I had a dream in which I was walking through the streets of a city. As I looked around, I began to notice that everywhere I looked I saw young children. They had dirty faces and hands, and their hair was unkept and matted. The clothes these children wore were old, dirty, tattered, and ill-fit. Most of the children were barefoot, and they were very shy — peeking out from behind doors and hiding in alleys. Suddenly, I knew that they were abandoned children — orphans. They had been in families who had abused, neglected, and used them; and to keep from being hurt anymore they had run away from home. Now they were wandering the streets: wounded, fearful, and alone. I marvelled that I had never seen them before, since there were so many of them. As I walked along I realized that no one else seemed to even notice them, let alone stop and try to care for them. I had the feeling they had always been there, I just had never noticed them before.

As I prayed about what this dream meant, the Lord showed me that the “orphans” represented believers. When they were “born-again,” the Lord placed them into fellowships of believers, for the Scriptures tell us that “God sets the solitary in families” (Psalms 68:6). These spiritual orphans are believers whom the church manipulated to advance its agenda or drained the life out for its own purposes. After years of this type of abusive behavior they finally left the family of the church behind, and now wander about alone and uncared for.

It is God’s heart that these unchurched orphans have a home — a place of shelter and caring were their relationship with their loving heavenly Father can be fostered. I believe the Lord is calling many churches to become safe homes for those who have run away from the church and are still wounded, fearful, and alone. As churches become more of the loving family God has called us to be and less of the successful business so many have become, these spiritual orphans will begin to see again the truth that their heavenly Father loves them very much and has a family for them to be a part of.