Church profile: Banbury Community Church

We’re so grateful for many churches faithfully supporting our work with vulnerable children. One of these is Banbury Community Church (BCC), in Oxfordshire, UK, and they told us why they are passionate about partnering with Viva. Why Viva? We’ve been supporting Viva since 2004 through an initial link with a previous BCC leader. We appreciate […]

Why Families Matter

It’s estimated that there are 145 million registered orphans across the world, and of these only about 9 per cent have lost both parents. Many families are unstable and millions more children are separated from one or both parents due to violence, abuse, alcoholism, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other conflicts. Too many children are suffering […]

Welcoming, protecting & empowering children in Nepal

BY ISSY MITCHELL “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me.” Mark 9: 37 In an attempt to create a community that values and empowers children, where they would previously have been excluded from all or most church activity, 20 churches in the Nuwakot area of Nepal have now become ‘Child […]

Floating Churches & Firm Foundations

BY JUSTINE DEMMER Justine Demmer, Viva’s Network Consultant for Asia, gives us a glimpse into a recent trip to Cambodia where she visited a floating church, and the children who call it home. I step outside of our accommodation in Siem Riep, North-Western Cambodia to find an open wagon drawn by a motorcycle. Our child […]

Four tips to encourage your church to work with others

Services for vulnerable families in the UK are being squeezed at a time of unprecedented demand. Churches are particularly well placed to offer meaningful support but there are, of course, significant barriers to growing this work, such as lack of volunteers, finances and in-depth understanding. Both the scale of need in the community and the […]

A link in the chain for disability in Costa Rica

For the first time, the Costa Rican government has funded its children’s department to set up a project specifically focusing on helping children with disabilities, supported by Viva’s partner network in San José. Brenda Darke, a regional consultant for Viva on the issue of disability, outlines the situation in the country, the encouragements from the […]