CARING FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN—By M. Norvel Young

CARING FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN---By M. Norvel Young CARING FOR HOMELESS CHILDREN
M. Norvel Young

It is a great privilege to stand before this wonderful assembly of Christian people and to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, the homeless, needy children of our land. Out of the fifty million children under 17 in our nation, there are approximately two million children who do not have the privilege of having their natural parents. For one reason or another, these children must be cared for by someone else because of the death of their parents or because of mental break-downs, or sickness or moral or spiritual failure on the part of their parents. As far as the children are concerned it does not matter what the cause, they are fatherless. This is a matter of special concern to members of the church of our Lord, because it was the church of Christ and Christians in the first century who had compassion upon orphans and widows in their affliction. This was long before the state received enough of the influence of Christ to be interested and long before pagans were concerned with caring for those who did not have fathers and mothers. Even the highly educated Romans thought nothing of disposing of their unwanted children to wild beasts, leaving them to die.

Into a world like this came Jesus Christ saying: u Suffer the little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Except you become as a little child you cannot enter into the kingdom.” He went on to teach that the spirit of his disciples should be one of compassion upon the poor and the needy. Perhaps the most striking example of this is in Matthew 25 where he told us about the judgment scene and indicated that one of the principle questions that will be asked at that time will be in regard to our attitude toward the poor and needy. He said, “I was hungry and you gave me no meat, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you took me not in, naked and you clothed me not, sick and in prison and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him saying, ‘Lord, when saw we thee hungry and thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee?’ Then shall he answer unto them saying, "Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’ And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal” (Matthew 25:42-46).

Jesus himself set us an example of being concerned with the poor and the needy. He himself was the object of charity by women who ministered out of their means unto his needs. He sympathized with the poor. His most vehement criticism was of the Pharisees, who taught the right doctrine but who did not practice it. He said unto them, “Woe unto you hypocrites, you have neglected mercy.” He brought to a climax the teaching of God concerning benevolence. David said in Psalms 41, “Blessed is he that cons'idereth the poor. The Lord will deliver him up in time of trouble.” Again we read in Proverbs 21, “Whoso stoppeth his ears to the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself which will not be heard.” Job said in chapter 29, “When the ear heard me, it blessed me, when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me, because I delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless also, that had none to help him.” God is described in the Old Testament as the Father of the fatherless and he that upholdeth the fatherless.

Jesus taught the selfish Pharisees, who did not have compassion upon the poor, the story of the Good Samaritan and told them to go and do likewise. The golden thread of compassion for the poor, the hungry, the helpless, the needy runs throughout the Bible, but is woven into a most beautiful garment by the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder then that the Holy Spirit teaches in James 1:27, “Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” This one scripture is enough to make us vitally concerned with those in need. But even if this scripture were not in the Bible, there would be enough taught to make Christians and the church concerned to help the poor and especially the fatherless who are not responsible for their need.

We are taught as Christians to do good unto all men, especially those of the household of faith, and yet what do we find today in the churches of Christ? In a recent survey by Mont Whitson of a number of churches that plan their giving a year ahead, it was found that the average contribution for each Christian was only $94.00 per year! Out of this amount, only $4.70 was being spent tor all kinds of benevolent work, including the care of the homeless, the widows, and taking care of those who need food and clothing otherwise. If this is typical, then less than 5% of our giving to the church, which is pitifully small, goes to help those that are in physical need. Does tnis meet the pattern of New Testament Christianity? Is this what we find in reading the New Testament? The church was only a few days old when the prob-lem of caring for those who had physical needs came up. There were many new converts who had come to Jerusalem prepared to remain only a short time. When they were converted to Christ they naturally wanted to stay and learn more of the way of life. To meet this great ne^d the church of Christ in Jerusalem set the world an example of cheerful, voluntary sharing of goods. “And all that believed were together, and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, according as any man had need” (Acts 2:45).

It is true that this verse has been abused by those who would teach Marxian Communism. It is a far cry from the ruthless robbing of those who have private property in Communist countries. The Bible teaches in the very next chapter that the property which belonged to individual members remained theirs and even after they sold it they had the disposition of the money it brought (Acts 5:4). But the spirit of Christ creates a desire on the part of men and women who recognise God as the giver of every good gift to share their goods with others. The greatest force which can be arrayed against Communism is real New Testament Christianity. This practical Christianity will solve the problems of the needy by voluntary sharing on the part of those who have goods and money to share.

Justin Martyr, around 150 A.D., describes the practice of the early churches of Christ in these words, “Those who are well-to-do and willing give, every one giving what he will, according to his own judgment, and the collection is deposited with the president, and he assists orphans and widows, and those who through sickness or other cases are in want, and those who are in bonds, and the strangers that are sojourning, and in short, he has the care of all that are in need” (Ayer, A Source Book for Ancient Church History, p. 35).

