U.S. Christian Families Urged to Welcome African Orphans

Christian families in the U.S. are being encouraged to open their homes to orphaned African children as part of an effort started by international group Force for Christ.

According to ChristianToday.com, Force for Christ is encouraging Christian families to open their homes to orphaned children from Malawi for four to six weeks this summer. The aim is to provide the impoverished, parentless children with loving, stable, Christian homes.

"Hosting is where an orphan child from another country comes and stays for a period of between four to six weeks with a Christian family in the United States. And so we facilitate that whole process," said Chad LaForce of Force for Christ.

LaForce went on to say that the country of Malawi was chosen this year because of the high poverty rate and the high number of orphans there, many of whose parents die from diseases like HIV.

"A lot of their twenty-and-thirty-something-year-old parents, many of them die. So you have thousands of orphans without an orphanage, without any infrastructure, oftentimes without food—literally with just the shirt on their back," LaForce said, painting a picture of the stark conditions these orphans face.

Being able to be a part of a loving home, with people who will provide for them and share the Gospel with them could change their lives, said LaForce.

Force for Christ will be helping the children transition into their new homes by providing translators and training programs for adoptive families.

Publication date: May 27, 2016