How does the gospel spread to unreached communities across the world? How do we begin our mission of breaking children out of the cycles of spiritual and physical poverty?
GlobalFingerprints follows a two-prong strategy for spreading the gospel in life-changing, relevant ways: planting churches in hard places and equipping the national church at each of our sites to be transformational in the lives of vulnerable children.
A “hard place” might be hostile to Christianity, desperately impoverished or war-torn. For one of our sites, a new difficulty has arisen as the government has imposed harsh lockdowns in response to COVID19. In this area, people are forbidden from leaving their homes for any reason, including to buy food. As a result, many families are starting to starve as thousands of soldiers in the streets prevent them from working or obtaining food.
This is a place where Christian charity and love for neighbors is urgently needed, and the local churches have stepped up. These brothers and sisters are courageously and generously sharing their own food with their neighbors in a profound demonstration of Christlike sacrifice.
This church planting, revitalizing, and equipping strategy allows us to work in hard places where the gospel isn't known and bring resources, tools, and support to the established national churches to help there be a transformation in the lives of vulnerable children.
But we cant accomplish this without help. With so many practical needs present in these sites, stateside church partners and individuals alike can have an amazing impact on the life of vulnerable children and their families.
One way we can do this is through sponsoring children. For $35 a month, a sponsor can provide for the spiritual, educational, medical and nutritional needs of a child in a hard place, helping them learn about God, thrive physically and eventually achieve independence.
Another way of partnering is through prayer. James 5:16 (ESV) teaches us that “the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working,” and we have seen God transform lives in answer to prayer time and time again. At a GlobalFingerprints site in South America, a family was praying for a bathroom. They didn’t have one in their house, but they couldn’t afford to build one. God responded to this prayer by nudging a man in the States to donate two thousand dollars to that specific site. He had no idea how this gift would fulfill a patient prayer, but in less than two months, the family’s home had a bathroom.
Praying for the children, their families and those who serve them is a powerful way to support them and being sensitive to how God might use you to fulfill their prayers can make all the difference to someone in need. Our strategy of church planting, equipping and revitalization stems from a dedication to live out James 1:27 (ESV) which says that “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.”
Is God calling you to join us in visiting orphans in their affliction through GlobalFingerprints? Click here to sponsor a child today!