The Blueprint

The Lord impressed on our hearts to study Nehemiah as a blueprint for
rebuilding the wall of orphan ministry. For over a year we pondered this, and we
discovered some keys to Nehemiah's successful rebuilding plan. Below are the
things that stood out most significantly when thinking of orphan ministry:

1.) Nehemiah did not hear God's voice calling him as Moses had. Nehemiah
heard of the NEED, and the need became his calling. We, like Nehemiah, have
had our eyes opened to the huge need (143 million oprhans). Let that need
become our call. "Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know
what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we
know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

2.) When someone told Nehemiah that the wall of Jerusalem was in ruins, his
very first step was to sit down and weep. For days, he mourned, fasted and
prayed to the God of heaven. He confessed that he, his family and his country
had sinned. We believe this is one of the precious keys to rebuilding the wall of
orphan ministry. Why? Because he bowed in humility before God. And God lives
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble (see Isaiah 57:15). We cannot
attempt to work on the wall of orphan ministry alone. We MUST allow God to
do this through us. And that means our hearts must be humble. We begin by
realizing that we've sinned as His Bride by not caring for His children. We see the
wall of orphan ministry in ruins...we see that it is a disgrace...and we bow low in
humility to weep and pray.

3.) When Nehemiah spoke to the people about the wall, he said, "You know full
well the tragedy of our city. It lies in ruins, and its gates are burned. Let us
rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and rid ourselves of this disgrace!" (Nehemiah
2:17) The people replied at once, "Good! Let's rebuild the wall!" So they began
the good work. (Nehemiah 2:18b) Consider this website that same conversation.
We need sincere Christian workers to hear of the need and respond at once,
"Good! Let's rebuild the wall!" We need workers to pick up their bricks and begin
the good work.

4.) The first people who were mentioned as starting the work on the wall were
the priests (see Nehemiah 3:1). We believe that many pastors and church leaders
will catch the vision of caring for orphans and will spread this passion through
their churches. James 1:27 says that caring for orphans and widows is "pure and
lasting religion." What a radiant Bride we would be if we'd catch this vision!

5.) Throughout Nehemiah's description of the rebuilding of the wall, we see
over and over again regular people working on small sections of the wall. We
see many people working on the part of the wall near their own homes. What
an incredible vision for orphan ministry! For those of us who have families of our
own and cannot feasibly rush out to "save the orphan" across the planet, we
CAN in very tangible ways reach out to orphans from our own living rooms. We
can "carefully watch" all that goes on in our own households (Proverbs 31:27)
while also overflowing that love and care into orphan ministry. We all have
different bricks. We all have different sections of the wall. Each person and
family working on their section of the wall...family by family...brick by brick...and
the wall will be raised.

6.) We noted that some leaders refused to help (Nehemiah 3:5), and there was
opposition that was angry at the rebuilding of the wall (Nehemiah 4:1-3). And
yet Nehemiah kept praying for God to help and encouraging the workers to
keep at the task. We know there will be opposition to the rebuilding of the wall
of orphan ministry. There may be leaders who refuse to help. But our blueprint
tells us to just keep praying and working.

7) When the opposition grew intense, Nehemiah stationed people to stand
guard by families, armed with swords, spears and bows. He said, "Don't be afraid
of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your
friends, your families, and your homes!" (Nehemiah 4:14) We see Nehemiah shift
his plan to have only HALF of the workers building the wall, while the other half
stood guard with weapons. And the half that were rebuilding the wall kept one
hand on their weapons while they worked with the other. We enter into this
task of rebuiliding, knowing that the enemy does not want this wall rebuilt. We
have stationed prayer warriors on guard, praying for our family and this ministry.
We consider this to be one of the most important things to be done. And we
pray that our hearts stay humble and that we stay fully clothed in the "whole
armour of God" provided for us in Ephesians 6:13-18. If you are entering into
this work on the wall, please put on your armor and invite prayer warriors to
stand beside you.

"The God of heaven will help us succeed. We his servants will start rebuilding
this wall...." (Nehemiah 2:20a)