The hot Haitian sun beat down on our metal tap tap as we bounced along the dirt road of a small town just outside Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. My hands wrapped around the metal bars, I squinted into the high noon sun as we came to a slow stop, our driver pointing towards a large piece of land stretching on for miles.
Through a translator we learned we were at a mass burial site of those who had lost their lives in the January 2010 earthquake that hit just outside of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince measuring a magnitude of 7.0, killing an estimated 300,000 people, displacing millions. A hush fell over our mission’s team as we silently surveyed the rolling hills that held precious remains.
Children were gathered in their Sunday best at the entrance, some playing together and others sitting somberly in the soft earth as they traced their finger into the dirt.
“Are these children here to visit those they lost in the earthquake?” I asked the translator as he helped us out of the back of the truck.
“No,” he responded in a somber tone. “These children come every Sunday to wait for their parents to return.”
I stood speechless at this gate that separated childlike faith with the cruel reality of death. To this day his words still echo in my heart and mind, the image of those children in their suits and dresses standing in the scorching heat holding on to hope seared into my soul. Despite the loss and trauma, they climbed through the rubble of their city each week to stand at the edge of destruction believing those who had been lost would be found and come back for them.
Understanding Spiritual Orphans and Their Needs
Over the last fifteen years the Church has gone through a seismic shift that has rocked the body of Christ to her very core and we are now left to sift through the rubble of church hurt, anger, offense, frustration, and fear. Barna reports, “More than 4,000 churches closed in America in 2020. Over that same time, over 20,000 pastors left the ministry and 50 percent of current pastors say they would leave the ministry if they had another way of making a living.” (https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/new-barna-survey-finds-38-us-pastors-have-considered-leaving-ministry).
The statistics also include congregants and those who call themselves Christ followers stating, “Monthly, committed churchgoers are now about half as common as they were two decades ago,” (source: https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/), “the share of practicing Christians has nearly dropped in half since 2000.”
As discouraging as these numbers may be, we must not grow weary in doing good. God has given us His Church, as imperfect as she may be, as a safehouse where we will meet spiritual orphans looking for life among the ruins. It is our honor and responsibility to meet them where they are and offer them Jesus, the Living Hope.
I want to be very clear that this term “spiritual orphan” is in no way used in tandem or in association with one who has been orphaned by biological parents. It isn’t meant to diminish the experiences and testimonies of those who have gone through the foster system or adoption process. There is a very real distinction between one who has been physically orphaned and one struggling with the orphan spirit.
The Orphan Spirit: A Barrier to Spiritual Healing
The orphan spirit is a spirit that causes one to dwell in a constant state of abandonment, rejection, and disappointment. It attacks the mind with feelings of fear, worry, and anxiety causing someone to see everything through a lens of lack, creating a poverty mindset that there is never enough for them. It’s only through the truth of the Word of God this spirit can be replaced with the Spirit of God that speaks of who we are in Christ: loved, adopted, accepted, and lacking nothing.
Rebuilding Faith on Christ’s Foundation
We must be willing to acknowledge where our foundation has been compromised, the parts of our framework that have been weakened and repent for building our churches on anything and everything apart from our Chief Cornerstone, Jesus Christ.
If we were to look over our own personal journey with the big C church many of us could pinpoint where we saw the cracks begin to form. They seemed small at first as we wrestled to master new technological advances, cultural shifts, and social media. Pastors and leaders went from tending to their sheep in the House of God to being politicians, celebrities, and social media influencers.
And the sheep lost shepherds.
Spiritual orphans lost mothers and fathers.
We gave pulpits to those craving platforms and entrusted the hearts of God’s people to men and women who weren’t called to pastor rather desired to perform all in the name of butts in seats, budgets, and buildings.
Those tiny cracks in our foundation suddenly became structural emergencies, yet we weren’t willing to admit that what we had built wasn’t able to hold what we were cramming into our buildings.
We have tried to look like the world.
We have used the same materials, strategies, blueprints, and marketing campaigns yet we forget that what we win people with is what we will have to continue offering to keep them and the human heart is fickle.
We have served the coffee and beer, jumping through all the hoops to appear approachable and tolerant, inclusive, and politically correct and all in the name of Jesus yet Jesus didn’t need antics or campaigns to build anything to bring the people to His message of salvation.
The Word of God was enough for Jesus.
The Word of God is enough for us as His Church today.
How the Church Can Restore Spiritual Orphans
The enemy would like nothing more than for the people of God to walk away, quit, and leave our positions but God isn’t finished with His Church or with us. He has hard and holy work for us to do as He hands us the blueprints to rebuild on a new foundation, an architectural plan that can be found in His Word. Jesus, the stone that the builders rejected, our Chief Cornerstone, is where we start, keeping our eyes fixed on him to ensure every line is straight and the structure is secure.
Learning from Biblical Builders of Faith
The scriptures are filled with faithful men and women who were willing to build in the physical and spiritual alongside God for Kingdom advancement. These architects in the faith weren’t superhuman or special, they were obedient to go against kings and political systems to build what was asked of them.
Noah built an ark before a single drop of rain had fallen. (Genesis 6:14-22)
Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem. (1 Kings Chapter 6)
Nehemiah rebuilt the city walls of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 2:11)
Rachel and Leah together built up the house of Israel. (Ruth 4:11)
Every time God asked someone to build something, it cost them something, and in some cases, it cost them their lives.
What God has called us to build here on earth in His Name is too costly to construct on the wrong foundation or not finish what we start.
Excerpted from The House That Jesus Built: Leading Our Churches Back to God’s Original Blueprint © 2024 Natalie Runion. Used by permission of David C Cook. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.
