Called by God to Serve Orphans and Vulnerable Children; Brandon Stiver 1MillionHome

Host Dr. Laura Horvath engages in conversation with

Brandon Stiver

SENIOR DIRECTOR, GLOBAL PROGRAMS AND PARTNERSHIPS
The spiritual side of Orphan Care
https://1millionhome.com/
https://thinkorphan.com/

Brandon has worked in the child welfare and nonprofit sectors for over twelve years. Before joining 1MILLIONHOME, he led a family based care and advocacy program in Tanzania for several years. Brandon has also worked at a Tanzanian orphanage, in the Californian foster care system, at various churches and teaches on issues facing at risk children at the university level. He has his Master’s Degree in Global Development and Justice and is passionate about indigenous leadership, community mobilization and seeing global entities come together to deliver the best care for at risk children.

Today we’re going to dive deep into an aspect of the work involving care of orphans and vulnerable children that doesn’t often get talked about.  For those of us in what we call “the sector” we talk a lot about the research, and the nuts and bolts of getting kids home, transitioning residential programs like orphanages into models that prioritize family care, engaging with donors, missioners and others in shifting the model and shifting the mindset.  That’s all really important stuff.  What we don’t spend a lot of time talking about is the motivations for getting involved in orphan care in the first place.  We cite the scriptural language we all know - James 1:27, Psalms 68:6,etc.  Today I want to get into something a little more spiritual - the idea of being “called - by God” specifically to this work.  If you talk to people in this space, including those who have built and supported orphanages, they will often tell you that they have answered a “calling.”  

As we are coming to understand that orphanages are not the best place for children to grow up, how are we to think about having received a calling that prompted us to build or support an orphanage?  How are we to reconcile these seemingly conflicting ideas?

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