WHERE is Sister Greenwood?" I asked while visiting one of our smaller churches one day. "She is usually very faithful in her church attendance, and I missed her this morning."
"Oh, haven't you heard?" replied the pastor soberly. "She died this week. We had her funeral Thursday."
Instantly I thought about her two little children, Leroy, age eight, and Judy, age six. "And who is looking after her children now that they are left orphans?" I inquired.
"The same neighbor who took them to her home when Sister Greenwood first got sick," replied the pastor. "I do wish they could be in a Seventh-day Adventist home, but I do not know a single family in our small church who is in a position to take these children. What have you to suggest?"
"Why don't you put a little notice in the union paper stating the fact that these two children are in need of a home?" I suggested.
The notice was prepared all right, but by the time it appeared in the union paper and the letters of inquiry began coming in concerning these children, their uncle had come and taken them to his home. Upon learning of his sister's death and realizing that he was next of kin to these children, he had borrowed money as quickly as he could and had journeyed hundreds of miles to get them. He would have been perfectly willing to let some Seventh-day Adventist family have them, but inasmuch as the pastor had nothing definite to offer at that time, he took his niece and nephew back home with him. So far as I know that is the last contact we as Adventists have had with those children. The neighbor did receive a letter from the uncle after he arrived home thanking her for her kindness to the children, but no one from the church has heard from them since.
After the children had gone, letters of inquiry began coming in to the pastor. Some couples were eager for them. One couple especially were bitterly disappointed when they found that they were too late. Leroy and Judy are out of our hands now, but what can we do to prevent a similar tragedy occurring again in one of our churches?
Do we as a church have a moral obligation resting upon us to see that the orphans of church members are placed in Adventist homes? "Let Christians open their hearts and homes to these helpless ones. The work that God has committed to them as an individual duty should not be turned over to some benevolent institution or left to the chances of the world's charity."—The Ministry of Healing, p. 203. "Many a father, when called upon to part from his loved ones, has died resting in faith upon God's promise to care for them [his children]."— Ibid., p. 202. "God calls upon us to supply to these children, so far as we can, the want of a father's care."—Ibid., p. 203.
While orphans are drifting into institutions and into non-Adventist homes, there are many childless couples among us who are longing for children. Some of these people have had their names on adoption waiting lists for months and even years—waiting, hoping, praying. Now when we have homes needing children and children needing homes, all we lack is a plan and a little organization.
The conference committee could appoint someone such as the educational superintendent, who is in charge of the Home and School Associations in the conference, or someone who is interested in children to be director of the Child Placement Bureau. Couples desiring to adopt children could register their names with him. He could acquaint himself with these couples, see what kind of homes they had to offer, and learn which couples prefer older children and which desire infants. True, the younger the child the easier it is to mold and shape his character, but children are left orphans at every age. Homes are needed for the ten-, twelve-, and fourteen-year-olds as well as for the younger ones. With this kind of arrangement in case of emergency, when a' child is made an orphan suddenly, the pastor could notify the conference director, who in turn could get in touch with the couple best prepared to adopt this particular child. As a rule a child does best when he is placed in a home that is similar to his own.
In some conferences a receiving home might be advisable. This would have the advantage of always being open and ready to receive a child at any time, day or night. It would also give a couple the opportunity of observing a child before making any decisions, and for the placement bureau to determine whether the couple were capable of adopting a child.
There is another class of orphans who need our assistance very much. They are the children of widows and widowers who are not up for adoption but who do need a temporary home —a boarding home for children. Many an Adventist parent has been forced to leave his child with nonbelieving relatives, or board him wherever he could, for lack of a Seventh-day Adventist boarding home for children.
The ideal would be a home on a farm where the children could have plenty of space to play and to enjoy God's wonder book of nature. They would be delighted to watch the horses, the cows, the sheep, and the goats. They would love to play with the puppies and the kittens, to feed the chickens, the turkeys, and the ducks. They would also thrill with the idea of having a little garden of their own that they could plant and cultivate and eat the fruit therefrom. Each child could be given certain chores to perform suitable to his age and ability. Of course, the home should be close enough to a church school to permit those who are old enough to attend.
