We support Fadhili Shabani who lives with his parents and 1 sister in Tanzania. He is 9 years old and his parents struggle to provide for the family. Fadhili is growing up in a poor area in Tanzania. The HIV and AIDS crisis has severely damaged the social fabric of the entire community, leaving many children without parents. Families are primarily dependent on agriculture and livestock for food and income. Fadhili is in primary school and he enjoys handwriting. He helps at home by carrying water. He likes to play soccer.
We also support Charbel Elias who lives with his parents and 1 brother in Lebanon. His father is a shop keeper and his mother is a teacher. Despite their efforts it is difficult to meet the family's needs. Charbel is growing up in an urban community. Families live in two-story apartments constructed of bricks and cement, which are built very close together on narrow winding streets. Charbel is not in school at this time. He likes to play with balloons.
When faced with the decisions that World Vision was making that we did not agree with we were stuck with a decisions. Keep supporting our kids and World Vision or pull out our support. We made the decision to keep supporting our kids! How could we take that money away from them to make a point. We do not agree with decisions that WV is making and we are calling them to make huge changes but our Children and their communities are not part of this fight! God has a bigger plan then we can understand and we have to trust that although our Money is still going to an organization that has made some poor decisions that God will use that money to further his kingdom and change our kids lives! Charbel is from a closed country to the gospel so World Vision has chosen to no share the gospel in this country in order to protect their ability to be there. This is a decision that we struggle with. We are praying that our money would allow Charbel to live long enough that he would be able to come in contact with someone who would tell him about his Savior Jesus Christ. Fadhili is from an open country and gets to hear about Jesus and what he has done for him and we are thankful for that!
Nate wrote the following post today that I think pretty much sums up how we are feeling. So I thought I would share that as part of this post!
Dear Richard Stearns, "I forgive you; now resign."
Richard Stearns, President of World Vision, in a statement
to the Huffington Post said there have been
"no serious requests for my resignation".
World Vision is a world-leader in relief, support, child sponsorship, and community-development in third-world and developing countries all over the world. They self-identify as a "Christian" organization but do not go as far as "evangelical". This is evident in their philosophy of the work they do - namely relief first, Gospel second. They also do work in countries who are closed to the Gospel and as a result, do not openly share the Gospel to the children and communities there as well has hire non-Christians often, in these countries, to help with the relief work.
Nonetheless, World Vision openly shares the Gospel in allowing countries and continues to do loads of "Kingdom work" which will, no doubt, be paying dividends throughout eternity.
It is for this reason I am, and many others are, calling for the resignation of Richard Stearns and the entire board of trustees of World Vision.
Many gate-keeping evangelical ministers of the Gospel (especially Dr. Richard Morris of the Southern Baptist Convention, but dozens overall) have, in one form or another, brought attention to the theological and doctrinal error of Richard Stearn's statements last Monday which have been read and shared by tens of thousands of people. Unfortunately they succeeded in doing something far worse, and have left World Vision, and the children and communities they support, to the wolves of a boycott-happy conservative constituency (by Richard Stearns' own estimate, nearly 5,000 children and their communities have been dropped by sponsors since Monday). This is a blatant neglect of the importance of the work World Vision is doing and an all-to-quick and naively easy response. It is far too complicated of a matter to, with one fell swoop, disregard World Vision for the actions of its leader.
I urge the leaders of Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, The Presbyterian Church in America, the Southern Baptist Convention, and many other leaders of Gospel-defined communities of faith:
Please do not issue a "farewell" to World Vision - save it. Request the resignation of Richard Stearns and the Board of Trustees.
In the words of a dear friend and stake-holder in the World Vision community: Mr. Stearns, "I forgive you. Now resign".
You have shown your cards as a liberal Christian who does not respect the authority of Scripture and, more importantly, shown you are unfit to lead a giant such as World Vision. The work your organization does is far too important to be playing fast-and-loose with your supporters, sponsors, employees and contractors. You admitted your mistake, for that, I forgive you; but the damage has been done and it is time for you to step aside. Please resign for the sake of this organization, the sake of the children and communities you love all over the world and, most importantly, for the sake of the Gospel.
Nate's words really sum up how we are feeling and the conclusions we have come to as a couple. I write this blog to encourage you in this situation if it affects you and in any other situation that is hard and calls for a response that you would hold it up to scripture and to the Gospel and then respond. I am learning so much about the importance of the Gospel being what leads all of our decisions. The Gospel should seep into and affect every area of our lives and every area of our decision making. This last week we saw that in a huge way with the World Vision situation but let us be aware of it always, not just when we have a hard situation in front of us! I pray for Nate and I and those dearest to us that we would be affected by the Gospel on an every moment basis and that it would totally change us and affect everyone who comes in contact with us. Let us not just "feed people" in the Name of Jesus but let us proclaim the name of Jesus through the Gospel at every possible moment!
Celeste
