CARE OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM WIDOW AND ORPHANS
ME5145 Mission of the Urban Church
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
URBAN THEOLOGY ASSIGNMENT:
CARE OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM WIDOW AND ORPHANS
Fatherless homes account for 63% of youth suicides, 90% of homeless/runaway children, 85% of children with behavior problems, 71% of high school dropouts, and 85% of youths in prison, well over 50% of teen mothers .
Fifty years ago 9% of households were headed by single females and 25% of those households were below poverty. As we move eight years into the new millennium, 25% of households are headed by single females and 60% of those households are below poverty levels . Female headed households traditionally experience poverty at greater levels than any other societal grouping and the quality of a child’s life is adversely affected by this cultural phenomenon. African Americans tend to be more susceptible to this cultural incidence which has seen the family become dysfunctional and unstable instead of solid foundations. Inner city housing projects are teeming with single mothers and children given to self-care because parents are preoccupied with the struggle to survive.
The new millennium widow is a woman raising her children alone due to either involvement in a relationship that produced children but did not result in marriage, divorce or death of her spouse. Women who are married or unmarried but living with a man in a covenant type relationship can also be considered widows due to the absence of male involvement in the parenting process. Stepfathers and live-in lovers often disengage from the parenting role of a father in the home. A widow is also defined as a woman whose husband is absent frequently or for long periods i.e., war widows and sports widows . When fathers fail to show up in the lives of children for any reason the children are left fatherless.
The word orphan is used in scripture interchangeably with the word fatherless . The colloquial use of the word orphan typically means a child with neither parent alive nor parents involved in their care and parenting. Children in the new millennium are often orphaned by both parents who work multiple jobs with long hours to meet the financial needs of the family. Chronic health issues, incarceration and substance abuse also divert attention away from parental care and support needed by children.
According to a 2002 Census survey, 5.8 million or 15% of all children between the ages of five and fourteen years old spend an average of 6.3 hours per week without parental supervision and 65% of those children spent between 2-9 hours home alone. White non-Hispanic children were more likely to be left home alone than children of other races . Self-care in the absence of a parent is typical of orphaned children which result in loneliness and boredom. Loneliness and boredom are often cited as reasons teens succumb to peer pressure resulting in alcohol abuse, smoking and sexual experimentation .
The bible characterizes and classifies widows and orphans, along with strangers as a group of persons who are to be given special consideration. They all share common characteristics of being vulnerable and in need of protection from predators. According to a number of scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy the treatment of widows and orphans fall into two distinct categories: the feeding and clothing of widows and orphans, along with their protection from injustice . The twenty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy which ironically begins with a discussion on divorce and marriage ends with distinct admonishments pertaining to the care of Jewish widows and orphans.
Scripture gives us specific instances and cases of care for the widow and the orphan. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 reads:
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
In the above scripture text God extends a blessing to those who allow the widow and the orphan to eat and become satisfied. When you think of the extreme excess we experience during our day and cultural age, there should be no naked, hungry or homeless among those in our society.
Even Job, did not neglect to use his treatment of widows and the fatherless as a bargaining chip when pleading with God for relief and mercy from his affliction . Job knew that his treatment of strangers, widows and the fatherless were noteworthy in God’s eyesight.
The New Testament illuminates the role of the Christian church in the life of the widow and orphan in two key scriptures:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress… James 1:27
Honour widows that are widows indeed.
I Timothy 5:3
The modern day church has failed the new millennium widow and orphans in distress. The church has attached a stigma to being unmarried with children which has blinded it from practicing the unblemished and faultless religion God accepts. According to a study done by a Harvard sociologist, “Many women report inadequate support for low-income single mothers in the church…” The scriptural admonishments are clear and concise when it comes to the role of the church in the care of orphans and widows. Feed them, clothe them and protect them from injustices. Where are the great third year feast of funds stored up to aid the new millennium widow and her orphans? Most modern African American churches totally embrace the tithing system as the major means of financing the local church, yet if held accountable for programs relieving the systemic plight of the widow and the orphan it would fail miserably?
The New Testament church did not neglect the care of the widows for we find in Acts 6:1 where the complaints of the neglected widows were of great concern to the twelve disciples. The disciples enlisted additional men to ensure that the widows were not overlooked. Paul in what is believed to be his legacy treatise to his protégé Timothy, did not fail to leave him instructions as to the care of the widows in the church .
God surely hears the cry of the widow and has a heart for them against their oppressors and those who would seek to cause them harm. The promise of a sure blessing from God should be enough motivation for the modern day church to embark upon programs that would help the new millennium widow and orphans. Evangelistic outreach to widows, mentoring programs, clothing closets, food pantries, car repair ministries, grief and loss bible studies, parenting and family rebuilding workshops should all be a part of a churches’ core ministry. The complaints of the widows and orphans have yet to be heard by the church in the new millennium.
