Tabernacle Presbyterian Church (PCA)

A great organization that serves as a voice for foster children is CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children.  CASA volunteers are trained advocates who assist abused or neglected children in court.  They thoroughly investigate a child’s situation from all angles and are a valuable resource to judges, social workers, and most importantly children.  No previous training is required.  All that you need is time and the desire to be a voice for foster children.  Go to casaforchildren.org for more information.

The Guatemala team has started a blog at http://homeofrefuge.blogspot.com.  They plan to keep us updated this week and throughout their trip with prayer requests/needs and updates on the work in Guatemala.

This morning in our worship service we heard about another ministry project in our Summer of Compassion: a project to bless some of the 200 foster children in the Waynesboro and Augusta County area with backpacks filled with back-to-school supplies. Caring for widows and orphans is part of the very foundation of the mercy we’ve been called to show as those who have received abundant and undeserved mercy and grace through Christ.

Do you remember the great joy of receiving a package, and discovering small gifts, one by one, and delighting in each one?  As we fill these backpacks, let’s pray together that the foster children in our area would be filled with delight as they discover the treasures that will help them in school this fall.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.   James 1:27

Our team is preparing for the Summer of Compassion trip to Guatemala.  Please pray for them as they raise money and set up plans for their trip.

Guatemala Team Members

In January of this year, a new ministry, Orphan Hope, developed in the sister congregations of Tabernacle Presbyterian and Holy Cross Presbyterian, consisting of individuals and families burdened by the global orphan crisis and a desire to encourage and support those called to foster and adopt.

In June, a team will be volunteering at an orphanage in China and in late July, others are heading to Guatemala to an orphanage there. The participants consider themselves one team with two destinations having the same goal—to care for orphans in their distress (James 1:27). We yearn to see our churches mobilizing to bring the promise of God’s hope and future to some of the world’s 143 million orphans!

Please Pray for Them!

• For travel safety as these groups go to China and Guatemala
• For health and wisdom
• For necessary financial support
• For the orphans they will be seeking to love
• For the staff they will be seeking to encourage
• For the families back home while they are away