You can help Every Child Ministries bring the hope of Jesus to the forgotten children of Africa

Who are the forgotten children of Africa?

At Every Child Ministries we are frequently asked what we mean by the term "the forgotten children of Africa" and why we say these children are forgotten.  Our own pastor reminded us that they have never been forgotten by God.

Africa has forgotten her own children.
We have three things in mind in using this term.  First, all the children of African are largely forgotten because they are so often neglected and marginalized by African churches, leaders, governments and even parents.  We see this when children are expelled from churches to make room for adults and when parents force their own children out to the streets, sell them or send them into prostitution.  The church needs to be reminded of its responsibility to children and  awakened to the opportunities children present.

The world has forgotten the children of Africa.
Second, the children of Africa have been largely forgotten by the outside world.  While there are some notable exceptions, thank God, tragedy after tragedy has gone by in Africa with little attention or help.  In recent years, the world has allowed genocides to occur in Sudan, Rwanda, DR Congo and other countries that make Hitler look almost like a good boy in comparison.  There are problems in the thinking of both the secular and the Christian communities.  It seems like the world's sympathy can extend only to one part of the world at a time, and if there is trouble anywhere other than the "hot spot" currently popular in the media, then not much attention is given.  Then, too, some Christian groups are so enthralled by the need to evangelize unreached people groups that if a population does not show up on an unreached people chart or if children live in a country that registers a relatively high percentage of people who officially consider themselves Christian, then children in those areas are not considered legitimate subjects of concern.  They are simply forgotten.

Many specific groups of children have been shoved aside.
Third, we are also talking about ECM's commitment to specific groups of African children that have been neglected, rejected or marginalized in even greater measure than others.  Specific groups presently targeted by ECM's concern are street children, slave children (victims of practices of ritual servitude in idol shrines), orphans, child soldiers, and children victimized and displaced by war.  We are not alone in seeing these neglected groups as forgotten.  For example, some groups describe the children affected by the war in northern Uganda as "the invisible children".  They are invisible because they seem to appear out of the dusk as night falls, seeking refuge in the cities so that they can avoid being captured by the evil LRA and forcibly inducted into that army.  They are also invisible because for 17 long years this has been going on, yet with 30,000 children kidnapped and the whole population afraid to lay in their own beds, most of the world still doesn't see them.

Many have forgotten them, but God hasn't.
Our pastor is right.  Those children have never been forgotten by God.  He declares Himself a father of the fatherless (Psalm 68:5).  Since He is a father of the fatherless and He is our Father too, that makes those orphan children our brothers and sisters.  It implies that we who believe in Jesus have a special obligation toward them.  It also guarantees that God is our support and source of supply in our efforts to help them.

Forgotten no more
The only point, then, of using the phrase "the forgotten children of Africa" is that they will be remembered, not only by God, but also by His people.  Every Child Ministries exists to provide a vehicle for people to help these children.  The world may forget them, but God's people MUST remember them. 

BACK TO ECM HOME PAGE

SPONSOR A CHILD

FORGOTTEN CHILDREN IN THE WOMB  (Pro-Life News)

MY BIG AFRICAN FAMILY (Blogsite of ECM Co-founder Lorella Rouster)