The Journey Ministry is excited to partner with Welcome the Children to help children in poverty. 100% of the money donated through The Journey to Welcome the Children will go directly to supporting the needs of these little ones. Please read the following from Welcome the Children and consider how you can help today.

Kenya

We have all been exposed to the tragedy of poverty, whether through the media or witnessing the effects first hand. There is no question of the graphic destruction caused by the lack of food, water, and other basic necessities. Witnessing such defeating circumstances often times leaves us feeling helpless and hopeless. If we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed or to become indifferent to this truth, the cycle will only continue, tearing into the lives of people who see no way out. Of all effected, children are left as the most devastated victims.

When a child is unable to receive proper and adequate nutrition, shelter, and education, the hope of a promising future diminishes. Instead of enjoying the innocence of childhood, they engage in a battle for their lives. How can we help?

Welcome the Children is a non-profit organization that recognizes the oppressive nature of poverty. Our mission is to obey Christ’s call to sow abundantly into the lives of those in need. All of the funds we receive are utilized to break the vicious cycle and supply children with a means to defend their right to thrive; quite simply, what you give is what they get. Every child that we help is one less child bound by the chains of despair. By providing nourishment for the mind, body and soul, we give them the tools necessary to be future leaders who become catalysts for positive change. We are excited that today more than 450 children are able to receive an education and care, some of them for the very first time!

Through your prayers and financial contributions, you can empower lives and give children the opportunity to flourish! Please, help us give them a hand up.

“Anyone who welcomes a child on my behalf welcomes me…” – Matthew 18:5

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Panama

Since 1992, Ron Moore and The Bible Chapel have partnered with Mirko and Traci Delabasich at their Word of Life (WOL) camp in Panama. A team of youth was sent to Panama in 2006 on a sponsored short-term trip to the camp. On this trip, they shared the gospel and spent time with more than 1,400 students. As this team returned home, their passion for this ministry became contagious and set the course for the relationship.

Since then, the church has sent several teams. Those teams participated in many different activities, including serving during the children and youth camp season at the WOL camp, performing drama and puppet ministries in public schools, completing construction projects, and hosting women’s and leadership conferences.

The common thread with the trips is that Traci would take each of the teams to a local orphanage where she spent much of her free time. During these visits, the teams ministered to the abandoned and orphaned children through relationship, sport, crafts, and simply caring. The children started to become more than faces. They became names, stories and relationships that started to grow and bloom out of this loveless trap. God clearly was calling The Bible Chapel to do more. In 2010, the The Bible Chapel heeded God’s calling and provided the funding and manpower to create a better environment for some of these forgotten children. Without help, most of them would be turned loose at the age of 18 into a life of drugs and prostitution in the hard streets of the toughest neighborhoods. Through much prayer and discussion, the cross-cultural team decided that the best way to serve them would be to provide a loving, Christ-filled home with parents that would love the children unconditionally.

In 2011, the Fundación ANA Panama, (Ayudando Niños Abandonados), was formally created in Panama, and Mario and Fernanda Herrera were called as the first set of house parents. By November, the first home was rented and the first children were in the care of the foundation. The year 2012 was a year of growth as eight boys between the ages of 7 -14 transitioned from the orphanage into the first home. A second home was rented in August, 2012 and eight more boys have been identified to start the transition from the orphanage by early 2013. Several girls have been identified as candidates and the hope is that a girls home will home will be opened in the first half of 2013.

The primary goal of ANA Panama is to help each child realize that they are wonderfully created and loved by God. As we grow with each one of them, they are led to find their unique gifting and how to use it as they mature. Each child is provided all of the basics necessities including housing, meals, clothing, recreation, schooling, tutoring, mentoring, friendship, and, most of all, love. We also want to equip them with the skills to successfully be integrated into society in a healthy, productive way.