Newsletter - October, 2005

The Least of These My Brethren

October, 2005

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” Matt. 25:40

Published by the Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210

Fighting Gangs—God's Way

These high-risk children receive
a hot, nourishing lunch

Last month, I discussed the growing presence of gangs in Honduras and other Central American countries. These gangs feed primarily upon youths who come from broken homes or who live in extreme poverty in urban areas. As Christians, our mission is obviously to fight these gangs with every weapon we have. However, as Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God" (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

So our task as Christians is not to fight the gangs with carnal weapons—but with spiritual weapons that are much more powerful. For the past four years, the Society of the Good Shepherd has joined arms with Bethel Church in Siguatepeque, Honduras, in their endeavor to reach the high-risk youths who are prime recruiting targets for gangs. Several years ago, Bethel Church established a daily program for high-risk children and youths in Siguatepeque, in order to reach them before the gangs do. Most of these young people come from unstable, one-parent homes.

Public school is only one-half day in Honduras, so these children and youth come home after school to an empty house. These young people often get into crimes, mischief, immorality, drugs, prostitution—and eventually gangs (or become girlfriends of gang members). So Bethel Church established an after-school program for these high-risk children and youths. Instead of going home to an empty house after school, these young people come to Bethel Church, where they receive a hot, nourishing meal. They then get their homework done under supervised care, play sports and various games together, do arts and crafts, learn the Bible, and attend various classes to supplement their education. One of these classes is a computer skills class, which will open many doors to these young people once they graduate from public school.

Art Class

Not only are these young ones saved from the streets, most of them eventually give their lives to the Lord. Two of the persons we have made business loans to were products of this program. One of them is David Guerrero, who gives music lessons, and the other is Denis Castro, who earns money through painting pictures. Not only did these brothers not end up in gangs, they are exemplary Christians.

Currently, Bethel Church has 282 children enrolled in this life-saving program. The mother or father pays a fairly nominal amount (currently, about $2.00 per month) for his or her children to be enrolled in this program. The Society’s involvement has been to provide small jobs for those children whose parents can’t pay even that nominal amount, so these children can still be enrolled in the program. Some of these jobs we are paying these youths to perform are cleaning the blackboards in the classrooms and mopping the floors.

The actual cost to Bethel Church to maintain this program is 68¢ per day per child. This is considerably more than the $2.00 per month, but it is still extremely little by U. S. standards. To provide these children with a hot, nourishing meal for just 68¢ a day would be quite an accomplishment in itself. But the 68¢ not only pays for the meal—but also for the cooks, the teachers and supervisors, and the various craft materials, etc.

These children are learning important computer skills

The difference between the $17.75 per month that the program actually costs and the $2.00 per month that the parents pay has been covered by a Christian ministry in Germany. However, when Deborah and I and Jerrell Hein were in Siguatepeque this past June, we learned that the German ministry is going to be steadily reducing the amount of funding it provides until the children’s program is totally self-supporting.

Unfortunately, very few, if any, of the parents would be able or willing to pay the $17.75 per month that is actually required. So we told the directors of this program that we would do what we could to provide more jobs for these young people and outright donations to keep the program going once the funding from Germany ends. It would be a horrible tragedy to see these high-risk children lose their lives and souls for lack of the 68¢ per day! We invite you to have a part in reaching these children—before the gang's do!

P. S.

We encourage you to visit the following website for tips on landscape photography.

100% of all donations go to our work in Honduras. All overhead and travel expenses are paid through other means.