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
URBAN THEOLOGY ASSIGNMENT:
CARE OF THE NEW MILLENNIUM WIDOW AND ORPHANS
Fatherless homes account for 63% of youth suicides, 90% of homeless/runaway children, 85% of children with behavior problems, 71% of high school dropouts, and 85% of youths in prison, well over 50% of teen mothers .
Fifty years ago 9% of households were headed by single females and 25% of those households were below poverty. As we move eight years into the new millennium, 25% of households are headed by single females and 60% of those households are below poverty levels . Female headed households traditionally experience poverty at greater levels than any other societal grouping and the quality of a child’s life is adversely affected by this cultural phenomenon. African Americans tend to be more susceptible to this cultural incidence which has seen the family become dysfunctional and unstable instead of solid foundations. Inner city housing projects are teeming with single mothers and children given to self-care because parents are preoccupied with the struggle to survive.
The new millennium widow is a woman raising her children alone due to either involvement in a relationship that produced children but did not result in marriage, divorce or death of her spouse. Women who are married or unmarried but living with a man in a covenant type relationship can also be considered widows due to the absence of male involvement in the parenting process. Stepfathers and live-in lovers often disengage from the parenting role of a father in the home. A widow is also defined as a woman whose husband is absent frequently or for long periods i.e., war widows and sports widows . When fathers fail to show up in the lives of children for any reason the children are left fatherless.
The word orphan is used in scripture interchangeably with the word fatherless . The colloquial use of the word orphan typically means a child with neither parent alive nor parents involved in their care and parenting. Children in the new millennium are often orphaned by both parents who work multiple jobs with long hours to meet the financial needs of the family. Chronic health issues, incarceration and substance abuse also divert attention away from parental care and support needed by children.
According to a 2002 Census survey, 5.8 million or 15% of all children between the ages of five and fourteen years old spend an average of 6.3 hours per week without parental supervision and 65% of those children spent between 2-9 hours home alone. White non-Hispanic children were more likely to be left home alone than children of other races . Self-care in the absence of a parent is typical of orphaned children which result in loneliness and boredom. Loneliness and boredom are often cited as reasons teens succumb to peer pressure resulting in alcohol abuse, smoking and sexual experimentation .
The bible characterizes and classifies widows and orphans, along with strangers as a group of persons who are to be given special consideration. They all share common characteristics of being vulnerable and in need of protection from predators. According to a number of scriptures in the book of Deuteronomy the treatment of widows and orphans fall into two distinct categories: the feeding and clothing of widows and orphans, along with their protection from injustice . The twenty-fourth chapter of Deuteronomy which ironically begins with a discussion on divorce and marriage ends with distinct admonishments pertaining to the care of Jewish widows and orphans.
Scripture gives us specific instances and cases of care for the widow and the orphan. Deuteronomy 14:28-29 reads:
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
In the above scripture text God extends a blessing to those who allow the widow and the orphan to eat and become satisfied. When you think of the extreme excess we experience during our day and cultural age, there should be no naked, hungry or homeless among those in our society.
Even Job, did not neglect to use his treatment of widows and the fatherless as a bargaining chip when pleading with God for relief and mercy from his affliction . Job knew that his treatment of strangers, widows and the fatherless were noteworthy in God’s eyesight.
The New Testament illuminates the role of the Christian church in the life of the widow and orphan in two key scriptures:
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress… James 1:27
Honour widows that are widows indeed.
I Timothy 5:3
The modern day church has failed the new millennium widow and orphans in distress. The church has attached a stigma to being unmarried with children which has blinded it from practicing the unblemished and faultless religion God accepts. According to a study done by a Harvard sociologist, “Many women report inadequate support for low-income single mothers in the church…” The scriptural admonishments are clear and concise when it comes to the role of the church in the care of orphans and widows. Feed them, clothe them and protect them from injustices. Where are the great third year feast of funds stored up to aid the new millennium widow and her orphans? Most modern African American churches totally embrace the tithing system as the major means of financing the local church, yet if held accountable for programs relieving the systemic plight of the widow and the orphan it would fail miserably?
The New Testament church did not neglect the care of the widows for we find in Acts 6:1 where the complaints of the neglected widows were of great concern to the twelve disciples. The disciples enlisted additional men to ensure that the widows were not overlooked. Paul in what is believed to be his legacy treatise to his protégé Timothy, did not fail to leave him instructions as to the care of the widows in the church .
God surely hears the cry of the widow and has a heart for them against their oppressors and those who would seek to cause them harm. The promise of a sure blessing from God should be enough motivation for the modern day church to embark upon programs that would help the new millennium widow and orphans. Evangelistic outreach to widows, mentoring programs, clothing closets, food pantries, car repair ministries, grief and loss bible studies, parenting and family rebuilding workshops should all be a part of a churches’ core ministry. The complaints of the widows and orphans have yet to be heard by the church in the new millennium.
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