The lives of many a childless couple would be made happier and greatly enriched if they would buy a little land and open a small boarding home for children. This would be missionary work of the highest order. The sale of their surplus produce—berries, fresh vegetables, eggs, or milk—together with the board money, would enable them to be self-supporting missionaries in every sense of the word.
There are so many children today in need of just such a place as this.
Many of these children could be rescued through the work of orphan asylums. Such institutions, to be most effective, should be modeled as closely as possible after the plan of a Christian home. Instead of large establishments, bringing great numbers together, let there be small institutions in different places.—Ibid., p. 205.
Many a child would be saved to the church and saved in the kingdom of God if each conference had a Child Placement Bureau and several boarding homes to care for the children who need our care.
Our hearts are stirred with righteous indignation when we learn that 400,000 children under twelve years of age are left on their own without supervision every day while mother works. But what are we doing about it? Are we investigating to see whether some of these children belong to our members? If so, why are they without supervision? Can it be that in this land of plenty this number of parents are forced by actual necessity to neglect their children? Or have the dignity of homemaking and the charm of motherhood become so blurred in the smog of material wealth that mother would rather be a robot in an office than queen of her home? Our church members should know that home-making is an art and motherhood the greatest of careers.
"A child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame" (Prov. 29:15). Fathers and mothers must be led to realize that parenthood cannot be treated lightly. This responsibility cannot be accepted or rejected on the whim of the parent. "Next to God, the mother's power for good is the strongest known on earth. . . . Her influence will reach on through time into eternity." —The Adventist Home, p. 240. More important than earning money, more necessary than seeking advanced degrees, more urgent than occupying a high position in the church, is training the child for God. "Parents should allow nothing to come between them and the obligation they owe to their children."—Ibid., p. 264. "You owe your first duty to your children."— Ibid., p. 267. "Mothers who sigh for a missionary field have one at hand in their own home circle."—Ibid., p. 245. "The Lord has not called you to neglect your home and your husband and children. He never works in this way; and He never will."'—Ibid., p. 246.
In his public sermons and in his pastoral counseling the minister should exalt the work of the mother and emphasize the necessity of the mother's being with her child during his formative years. All should be led to understand that "the Christian mother has her God-appointed work, which she will not neglect if she is closely connected with God."—Ibid., p. 234. But what if she is not "closely connected with God" or of necessity must work and is neglecting her child? Should the church neglect him also? Should we pass "by on the other side" while he attends a worldly kindergarten or is cared for by non-Christian people?
A Seventh-day Adventist Child Day-Care Center can be a real haven of refuge to these little ones. Properly conducted by competent, Godfearing persons, the center can be a real home where the child receives love and security. It can be the answer to many a widow's prayer. Forced by necessity to earn the living and yet determined not to break up her home, the mother can leave her children in good hands at the center while she works, and still have them with her the rest of the time when she is at home.
A Child Day-Care Center is a real asset to any church. Not only is it a necessity for certain families of the church, it is a blessing to the community. As an evangelistic agency it is unique. The seed of truth can be sown in the little child's mind at a time when impressions are the most lasting. "Too much importance cannot be placed on the early training of children."—Child Guidance, p. 193. Then, too, the families of these children are often attracted to the gospel from what the children learn at the center. Many a parent or relative has found his way into the church through the center. Being entirely self-supporting, the Child Day-Care
Center is one of the most economical methods we have for evangelism.
The center endeavors to teach the child—
1. To have correct attitudes.
2. To play and work with others agreeably.
3. To be courteous and kind.
4. To be reverent and respectful.
5. To develop a taste for good music.
6. To benefit by character-building stories.
7. To enjoy wholesome food at the proper time.
8. To develop the habit of regularity.
9. To love to obey promptly and cheerfully.
10. To regard life as sacred.
11. To care for the body as the temple of God.
12. To have a wholesome outlook on life.
13. To develop a cheerful, happy disposition.
14. To know God as the One who loves little children, cares for little children, has a place for little children here, and has a home for little children in heaven.
15. To love God, who gave us lovely homes with mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, interesting pets, delicious foods, sweet-singing birds, beautiful flowers, and the greatest gift of all—Himself.
16. To be God's child.
The church that cares for the orphans of the believers and of the community will have a rich award.
