143 Million

It is estimated that there are 143 million orphans in our world today.

43.4 million orphans live in sub-Sahara Africa, 87.6 million orphans live in Asia, 12.4 million orphans live in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In Central and Eastern Europe 1.5 million orphans live in the public care system (orphanages) alone, and less than 1% of these children will ever be adopted out of those orphanages.

At any given point there are 500,000 children in the U.S. Foster Care system.

Every 14 seconds a child loses a parent due to AIDS.

By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS globally is expected to exceed 25 million.

Sounds pretty hopeless, huh? Here's the good news:

If only 7% of Christians in our world would show hope to one orphan, there would essentially be no more orphans.

There are many organizations working tirelessly to move the Christian church to action, there are many ways that you can make a difference.

Our God works through our prayers. Pray:
Pray for wisdom on how God would have you become involved, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" James 1:27a
Pray for the orphans and their care givers and those trying to adopt them.
Pray for the work of those organizations wanting to make a difference in the life of orphans.

"Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work." - Oswald Chambers

If you would like to find out more information on becoming involved in mobilizing Christians to help orphans you can visit the following websites:
Shaohannah's Hope
Cry of the Orphan
Hope for Orphans
Focus on the Family