By Rebecca Goropevsek, Coordinator, WEA Children’s Network
There is a verse most Christians know by heart. James 1:27 calls us to look after orphans and widows in their distress. It is a very clear and direct command repeated across Scripture. And the Church has taken it seriously. Generations of believers have built orphanages, funded residential care, and traveled across the world to serve children in need. The heart behind this giving is genuine, generous, and good.
But what if the way we have been expressing that love, however well-intentioned, has sometimes caused harm?
Today, on June 1, International Children’s Day, the World Evangelical Alliance is releasing a statement that I pray will help the global evangelical community better understand its calling to serve vulnerable children. I am deeply thankful for the collaboration that made this statement possible: regional WEA leaders, child welfare experts, and practitioners who brought their experience, their research, and their faith to this work together. And together we feel urgent to share it with all those who support, work with or run orphanages across the world.
Orphanages should be a transition, not a destination
A Barna report released earlier this year was encouraging and sobering at the same time: the amount that Christians donate to orphanages has almost doubled in recent years. The generous heart is not the problem. The Church wants to help. However, generosity without a clear understanding of the issue can inadvertently sustain systems that do not serve children as well as we hope. And the evidence on this is no longer ambiguous.
Research consistently shows that children who grow up in institutional settings face significantly higher risks of developmental delays, emotional difficulties, and social challenges. Many who age out of orphanage systems are simply not equipped to live independently and are at greater risk to become victims of addiction, homelessness, human trafficking, and more. These are not isolated cases. They are patterns documented over decades across different continents. As someone with first-hand experience of growing up in an orphanage has written compellingly on this, the unintended consequences of institutionalized care deserve our honest attention.
Many Christians may not realize that the vast majority of children living in orphanages today are not orphans in the traditional sense. Most have at least one living parent. The primary reason families place children in residential care is poverty. Not abuse, not death, not abandonment in the deeper sense. Economic hardship is separating children from parents who love them. And in many cases, a modest, well-targeted investment in that family could keep them together entirely.
This does not mean orphanages have no role. They do. And the statement being released today is careful to say so. Residential care can be a vital emergency and transitional resource. The question is whether it becomes a destination rather than a bridge. The shift the WEA is calling for is not abolition, it is reorientation. It is asking institutions to reimagine their purpose: toward family reunification, kinship placement, foster care, and adoption. Toward strengthening families so that separation never becomes necessary in the first place.
Shifting the paradigm towards family-based care
The idea that children thrive in families is in itself not a new discovery or unique to any culture. People across nations and traditions agree: a child needs someone who knows their name, who stays, who loves. This is not contested ground. It is common ground. And it is deeply biblical. God himself places the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6). The family was His design from the beginning.
So why is this statement needed? Churches and ministries can play a critical role in shaping a better future for vulnerable children. And I believe the WEA is uniquely positioned to carry this message on behalf of evangelicals. As a global fellowship representing hundreds of millions of evangelical Christians across more than 160 nations, it can give voice to what local churches and ministries are already discovering on the ground — and translate that into a unified, theologically grounded call to action.
For churches and congregations wondering where to begin: there are resources available through expert organizations working in this space. You do not need to navigate this alone. Talk about this with your leadership. Evaluate the programs you currently support. Ask questions. And trust that when we align our generosity with the best available understanding of what children need, we will better fulfill God’s call to care for the vulnerable.
Shifting a paradigm is never easy, but it is far from impossible. Across the world, many churches, ministries and orphanages are already making this transition, and they are seeing children flourish as a result. Their experience, wisdom, and hard-won lessons are available to learn from. Perhaps there is already someone in your country, your region, or even your own network who is pioneering this work and from whom you can learn. Or perhaps God is calling you to be that pioneer!
So I invite you to read the statement in the below link and share it with others in your church, ministry or community. And may the Holy Spirit guide the conversations that will emerge.
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