International Headquarter P.O. Box 5607 Johnstown, PA 15904
The Orphans
Of
Africa
"But Jesus called them unto him, and said,
Suffer little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."
-Luke 18:16
As it was during our Lords time on earth, we are reminded of his admonition that “if a man love me, he will keep my words”. It is imperative, as we seek to please our Saviour that we also have compassion on them that are without as we “defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy”. These little ones whom Jesus Christ said of them “in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven” have been on our hearts from the day we arrived until the day we left. Whether coming out of the bush to meet us on the road, or meeting them in the small bush villages, or within the city limits, we as open air preachers of the gospel who “hath this world's good”, and seeth these little ones whom Christ died for yet “shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Therefore, we as the Anabaptists preachers of America have a desire and a vision (Proverbs 29:18) to begin a work among them so that they may see the love of the Father, who dwelleth in Jesus Christ by showing them that he is the way, the truth and the life.
Though much has been done in humanitarian efforts, or even through religious endeavors to feed and care for them, what is more important is to teach them about “the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world”. The Lord knows that they have need of these things, therefore we as ambassadors of Christ, want to provide for them shelter as well as food and raiment wherewith they might be content, while providing the framework to show them the Saviour, Jesus Christ and “the exceeding greatness of his power”, “to the praise of the glory of his grace”. And by the teaching of the word of God, we might bring them unto “repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” so that they would believe on him who was sent, who died for their sins, so that they might be “accepted in the beloved”.
Howbeit, though there was a beauty "unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills", the riches of this great country are seen in the faces of the millions of souls for whom Christ died.
The servants of our Saviour and Lord set before you the fatherless of Kenya in their
afflictions…
…as well as the fatherless of Uganda in their afflictions…
Though Jesus Christ said himself “that the poor shall always be with you”, we must look upon these fatherless children as opportunities to bring them to Christ so that his house may be filled. When we saw with our own eyes the precious souls of these peaceable and quiet children in the face of a need to be sheltered and cared, as it was with our Saviour’s heart, so it is in the hearts of the Anabaptists preachers’ to show compassion to them. Therefore, through the Anabaptists Churches of Africa with the help of their Anabaptist brethren and other co-laborers’ in America, it is our desire to help “bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ”.
This is our story …
"And on the morrow, when they were come" (Mark 11:12) to the streets of Malakisi, Bishop McRae saw small children gathering near them, and kneeling down in the street, "the carpenter" (Mark 6:3) began playing his mouth harp and was soon surrounded.
The Preacher played a song of the redeemed as they gathered to hear a sweet melody of rejoicing.
And as the crowd of young children grew, Brother Calvas joined in, handing out hard candy, which drew even more young children from every alley of the market street; and presently both preachers were surrounded.
And remembering the words of their Lord, the servants of God received them with all gladness of heart and wanted to “give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away”.
Suffer little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
...Luke 18:16
Then Bishop McRae opened his Bible and began at Matthew 18:14, "Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." And though the music and candy drew them to the white man, which many have never seen before, the preaching of the word of God drew even more around the preachers, as Brother Perrault held high the Bible behind the preacher.
Seeing the children so fascinated with the upheld Bible, the Director held his Bible "open faced" (2 Corinthians 3:18) before their eyes, as he proclaimed repentance and the love of Jesus Christ to an ever growing crowd of young, yet hopeless faces.
The scriptures were received in the hearts of the small multitude of orphan children, while in the midst of a congregation and that afterward the preachers rejoiced “with joy unspeakable and full of glory” in obeying the voice of their Master by being a “doer of the word and not a hearer only”. Seeing the hand of God in our street meeting, we went forth from there, desiring to see what more the Lord God would do through his servants.
Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach
there also: for therefore came I forth.
...Mark 1:38
Not many days later we continued in our journey to “preach the gospel to the whole world” and finding them in the “highways and byways we compel them to come”. Between the hundreds of small bush villages in the distance, there were always the small, ever present markets that would be constructed along the worn roadways, where the Anabaptist ministers would stop and preach the gospel while distributing gospel tracts among them.
It is orphan children like those below that our hearts rend for, knowing “how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called”. For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ and him crucified…
To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins,
and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
...Acts 26:18
So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him,
and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
...Job 34:28
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven
...Matthew 5:16
For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.
...Psalm 18:27
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed,
and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.
Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
...Psalm 102:1
For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath he hid his face from him;
but when he cried unto him, he heard.
