In the evening of February 29, World Without Orphans (WWO) kicked off its third global forum in Chiang Mai, Thailand, with the theme ‘together from crisis to hope.’ Bringing together more than 500 participants from over sixty countries, the event started off with a reminder that amid the overwhelming needs of overlapping crises today, human efforts cannot help but fall short. Instead, what God is looking for is believers who faithfully follow the leading of His Spirit to transform their community.

“Five million kids live in orphanages although most of them still have family, making them social orphans. 150 million children have lost one or both parents, making them legally orphans. And a staggering one billion children in the world suffer some form of physical, sexual or emotional abuse each and every year, which means that one of two children in the world are significantly vulnerable today,” said WWO’s principal coordinator Karmen Friesen.

WWO, a global movement that seeks to mobilize the Church to respond to the needs of vulnerable children in every nation, held its first global gathering in the same location in 2016 and the second event three years later in 2019 just before the pandemic hit that led to millions more orphaned children who lost one or both parents due to Covid-19.

While the numbers and trends appear bleak, there is hope because God is at work even in the darkest of places, Friesen said.

Read the whole article by Timothy Goropevsek on ChristianDaily.com