A Hope for the Fatherless team is traveling in Vietnam and China in December 2006 gathering reports on our initial orphan care and microenterprise programs ... including making arrangements for our initial manufacturing and distribution of our Blankets of Hope™ as part of the 2007 Chinese New Year.
Please check back in mid-December for an update.
2006 Accompishments include:
- Launched official ministry efforts and partnerships in April 2006.
- Initiated orphan care projects in Vietnam with indigenous church partners, including a goat micro-loan initiative to assist orphan foster families in rural areas administered through local church partners.
- Implemented a demonstration project called Blankets of Hope, which is providing orphans in China and Vietnam with the gift of a specially designed blanket with an evangelical message about "hope and a future" (Jer 29:11; Eph 1:5-6) and the Gospel message. Both the blanket and the message are delivered though local indigenous church partnerships. The resulting impact provides orphan assistance, shares the Gospel with these precious children and their caregivers, and builds infrastructure among the indigenous church to provide ongoing orphan ministry. The Blankets of Hope are made and prayed for by Christian microenterprise efforts employing and benefiting impoverished believers in China and Vietnam, and eventually other countries.
2007 Objectives include:
- Successfully introduce Blankets of Hope with the goal of sponsoring 50,000 blankets in 2007 for orphans in China and Vietnam that also generates excess contributions to fund orphan care projects and covenant adoption assistance loans for Christian couples through our partner ministry, The ABBA Fund (www.abbafund.org).
- Expanding Hope for the Fatherless orphan care initiatives and microenterprise projects in Vietnam and China that equip and empower the local church.
- Partnering with natinal indigenous church leaders to explore opening the first officially Christian-managed orphanage in the Vietnam.