A Big Dream – A Big Goal

We’ve been in this ministry a long time. 26 years to be exact. You might think we have it down. We might even think that at times. Then God reminds us that He has different plans. Well, actually, He reminds us that something we’ve been hoping for, for years, is His plan and now it’s time to bring that to fruition.

We have always wanted to see the the families of the kids He brings to us transformed by the Gospel. Even in Zambia, where we work with kids who live on the streets, we’ve been drawn to their families over and over again. This desire has only grown. And now, it’s time to do something about it. And, it seems that our team in Zambia is going to lead the way.

We’ve shared in our Laments through the years, the heart breaking news of our kids who’ve gone astray, even after years of care. We’ve even seen that even this year. So, God’s had us thinking. God’s been speaking. Through many circumstances, scriptures, Holy Spirit nudges, and some timing that can only be explained as God’s providence, we know it is time to start focusing on families. For Kenya, India, and Haiti, that means expanding our ministry teams to focus more on developing the churches around our students while working directly with families to disciple, equip, train, and resource them so that they can thrive. This will make the most difference in the lives of our students.

But Zambia. Zambia is a different. What about kids on the streets? Can they go back home? Can their families be transformed into healthy family units where kids can thrive? Yes! And we’ve seen it in action. God led us to a faithful ministry in Kenya that is doing just that. It was the inspiration we needed to make this shift. What does this mean for Abba’s Heart Zambia? More staff. More training. More facilities. More concentrated effort. Way more prayer. And even bigger faith.

We will be releasing videos explaining this shift through our Plead the Cause podcast on YouTube and podcasts on Apple and Spotify in 2025. The long and short of it; shorter times on campus until reunification with family, which means more investment in their families from the moment we meet the child. Our Outreach team will begin shifting their focus from outreach alone to family location, evaluation, discipleship, training, and resourcing. This ministry component won’t end after reunification but will continue until the child reaches 18 years of age.

Let me ease your fears. We won’t be sending children into harmful situations. We won’t be sending children home before they or their family are ready. We won’t abandon them after they are off of our campus. We won’t be rushing the same fixed program for every child. And this will not be a quick ministry transition. We are in the dreaming and planning phase right now. It will take some time to discern how to apply this in Zambia and let God lead us to the staffing and resources we need to accomplish this new version of our ministry.

But what do we need? We need prayer. We need teams to go and help with outreach and construction. And we need funding. Our goal from Giving Tuesday to the end of the year is $250,000. This will resource the shift in Zambia and help us apply what we are learning there to the families around our kids all over the world. Please pray and consider what you can do to help us launch into 2025 ready for this new challenge. Children’s lives will be changed!