Helping the Church in Chad rescue orphans and widows,
train leaders, and share
the Gospel

April 2009

Learning from Orphans in a Downward Economy

By Scott Hafemann

As is my custom now, I spent most of December in Chad visiting Village Altonodji and teaching at the Shalom Evangelical School of Theology. This year's trip was especially encouraging as I saw the fruit of your giving in many ways: being at the ground-breaking of the ice machine business for the bible school, being in the pulpit at Pastor Bako's church and in the classroom at the school, being at the river side in N'djamena as hundreds of Chadians were baptized in celebration of Christmas, being with Pastor Lol, the pastor of the orphan village, as he told me his amazing life's story (read story), being with fifty-five pastors who came to study God's word for two days at the Village, and being there day and night with the orphans as they went to class, played with squeals of joy throughout the village, ate with thankfulness, went to chapel, and came to my door first thing in the morning and last thing at night just to say "hi" and to melt my heart with their smiles!

"...(orphans) came to my door first thing in the morning and last thing at night just to say "hi" and to melt my heart with their smiles!"

In being there, I was well aware that what I experienced was only possible because you too were there in your tangible love for the churches and destitute children of Chad. In being there, I also wondered how it will be there as our economy plunges here at home. As an American, I struggle often with the love for money cultivated by our culture. Being there helped me to see again that orphans have a lot to teach us in a downward economy. They remind us vividly that we were all "orphans" when God rescued us from the destitution of our disbelief and "adopted" us as his children (orphans come with nothing!): having received the Spirit of adoption, we lift our hands to God as "abba" (Romans 8:15). They model for us the fact that our futures are not in the hands of the economy but in the hands of our sovereign Lord (orphans have no retirement accounts!): God is the Father of the fatherless (Psalm 68:5). And they call us, as God's children, not to trust in ourselves (orphans have no one else to trust!): as Hosea warned God's people, "we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In thee the orphan finds mercy" (Hosea 14:3).

As we approach the cross this Easter season, thank you for reaffirming your confidence in God for your future by continuing to give to God's children in Chad in a downward economy. There is no greater display of God's grace to us than giving to others in tough times (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). And because of your orphan-like dependence on God, we have almost completed our two biggest projects: the wall for the children and the ice business for the students. 
Amazing Grace! From one group of former orphans to another, your gifts to others out of what God has given you in the cross of Christ declare the reality of the one Friday that is "good" for us all: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich" in the ways that defy a downward economy (2 Corinthians 8:9).