More about Hannah's Heart
For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him.
Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD."
~ 1 Samuel 1:27-28
THE STORY BEHIND HANNAH'S HEART
Hannah's Heart is an adoption fundraising and orphan care effort that sprang out of
Morning Star Baptist Church in Rockford, Illinois.
In August of 2005, just days before Hurricane Katrina hit, a group of single adults were meeting together for fellowship and a study of biblical stewardship.
They brainstormed for ways to "be" God's hands and feet, ways to "invest" their physical talents and resources into everlasting, eternally-valuable projects.
As unmarried Christians, the Morning Star single adults were looking for ways to thrive within God's sovereignly-appointed parameters for their lives,
including the lack of spouses or children of their own. That evening, it dawned on them that no other investment can promise to yield greater
spiritual returns than the investment of helping godly couples finance their adoptions. And the rest is history. While the singles group
shrank over the years and is now practically extinct, God has continued to grow a churchwide awareness
of the necessity of orphan care and a passion for giving hope to needy children, both locally and globally.
There are many reasons to invest financially in Christian adoption and orphan care, but here are two:
(1) You have the opportunity to help meet the physical and emotional needs of children whose living circumstances would otherwise be less than ideal, often miserable, even hopeless.
Your investment goes toward demonstrating unconditional, practical love to a needy child.
James 1:27
is very clear that helping widows and orphans in their affliction is a mark of true Christianity. It is not a non-committal, impersonal well-wishing from afar. Helping the fatherless in their
affliction is an actual responsibility that brings immediate benefits to a child.
(2) You have the opportunity to help bring a child into a loving, Christian home. We do not typically think of adoption as
a rescue effort on an eternal scale, but in many cases, that is true. There are many children whose lives are not bound to intersect with a Gospel influence
of the magnitude they would find in a Christian family. To help a Christian family adopt a child is to help bring that child into an environment that exposes
him or her to the life-changing power of God's Word. It is not necessarily a guarantee that the child will trust Christ as Savior, but it increases the likelihood
exponentially. We cannot buy and take things with us into eternity. But giving financially toward a Christian adoption is one way to use money as an
asset toward investing in souls.
Hannah's Heart has become a division of Global Grace Missions, the rescue-relief ministry and missions arm of Morning Star Baptist Church.
Ministry efforts like adoption funding and orphan care fit in beautifully with the aims and purposes for which Global Grace was started.
Bringing orphans into committed Christian families is an investment both for now and for eternity.
The description of "pure religion" in James 1:27 indicates that Christians ought to be involved somehow in orphan care individually (capitalizing upon our unique gifts, connections, and affinities).
It also implies that orphan care is not an optional hobby for the local church--churches ought to be involved corporately in caring for orphans and in helping Christians who seek to parent orphans
or to minister to orphans somehow:
a. Pray for Christian families who are seeking to adopt yet struggling to finance adoption.
b. Give to support Christian adoptions and orphan care efforts.
c. Consider your resources and think of other ways you yourself can demonstrate "pure religion" before God, Who is of course the ultimate Father.
Hannah's Heart is currently collecting donations for an urgent adoption-funding need and for
orphan care in general. Over the past year, the increasingly pressing burden has been for our own elder and his wife,
Jeremy and Anouk Scott, who
hope to bring their two sons home from Liberia by Christmas '08. Please consider giving what you can! If you are able to contribute a tax-deductible gift to a general fund for orphan care and for financing Christian adoptions,
please email invest@globalgracemissions.org.
To donate online via PayPal or credit/debit card, click on a DONATE button from this page,
or you are also welcome to post a check to the following address:*
Global Grace Missions Attn:Hannah's Heart
3430 Colony Bay Drive
Rockford IL 61109
*If you do mail a check, please also email invest@globalgracemissions.org us to help us track the amount.
Your gifts are tax-deductible, so you will receive a receipt. If you would like to donate Frequent Flyer miles or airline points,
please also email invest@globalgracemissions.org to arrange that.
As unmarried Christians, the Morning Star single adults were looking for ways to thrive within God's sovereignly-appointed parameters for their lives,
including the lack of spouses or children of their own. That evening, it dawned on them that no other investment can promise to yield greater
spiritual returns than the investment of helping godly couples finance their adoptions. And the rest is history. While the singles group
shrank over the years and is now practically extinct, God has continued to grow a churchwide awareness
of the necessity of orphan care and a passion for giving hope to needy children, both locally and globally.
The description of "pure religion" in James 1:27 indicates that Christians ought to be involved somehow in orphan care individually (capitalizing upon our unique gifts, connections, and affinities).
It also implies that orphan care is not an optional hobby for the local church--churches ought to be involved corporately in caring for orphans and in helping Christians who seek to parent orphans
or to minister to orphans somehow:
Hannah's Heart is currently collecting donations for an urgent adoption-funding need and for
orphan care in general. Over the past year, the increasingly pressing burden has been for our own elder and his wife,
Jeremy and Anouk Scott, who
hope to bring their two sons home from Liberia by Christmas '08. Please consider giving what you can! If you are able to contribute a tax-deductible gift to a general fund for orphan care and for financing Christian adoptions,
please email invest@globalgracemissions.org.