Another major example of giving, and of churches cooperating in giving, is the case of the churches of Christ sending funds to help the poor saints in Judea. The church of God in Corinth purposed a year in ad-vance to give a certain amount to this need and gave each Lord’s day so they would be ready with the pur-posed amount when the time came for it to be forwarded to Judea (2 Corinthians 8, 9). From 1 Corinthians 16, and other passages, it seems obvious that the major portion of the giving of New Testament churches went into what we usually call benevolence. Let us restore New Testament Christianity by giving more to help those in need, the widows and fatherless in their affliction, the poor saints in another state or in Korea, or Japan or Africa. "He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Let us get back to the Bible in this practice. Let us go back to the teachings of Christ and take the lead in showing compassion for those in need, just as the early churches of Christ demonstrated their love for their fellow man to the whole world in their charity. It is not right for us to use so much of the prosperity God gives us for our own pleasure, our own homes, our own church buildings even, and neglect the cry of the needy in our own community and around the world. We cannot shift the church’s responsibility to the state or to some denomination such as the Roman Catholic Church. Let Christ’s church, the Kingdom of God, the undenominational body of Christ restore the Bible emphasis upon helping the needy in the name of our Saviour. It will do more than anything else to show men the reality of our faith and love for God and man. It will break down barriers of prejudice and open the way for good and honest men to receive the Word of God, the seed of the Kingdom.

There are three principal ways in which we may help homeless children. I believe that any one of these three is good and that it is not a question of “either-or”, it is a question of doing them all to the best of our ability. The first one is to take these children into our homes on a foster home basis. This can be arranged with the state. Under this plan the state places children for a period of time into homes who will care for them, but who cannot adopt them, due to legal restrictions. Secondly, we can adopt children. I would like to encourage all who are able to do so and who are willing, to adopt children. Due to the stringent laws of the state and the scarcity of very young beautiful babies, there are not as many children to be adopted as there are people who want to adopt them. We need, however, more people who are willing to adopt two, three, and four children of varying ages, not simply because they want them, but because of the service they can render the children. Then there is the third way of caring for children in children’s homes such as we have recently established in Lubbock because there are many thousands of children that cannot be adopted due to their situation and the laws of the state and who have not found adequate care in being moved from home to home but who need the permanence and security of a Christian home. There are those who are able by their means to help these children who are not able to take them into their own homes. So we have arranged this home. Two units are already being built. It is being built on the cottage plan because we have studied such child care and believe this is best. It is being done as the church at work. The elders of the Broadway Church, fifteen of them, are serving as the supervisors. There is no separate organization or charter and it is operated by the church. A number of other congregations are helping to take care of these children. We hope eventually to have on this beautiful 200 acre plot of land 20 cottages to take care of approximately 300 children. The cottages will be built to take care of approximately 15 to 18 children with house parents in each one to make it as nearly a normal home as possible. There are thousands of children needing this type of care. Over one hundred thousand children are being cared for in such homes and only about one percent iof these are being cared for in homes supported by churches of Christ. The state welfare. department assures us that if we were ready now to take care of three hundred children, they could be placed in this home within thirty days. We have already had forty applications for the first unit. I wish you could see some of these children and hear the story of their predicament.

We definitely are interested in encouraging Christians to adopt children. The state controls this. We are interested in seeing children placed in foster homes, but there is still a need for a child-caring home that can take children that cannot be cared for elsewhere. It is not a question of one method or the other, but a question of using all of them. Even then we shall fall short of taking care of many children that need care.

Let us recall that the average member of the church is giving only $4.00 per year for all kinds of benevolent work through the church. A survey of Protestant denominations showed that the average member of such groups is giving $8.57 a year for benevolent work. Too many congregations think they are meeting their obligations to care for homeless children when they put into their budgets $10 or $20 or $40 per month. Yet it usually costs at least $60 per month to care for one such child. Is it right for a church of 200 members to care for only one-third or one-half of one child? Shall we say to those who are hungry and naked: “Be ye warmed and filled,” and give them only a third or half enough to do the job? Remember that Jesus said: “Inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye did it unto me.” The whole spirit of Christianity revolved around the spirit of love for God and for man. If your children were left homeless would you want them to depend upon haphazard support or upon the state or some human denomination? Let us do unto others as we would have them do unto us. Of course, there have been mistakes in caring for the needy. No doubt there will be some mistakes made in the future. Let us constantly strive to correct these mistakes, and to improve our methods of carrying out the command to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction. But the greatest mistake we can make is the mistake of doing nothing at all. It is the mistake of talking and refusing to do. Remember the man who hid his talent in a napkin. If we march under the banner of the folded napkin we will be disowned by our Lord. Let us march forward under the banner of Prince Immanuel practicing pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father.

Let me close by relating an incident which took place during World War II. A preacher was visiting in a poor neighborhood in one of the large cities of Texas. He stopped his new car in front of a humble home. A little boy about eight years old watched him get out. The boy’s eyes caressed every curve on the shiny new car. Then he spoke, “Where did you get that car?” The preacher replied that he had a brother who was very successful in business and that his brother had given it to him. Then the boy exclaimed with youthful enthusiasm: “Boy, I wish I could be a brother like that.” It turned out that his little brother was a victim of polio and that this small lad had learned that it is more blessed to give to your brother than to receive from him. Needless to say, that little brother had a long ride in that beautiful new car before the day was over.

Let us catch the spirit of that boy and be a brother “like that" to countless hundreds of homeless boys and girls who need a big brother. God will bless us in so doing.

If you would like to receive a booklet describing the work of the Children’s Home of Lubbock, just address a card or letter to John B. White, Superintendent, Children’s Home of Lubbock, Lubbock, Texas. It will encourage you to see what is being done.