World Vision International has been in the news a lot lately.

Recap:

First the Christian charity came out and stated that they were going to hire openly gay employees; this caused a fire storm of both support and regret from people all over Christendom.  Two days later World Vision reversed their decision and even referred to it as a “mistake.”

In those two days after the initial announcement the internet was a buzz with people on one hand applauding the bold decision and on the other calling for a boycott of the organization.

As a matter of full disclosure, I sponsor two World Vision children and I am also a World Vision Child Ambassador.  I have the privilege to help people sponsor children from over 100 countries around the world.

I was saddened to hear that World Vision because of what seemed like a well planned boycott had to reverse its decision to ensure that they could still operate.  Rich Sterns the head of World Vision initially stated that 5000 children or roughly $2.1 million of donations had been dropped due to this so called “scandal.”  And if that wasn’t bad enough…

I saw this tweet today:

10,000 children sponsorship… gone…

10,000 children who had a relationship with individuals, families and even churches, now they don’t.

10,000 children were used as pawns in a game of “who’s holier than thou?”

10,000 children were cast off and forgotten….

10,000 children

To withhold sponsorship from children struggling to have the basics of life goes against the Gospel; plain and simple.

When my family and I write letters back and forth between the children we sponsor not once did they ever write back and ask if we were a homosexual couple… not once.  Not once did World Vision ask if we were a same sex couple or even supported same sex rights.

Rather our sponsored children would send us pictures of homes, chickens, flowers you name it,  adorned with the stickers that we had sent to them.  They tells us about their family life, school, and thank us for supporting them and their projects.

Do I agree with World Vision’s reversal?  No, but it is my belief that Christ called us to serve and love one another in his name no matter what.

Let’s stop debating homosexuality which for some reason the Church is absolutely fascinated with. Let’s get back to the gospel of joy, love, grace, hope, and reconciliation. That’s what matters to God, not the 6 verses (all of them out of context) that people love to point out about homosexuality.

There are more verses in the Bible about the treatment of slaves but you don’t see anyone trying to go back to that way of life.

There are more verses in the Bible about love and care for others that are obviously being over looked.

Let’s focus on the kids and after we solve world hurt and poverty then we can talk particulars.

Arguing about who is in and who is out in the Kingdom of God is why people aren’t lining up to be Christians; if this is the way Christians react to different ways of thinking then no wonder the church is shrinking.  The actions of those who dropped their sponsorship did more harm to Christianity than it did to “help save it” or “restore it back to Biblical principles.”

In the end no one “won” this fight.  It was the 10,000 children who lost.

The world around us is full of hurt and pain and this is what we chose to spend our time on.

 

I will continue to support World Vision because my two sponsored children are counting on me; will you join me?

If you want to sponsor a child perhaps one that was dropped you can click here.  You will be able to select the gender, country of origin, age, etc.  One of the children we sponsor has the same birthday as our four year old daughter; it’s a great way to share the love of Christ and have a personal connection to someone who is made in the very same image of God as you and I.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

---

Edit 1: Link to sponsor children fix @ 3:35pm CST