Hope for children, help for families

Abortion advocates still use the old gibe about evangelicals being pro-life only up to birth, but that’s always been hype attempting to slime hope. Christians two centuries ago were in the forefront of the fight against slavery. Christians now are creating orphanages, foster care homes, and schools as well as pregnancy care centers—and even opioid recovery programs for those whose lives have gone sour.

WORLD has published features about each of the Final Five: our International, Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, and Northeast winners in the 12th annual Hope Awards for Effective Compassion competition. Suggestion: Don’t read them all at once. Please read about one ministry and pray that God will continue to bless it. Then come back later to the others, alternating reading and prayer.

Our previous 95 profilees came from 34 states plus China, Iraq, Ghana, Haiti, and Central America. This year we looked for worthy organizations from places previously unrepresented, so our regional winners come from Zambia, New Mexico, Mississippi, Montana, and New Hampshire. Once again we did initial research by website and phone, and then sent reporters to see if ground-level reality reflects internet publicity.

Online voting for this year’s overall winner has now begun and will continue until Sept. 1. Please go to wng.org/compassion and vote for whichever of the five ministries moves you the most. All are worthy. The one garnering the most votes will receive a $15,000 grand prize. Regional winners receive $2,000 each, plus lots of publicity and increased credibility that they often fruitfully use in their own areas to multiply those dollars.

And, thank you to all the WORLD members who have over the years nominated local Christian poverty-fighting groups that offer challenging, personal, and spiritual help and do not depend on government financing. All the winners do depend on God. As Psalm 127 declares, “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

The five ministries we’ve profiled are like arrows in the hands of poverty-fighting warriors. Blessed is the region that fills its quiver with them.

—Please read the first in this series on the 2017 Hope Awards: International Region winner Village of Hope