Visiting Orphans
Visiting Orphans is a 501(c)3 non-profit mission sending agency established in 2005 as a way to fulfill the biblical mandate given in James 1:27 to "visit orphans and widows in their distress". We are dedicated to building relationships and working toward long-term change in those we visit and in those we send.
Our Mission: GO to the nations, BE focused on relationship and LOVE like Jesus.
Who We Are: We seek to live out James 1:27 and Matthew 28:19. We are committed to doing short-term missions the right way. We are committed to seeing lives transformed - those we serve and those we send. We are advocates for children, communities and ministries around the world. We are passionate about investing in and discipling team members. We are passionate about empowering and equipping team leaders. We are invested in pre-trip training that includes spiritual and cultural preparation. We are passionate about caring for orphans, widows, families, and communities. We are passionate about serving and loving anyone that God puts in our path. We are focused on building relationships and loving like Jesus. We seek to encourage and pour into missionaries and in-country staff. We work with orphanages as well as ministries that help keep families together. We have a heart for adoption and are passionate about supporting adoptive and foster families. We advocate to help find families for children who are available for adoption. We believe that short-term trips can have long-term positive impact.
Our Vision: To let children know they matter to us and to God and are not forgotten. To enlist believers to serve in orphanages and with ministries around the world so they may meet physical, emotional and spiritual needs of orphans, widows, and communities. To develop relationships, provide comfort and to share the Gospel with those we visit. To meet tangible needs that improve the living conditions of the children and communities we visit. To invest in those we send by equipping, encouraging and discipling them.
Visiting Orphans staff members have confessed Jesus as Lord and Savior and believe the following:
The Bible is the inspired, only infallible, written word of God.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Mark 13:31 (NIV)
There is one true God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 28:19 (NIV)
Jesus was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died an atoning death, and was resurrected.
You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "Since I am a virgin?" Luke 1:31-34 (NIV)
Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. Acts 2:31 (NIV)
All are sinful and need justification by grace through faith and rebirth by the Holy Spirit for salvation.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:1-5 (NIV)
We believe that the Bible is the inspired, only infallible, written word of God. As established in Gods Word, He desires and gives us the ability to live pure and holy lives and defines this as visiting widows and orphans in their trouble and refraining from worldly desires. In living a pure and holy life, and refraining from worldly desires, God defines biblical relationships that glorify Him. In obedience to these biblical mandates, we do not team with individuals participating in behavior or lifestyles outside of these mandates.
