangione of SOAR International.

The Russian government gives children small stipends, but no one checks up on them to see how they’re doing or if they’ve found a job or a place to live. Instead, they’re left on their own.

Big Family Ministries reports most graduated orphans turn to drugs and alcohol, and 9 out of 10 end up in crime, prison, or prostitution.

Fortunately, in some cities like Ryazan, local churches have started up transition homes, which are exactly as they sound: they help graduated orphans transition into “real life” by giving a diverse array of classes.

“One of our main goals here at SOAR is to come alongside the local church and help assist and enable them in the ministries they have or would like to do in their communities.”

Most of the time, churches just need more manpower, some training, or tools; but sometimes they need fluent English speakers.

For the last two summers, SOAR has partnered with some local churches in Ryazan to help mentor kids both spiritually and in practical life skills.

“The youths that are living at the transition home right now have just really taken to the program; [they] enjoy the classes that they’re doing and the fellowship they have.” Some of the classes offered include cooking, sewing, agriculture, Bible, and English.

SOAR staff member Joanna Mangione and SOAR intern, Benjamin Roney, are helping to teach several of these classes. Near the end of Jul, 4 more SOAR staff members will be joining them.

“They use the English program as a way to minister to the community at large. They might use the Bible or verses as part of the curriculum that they would be using in teaching English,” Mangione explains.

“As they get to know people, of course you just use the personal relationships as an opportunity to share…with Christ with people that do not yet know Him.”

Mangione says since Roney is closer in age to graduated orphans, he’s able to connect better. “You also have the interest of somebody from another culture, and there’s just a natural interest they have in Ben.”

Roney has been working with students in their agricultural classes. Because he grew up on a family farm in Indiana, he was able to give advice and help build a garden with different produce.

But, he’s specifically been working on Bible lessons, asking kids what they’re curious about and helping them understand the meaning of baptism and salvation. Mangione says he’s had a great response.

As SOAR helps students build relationships and life skills, they ask for your prayer that workers will effectively share the Gospel and inspire others with their testimonies. Pray also for students to soak up the knowledge they’ve been given and to be better prepared for the future ahead of them.

(Photo courtesy SOAR Int’l via Facebook)

Russia (MNN) — Kids love gifts! So what better way to spread the Gospel than through giving? This is the approach of SOAR International Ministries with orphans in Russia.

“Stuff A Stocking” is a SOAR project that gives hurting kids in Russia Christmas joy.

“All the goods that make up a Stuff A Stocking present are purchased and put together in Russia by the local church,” says Mangione.

“It gets their membership involved hands-on…and excited about serving and getting to do something special for these kids at Christmas,” said Mangione.

“[It’s also] very successful in either opening doors for churches and pastors to get involved with their local orphanages, or in other cases, be used as a tool for those churches in their ministry with the orphanages.“

This idea of working alongside indigenous churches has been important to SOAR right from the beginning–since 1998, to be exact.

“Part of our goal…is the realization that the churches, they’re there all the time and we can’t be…. We want to see the ministry in Russia and the churches in Russia continue to grow and be sustainable beyond the week or two scope of our particular project,” said Mangione.

(Photo courtesy SOAR Int’l via Facebook)

Building relationships between orphans and local churches is what makes Stuff a Stocking about so much more than just a stocking. It’s an opportunity to show Christ’s love and share the Gospel.

“When there’s opportunity for the kids to have a little ‘vacation’ from the orphanage…, [a SOAR partnering church] offers the kids to come and spend time with them,” said Mangione.

This kind of thing is happening in a number of churches throughout Russia. It tells these kids who’ve been rejected in some way that they’re loved. They matter.

For those who want to be a part of this ministry, SOAR just rolled out a new website to provide more information. There are still some kinks being worked out, so some grace may be needed. However, the Donation page is running.

Donations to purchase gifts for Stuff a Stocking are accepted year around. Just select where you want the money to go and the amount!

Want to donate? Click here!