About

Background

The Lord told Sarah, “Feed My lambs.” He promised many orphanages and many, many children—more than we would ask for or believe we could provide for.  He also assured us that He has “taken great pains to provide” for this “temple of the Lord”—not only “gold and silver” but also “skilled workers” (1 Chron 22).   He commanded us to step out in faith, saying “Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”  We are bringing home the children (32 so far), and He has been providing the workers and finances just as we need them.

Sarah has a degree in International Community Development (concentrations in education and nonprofit management) and James holds a Master of Divinity from Oral Roberts University.  Married for twelve years, James and Sarah are settled in India with their daughters    Simona (11), Shayna (6), and Amira (4).

Vision

We believe that all children have a right to experience family life and to know the love of parents and siblings.  At SCH, we seek children with special needs living in institutions—children who have either been rejected multiple times for adoption or who are not likely to find adoptive families.  We create “forever foster families” for these children—homes where they can live as long as they need to, with people they can always call family. We want to meet every need of these children, just as if each one were adopted individually into a loving family.  For this reason, unlike most third-world orphanages, SCH does not operate out of a poverty mentality or on a bare-minimum budget —we delight in blessing the children, as we know that whatever we do for them, we are doing for our King and for the “Father of lights” from whom we receive every good and perfect gift.  We are expecting that God will do amazing miracles and that Jesus will be glorified by healing, restoring, lifting up, and using these precious ones. 

Progress to Date

So far, we have gathered 32 children, all of whom were abandoned at birth or subsequently, and all of whom have been diagnosed as “mentally retarded” (although for some it may be a misdiagnosis).  These children were referred to us by the government, and were previously housed in orphanages or hospitals awaiting adoption.  Nearly all of the children have been rejected multiple times by prospective adoptive parents, and the Lord said, “Enough is enough” and opened the way for them to come to us.  The children, ranging in age from two months to twenty years, live in two locations, in three family-style flats on church property. They are parented by the local pastoral families.  All of the children seem very happy to be with us.  They are attaching well to the families who care for them and are developing physically, mentally, & spiritually.

Focus for the Current Year 

We have four goals for 2008:

·         To introduce each child to the Lord Jesus, surround them in prayer, and contend for breakthroughs in healing for the glory of God.

·         To construct, purchase or rent facilities to enable us to receive the 30+ additional children referred to us.  These children are waiting in an institutional orphanage.  PLEASE SEE UPDATE on page 20—Praise the Lord!

·         To help the children understand what it means to be part of a family and to give and receive love.

·         To address physical challenges medically as well (removal of parasites and lice, corrective surgeries, glasses, dental work, immunizations, hearing aids/implants, brain shunts, physical therapy, etc.)

We do seek to meet their other needs at the same time (educational needs, speech therapy, vocational training, art therapy, etc.), and we will continue to refine these in future years.  As the most basic needs are addressed, the children will be better able to focus on learning and development.