Listening to the Heart of God

Relationship Goals

As you develop your relationship with your Field Buddy over the years, you will have the privilege of introducing him to three crucial building blocks that will be foundational to hope and healing for this abandoned boy. They are Faith, Fatherhood and Forgiveness.These key elements are imbedded in every aspect of this ministry. The monthly Life Journey curriculum progressively unveils Biblical teachings that help guide boys into authentic Christian manhood.

Faith

The sense of abandonment strikes at the very core of the young boy’s faith-center. So often he has been disappointed, lied to, or worse, abused, that he has great difficulty in trusting anyone. If he has difficulty in trusting those he can see, how much more so someone he can not see, namely, God? This is where the strong faith and the consistent love and companionship of the Mentor Father come in. You will have the honor of restoring his faith inmen and, very probably, introducing him to a personal relationship with the Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

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Fatherhood

What chance does an abandoned boy have in becoming a good father? The unrelenting cycle of dysfunctional relationships produce the next generation of abandoned sons and daughters.This cycle is perpetuated unless someone intervenes and trains this young boy how to truly respect women and those in authority. Certainly there have been countless mothers of abandoned boys who have done a stellar job in raising boys that are respectful to women and to those in authority. However, there is no replacement for a father in a boy’s development. Mentor Fathers help stop the endless cycle by bridging the gap between dysfunction and healthy fatherhood. Unfolding the truth that the Heavenly Father loves the abandoned boy and will never abandon him gives the boy hope that he, too, can become a loving father.

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Forgiveness

The Bible’s clear teaching on forgiveness will be an essential guide for the abandoned boy. How extraordinarily difficult it is for a boy to forgive a father who has abandoned him. The years of unfulfilled longing for a father who truly cares for himis so often replaced with anger and rage as the fatherless boy grows into adulthood. This anger is often acted out and lands the boy in increasing trouble with the authorities. That stored-up anger can only be dissipated as the boy comes to understand the forgiveness he, himself, receives through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross for his sins. As Christ’s forgiveness is understood personally, the fatherless boy is challenged to begin the healing process of extending forgiveness to his own father.