...Psalm 22:24
Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
...Psalm 82:3
And as was seen in Kenya, the story continued in one of the most heart breaking scenes ever played out before the eyes of the Anabaptist Open Air Evanglists, were the ever present, hopeless and longing faces of many young orphans that literally dotted the beautiful landscape of the western Ugandan mountains. What took place was a site to behold. In gentlemanly fashion, the young orphans paraded in order one by one and shook hands with Brother Calvas and Bishop McRae who began presenting to them the first piece of candy they had ever had in their lives. The children enjoyed the hard candy remembering that as the “honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste”, so was this candy in the mouth of little ones! When we went in 2006, we brought with us 25lbs of candy and gave it all out. During our 2007 trip, we gave out more than 40lbs. The preachers of the Anabaptist churches have now experienced and seen the need not only for the physical, but more importantly, the spiritual awakening of a people in places that no typical missionary would go, yet the “land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable; for they of Ham had dwelt there of old”. Remember them which suffer adversity. Even among the Anabaptist churches, the children of the village come to greet us, and among them are the orphans that are fed by the Christians, but cannot be sheltered due to their limited resources. It is our desire to build these orphanages within the care of the local church so that working Christians in the villages can impart unto those less fortunate, godly character, work ethic and biblical truths that can be sustained by those who are “doers of the word, and not hearers only”. This way of life will impart unto them the love of God so that Jesus Christ may have the preeminence as “the way, the truth and the life”.
Through it all, the Lord who "discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death" does so in a marvelous way to bring joy to the wearisome preachers. It is by his grace, that he does "show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not".
And as they waited there turn to receive from the hands of the preachers, they stared in the faces of white men that have seldom been seen in the bush villages of Kenya and Uganda. One old saint whom we met at one of the village churches proclaimed, "There has not been a white man in this place since I was a small child". Likewise, these white men have never been to places and seen the faces of so many of the needy in the world!
Brethren, as those in the body of Christ who have the heart of their Saviour, and being “members in particular” would your desire be to gather “thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings”? I have had no desire to appeal to your emotions, but instead to have pointed out to you the word of God which directly affects these orphan children, because those scriptures point to that fact! Children have fathers, but orphan children have the heart of the Father! Another thought is to teach these little ones to behold the face of their Father, and to understand the goodness of God, so that they might be saved and have them fervently pray for those who saw their afflictions and were moved in their hearts to do something for them. How much would it benefit you and your spiritual walk to have many orphans come boldly before the throne of grace on your behalf?
Where there is no vision, the people perish
...Proverbs 29:18
Our Vision…
The men of God who have been privileged to do the work of the ministry, in preaching publicly from city to city in this African continent, have also seen the need to do a work among those whom our Father reminded us “to visit the fatherless”. Of course, as I have stated previously, we have no desire of making any of the orphanages a “humanistic” endeavor, but rather a place that exemplifies a “spiritual house to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. It is this sacrifice of love that we owe him, since we were bought with a price, though we could never repay the debt of love we owe! We stand in him alone, dying in order that we might live, knowing “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe”, so that we might live to the praise of his glory. The words of a song ring in my heart as I remember the one who loved me and gave himself for me…
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.
Ever lift Thy face upon me,
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory,
Sunshine of my Father's face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.
Jesus! I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Do you have a song in your heart that will open your eyes to a need that will glorify our Lord and Saviour? Has his grace been sufficient for you? Has the Lord God blessed you with "all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" and be given provisions that you would give toward this work?
It is our purpose to create these orphanages as simply as we can, keeping costs to a minimum. Our desire is that each one will be similar in design, but understanding that in Africa this might not be always possible. The goal of the Anabaptist churches of America is as follows in helping the Anabaptist Churches of Africa to establish orphanages with these principles:
Any funds given for this work will all be used to provide such things as land, building material, bibles, teaching material, tools, and anything else that will be required that will help our African brethren to care and exhort the orphans and themselves to “study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands”.
The administration of these orphanages and the monies that brethren of likeminded hearts would desire to give, will at this time be handled based on necessity. If you desire to give to this work, it will be done by your purposing in your heart first what you want to give and letting us know what it is that you will give. When a need arises, I will let those of you know what it is and then your giving will be based on the following scriptural principle:
I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality.
2 Corinthians 8:8-14
As shown above, the Corinthians promised Paul a year before this epistle was written, to provide for those that had need. Now it was time to deliver. This will also govern how I will work with those who desire from a ready heart to give. If by the grace of God, more is provided than required, I will ask that the giving stop at this time ( Exodus 36:5-7 ) until the next need arises.
If you are interested in a detailed plan of our intentions and how we will accomplish these goals, please email me. Once I have corresponded with you, I will send you my phone number so that you may call and speak with me directly. As your have read, our vision is simple, yet the need is great. If the Lord will move your heart toward this work, I am ready to speak with you; “and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours”, but you to help as the Lord has prospered you. I will remind you of the great and precious promises to those who give as a matter of bounty:
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man
according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly,
or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make
all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work:
(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor:
his righteousness remaineth for ever. Now he that ministereth seed
to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown,
and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
...2 Corinthians 9:6-10
I put you in remembrance…
I have showed you all things, how that so labouring
ye ought to support the weak,
and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus,
how he said,
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
...Acts 20:35
George Calvas
Director of Orphanages
Anabaptists Church of Africa
For information please contact me at the following email address
gcalvas@theanabaptistschurch.com
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Copyright George Calvas
