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Last year, a friend of ours took us to visit a foster home for girls. At the time there were several girls living there, one of which was seven months pregnant at the age of 10. Shocking and heartbreaking. We knew God had a purpose for us there we just weren’t sure what it was yet. We toyed with the idea of doing an Alpha because they said all of the girls were not connected to church or God and they felt that helping them spiritually was a big need that they themselves could not fill.
At the time we were just two people, it didn’t seem like the right timing. But we didn’t forget about them.
Ezekiel 47 is a small house church full of people who are very Kingdom minded and wanted an opportunity to serve. At the time that we started we had not started our own church and they were and remain like family for us. We have the same Kingdom purpose vision. We asked if they would like to help and they jumped at the opportunity.
 Alpha With The Girls Each week we start with food (who doesn’t love to eat-and it’s a great ice breaker!) and then we have some kind of active game. This gets the girls to wake up, laugh and have fun.
The video and discussion follow and they almost always ask at the end, ‘is that all? I wanted it to last longer!’
Last month we held a retreat for them. Two nights were like our normal meetings but held in the house Ezekiel 47 uses for their meetings. Getting the girls out of their environment was great to help change the atmosphere and expectations.
Saturday our friends from Ezekiel 47 planned the day. They blew us away with their love and service to these girls. The day was filled with music and various people sharing their own life story, the hurts and pitfalls as well as they way they saw God moving in their life. Some of the girls opened up and told their own stories, which until this point we hadn’t heard. There was not a dry eye in the room.
The retreat ended with the three men who are fathers standing in the place of the fathers who had abandoned and rejected them hurt and abused them, and asking for their forgiveness, in an act of servanthood they washed each girls feet. It was a very moving moment for everyone.
The highlight was seeing one of the girls who has been the most closed off melt into the embrace of one woman after another as tears fell down her face. God clearly moved in her life!
When Alpha is over we will continue to walk with these girls, along with the people in our church as well as Ezekiel 47. We are already planning what that will look like.
It has been, by far, one of the most rewarding Alphas we have ever done!
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