Orphans/Fatherless

[OopsMartin]

as a widow and a son who is fatherless it has been a hard road...as a believer who goes to church regularly i can honestly tell you as a whole churches are sorely lacking in charity....there are hardly any ministries that directly address the widows and fatherless...widows are considered much older ladies who need assistance...otherwise i am not acknowledged...the fatherless...well, who in the church is directly appointed to assist...when my son belonged to a christian boyscouts group i would call the leader asking questions...he was a kind man tho his wife never acknowledged me....it always bothered me...if you are a female in a church w/o a husband you are a threat...elders just werent equipped to handle the young widow...it was pretty much find a compassionate older christian woman who was willing to converse on any level...i had repeatedly asked for assistance with my son but what man could help w/o there being problems b/c i was a young widow w/o a husband...i soon stopped seeking assistance and waited on the lord for all my needs and have never looked back

so sorry that this has been your experience. It is the same for many single women I am sure.

The church has become more corporate minded and institutionalized. We really should make every effort to turn that around and get back to ministering to one another in the love of God.

[Kabowd]

One thing that I don't appreciate is pity. It's demeaning when people look at you differently because of your circumstance (and you can see it in their eyes). We need to be sure we treat people with dignity and respect. Also, when we're offering assistance, we need to try to do it in such a way that it preserves the person's dignity.

[mrs]

Its a bit of a challenge here also to help these kids. Take foster care for example - it is a good ministry that Christian families could have to children. The problem is child destruction services ( *cough I mean child protection services) are very anti- family and anti- Christian. Many of the children in foster care are angry, bitter, hurt, and, well, bratty.

However, if I was to take in one of these children I would have no way to control them. I obviously could not spank them, couldnt remove possessions as punishment, etc etc. It would also be very hard to instill Christian values in them for the CPS is so oppressive. I've seriously contemplated having foster children several times, but the restraints I would be under leads to concern over how effective such a ministry would be.