God calls us to love our neighbors, but what if we don’t know what our neighbors need? This is where World Challenge’s partners step in.

World Challenge’s partners in the United States, Beautiful Redemption, work tirelessly to connect faith communities, child welfare agencies and individuals to children in need. They have been operating in Colorado since 2015 and then opened their first brick and mortar in New Mexico this year. They flew down to meet the city officials and also served their first 100 children. They are in the process of expanding their ministry to reach more kids and families.

The team received a care request for a retail gift card so a local, expecting mother could purchase new clothes. The team happily bought the gift cards and asked the caseworker if there was anything else they could do to help.

The caseworker said, “Yes, actually. There’s a girl living with her grandmother who needs someone to reach out to her.”

Finally Finding a Haven

Molly’s* father was out of the picture. When the mother left the house, she would take Molly to a closet and lock her daughter in it until whenever she returned.

Because she was under tremendous stress and also had nothing to eat for long hours of the day, Molly was severely underweight for her age. Relief finally came in a peculiar way through tragedy. Her mother got into a bad car accident and was arrested. The authorities checked the house and found Molly in the closet. Appalled, they contacted Molly’s grandmother and brought the girl to a safe home.

The Beautiful Redemption team reached out to Molly’s grandmother and began giving her monthly financial support so that she could more easily care for her granddaughter. They invited Molly and her grandmother to church so they could be in an active and supportive community. They also helped Molly find a therapist who could professionally walk alongside this young girl as she processes and heals from the rough start she had in life.

Making a Difference for Kids

In addition to helping children like Molly who are escaping abusive homes, Beautiful Redemption believes that helping families fulfill basic needs like food, clothes for newborns, beds or needed furniture is part of loving our neighbors. They stated, “If we want to start making a difference in our future generations, we have to start at ground zero - the foster care system. To put it kindly, the statistics are not in their favor….

“Churches and individuals are anxious to serve their community when they know what the needs are and how they can help. This is not a movement to ‘Help poor people.’ This is an essential part of the discipleship process for our people to love their literal neighbors right now…”

Beautiful Redemption’s team currently works with 150 families and have reached over 14,500 children as of the beginning of 2022. Please join us in praying for them as they continue a vital work for our communities and for many children who have finally found a haven.

*Not real name. For security reasons, we don’t release names or exact locations in domestic violence situations unless specific permission is given by the subjects.