This article was originally published in the World Orphans Insight Magazine Spring 2021.
By: Randy Phillips | Senior Director of Church Partnership
One became 99. Interesting how partnering, one with another, has a multiplier effect. With a face wrinkled, not with age, but with a smile, Pastor Eyob shares, “Though you have needs in your own community, you reach out to us. This models Christ’s love, and we have learned from your generosity.” Pastor Eyob continued to explain how partnering with a church in the US has multiplied hope.
Pastor Eyob shepherds his community outside of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He partners with a small church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During a video call, the two pastors were looking back and looking ahead, exchanging stories of God’s faithfulness in each of their communities. As the call progressed, pastor Eyob shared that 99 families from his church pooled their resources together to provide food for families in their community as a means to open doors for the gospel.
Why? This force for good was inspired by the generosity and love expressed by two churches partnering together across cultures, denominations, and languages. At World Orphans, church partnership is two churches working together to lift up vulnerable families. It is two churches partnering in ministry to preserve and empower families so children never grow up in orphanages.
When a church in the US becomes “one in heart” with an international church, God’s grace is powerfully at work. There is a hope that multiplies like a seed planted in good soil. Hope begets hope. Through church partnership and our Home Based Care (HBC) program, Pastor Eyob and his team typically care for 20 vulnerable families, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The church becomes an attractive force in their community.
In Pastor Eyob’s case, the attractive force of hope expressed by the sacrificial love of their US church partner inspired his congregation to befriend an additional 40 of their neighbors, who are mostly Muslim. Hope was multiplied.
For six months, his church provided groceries to these 40 families. Each family came to the church once a month and received a food basket. They were prayed for and tangibly saw the love of Christ through the generosity of the church. Hope is an attractive force.
Pastor Eyob’s passion to reach out to his neighbors had a reciprocal effect. His church partner in Milwaukee also saw a continued commitment of their congregation to care for one another, each carrying one another’s burdens whether physical, financial, emotional, or spiritual. This expressed love created greater outreach opportunities, attracted new families to their community, and provided increased opportunities to share the gospel.
When love is expressed in a self-sacrificial way, hope abounds! Both church communities, those in Addis Ababa and those in Milwaukee, have limited resources and limited influence, yet God likes to work within our limitations. This reminds me of the early church in the book of Acts. The first church was established and was growing exponentially. This exponential growth came through a small community of believers who “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer,” Acts 2:42. This hope was an attractive force. The church grew. They were “… one in heart and in mind. No one claimed their possessions were their own, but shared everything they had,” Acts 4:32. Though each was limited, all their needs were met.
The early church then took an interesting turn. This attractive force of hope was focused on widows. In chapter six, some widows were being overlooked in the daily food distribution. So, the apostles chose seven men to care for the needs of their community while others focused on prayer and the ministry of the word. The writer shares that great wonders and signs were performed among the people and the church grew rapidly. I cannot help but see the connection to the church working together, one in heart and mind, caring for widows and orphans, proclaiming the hope of the gospel, and seeing communities transformed.
Hope is an attractive force, and churches partnering together has a multiplier effect. As we continue to equip churches to work together in lifting up vulnerable families, our hope is secure in continuing to see God’s grace powerfully at work.
Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13