Jesus said in John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. In Acts 11 the church in Antioch tangibly expressed this command by sending the encouragement of Paul and Barnabus along with a contribution for the relief of the Christians living in Judea. Becoming a Familia LightShine Steward is a unique and exciting way for your church to live out this same heart for the Body of Christ in northern Mexico!
An amazing movement is taking place in Chihuahua. Familia LightShine staff are reminding Pastors and leaders of God’s heart for the orphan and the defenseless and making them aware of the opportunity for their church to participate in Familia LightShine. Many local churches are responding to that call in an amazing way! But neither the foster-care families nor LightShine receives financial support from the Mexican government.
Your church can fulfill the critical role of helping to ensure that the Christian foster care families in Chihuahua receive the very best screening, training, and counseling that’s possible through a professional and highly trained Familia LightShine staff. Your church’s missions department can sign up to become a Steward, and your church can also open up the possibility of individual Familia LightShine Stewardship to the congregation. Once per year the Stewards (and others) in your congregation can come to Chihuahua and stay in our safe and comfortable ministry house. We take care of all of the arrangements so that members of your congregation, along with a leader from your church, have the very cool opportunity to interact directly with the Christian foster-care families, foster-care children, and Familia LightShine staff. They will be doing work projects in the homes and developing mini-spiritual retreats to bless the families, working in our small orphanage, and growing spiritually in incredible ways. Many missions trip participants have returned home being radically changed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Making Chihuahua and Familia LightShine one of your church’s key missions focus areas isn’t just a critical blessing for the Body of Christ in Chihuahua – it’s also a tremendous opportunity for your church.
- The relationships and goals that your church will develop are long-term and strategic; your church will become a part of something larger in the Body of Christ.
- Familia LightShine is an opportunity for real, hard-core, long-term missions involvement in an easily-accessible turn-key format. The program details and logistics are already developed and in-place. Missions involvement can be expanded in your church as individuals have the opportunity to sign up as Stewards. The missions trip isn’t superfluous – it’s an incredible blessing to the families here in Chihuahua while the logistics for the trip are largely arranged by LightShine, reducing the burden on the missions coordinator at your church.
- The costs of coming to and ministering in Chihuahua are very low compared to flying overseas! This creates exciting opportunities for groups that traditionally aren’t able to participate in missions at your church to engage; youth, college students, Spanish ministry, and families!
- According to a recent study in Moldova institutionalized children are 10 times more vulnerable to human trafficking than other children. Chihuahua State is immediately south of the U.S. border. Relieving babies and children from crisis and institutionalization, and integrating them into Christian families, is attacking human trafficking problem in the U.S. at the root!
Thank you for taking the time to learn and pray about this opportunity. For more information or to schedule a time to talk please email info@familialightshine.com