The Future of India

Last month, we shared with you the story of Yadav. It is an incredible story of God at work in India. His is the kind of story we work towards every day. A family found themselves in an impossible situation with ill-informed, impossible choices. Their child ended up in a slave mine far from home, but through the work of faithful partners and faithful donors who made it possible – Yadav was reunited and is now living happily with his family again.

But not every story has this kind of ending. We are not able to reunite every child with their family for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we simply cannot find their families. Other times their parents have passed away. And there are a few circumstances where we did not trust that reuniting a child with their family is in the best interest of that child. For these reasons, we have a great opportunity and responsibility to care for these children. We get to be the ones to pour God’s love into these children. We will play a part in raising the future generation of India.

The Future Generation of India

It is an incredible opportunity that makes us excited about what the future holds. We have dreams for these children. We will change the future by showing them they are deeply loved; they are worthy; they are children of the King. These children will get an education through schooling, training programs, and apprenticeships. They will be prepared for jobs to provide for families of their own one day. But we also must accept the reality of where we are. And the reality is – right now the kids are only getting one meal a day.

It’s easier to close our eyes and pretend this isn’t happening. Or only focus on the good parts like the fact that 21,000 children have been released from slavery through our partners and 11,500 of them have been reunited with their families. It’s tempting to feel overwhelmed – to think that what you have to offer can’t make a difference so why even try? But none of those options are the truth.

The Truth

The truth is kids continue to be released from slavery. They are dropped off on the doorsteps of churches by the very people who held them in captivity. God continues to show our partners more children who continue to be held captive in the mines of India. Children who need rescued. Which leaves our partners faced with an impossible choice – rescue more when we can’t adequately feed the ones we’ve got or wait?

So our pastor partners are turning to prayer. Right now, pastors all over India are praying for God to make a way to meet the needs of all of the rescued children and for God to make a way to resume rescuing the ones who are still held in slavery.