Toward a Theology of Orphan Ministry

Who are you? Who am I? These basic questions are ones that dominate our lives, throughout our lives, and it seems the answer changes in ways as time goes by. However, at every point in life our being- our identity, is inexorably rooted in where we came from. Try to imagine then the profundity of this question when you are an orphan.

Few of us can begin to imagine what life is like with no family connections- no one to spend holidays with, no one to call on the weekends, and no network of support when times get hard. Even harder to imagine is having next to nothing to base your very identity on. Anya and I are students of the issues surrounding life as an orphan. We do not know much, but in observing and listening to the lives of orphans we hear one constant refrain- the one thing an orphan knows and remembers about their family, is that the orphan has emerged from the family unwanted.

Because of the depth of these issues, a ministry like The Harbor must be absolutely clear about its objectives.

* The project of The Harbor then is much more than providing housing- The Harbor provides a HOME
* We do not merely teach vocational skills- The Harbor instills VALUE into the orphan by enabling them to work with their hands
* The Harbor does not merely counsel the orphan- The Harbor introduces the orphan to their FATHER

Thank God that our value, our worth, our identity is not found solely, or really, in our earthly lineage.

We are who we are because of whom God has called us to be. He is our Father, our Creator, and our Savior. From him we have come, and he beckons us to return to his nail scarred arms.