Abstract
The article discusses the work of the Orthodox Christian churches (mostly the churches in Eastern Europe) with children and especially children-at-risk. This work is new for these churches and is not yet theologically grounded or systematically organized. Observing the various activities of Orthodox Christians with children-at-risk, questions are raised, such as: is this missionary work, or is it ministry, or is it a task fulfilled by individuals and not by the Church at large? These questions are explored, yet readers are left to make their own conclusions. What becomes evident is the necessity for the Orthodox churches to cooperate with other Christian churches and organizations that are engaged in work with children, and particularly those at-risk, so that all learn from each other and continue their ministry with children in more innovative and successful ways, for the glory of God and the salvation of people, especially the ‘little ones’.
Keywords
Introduction
Christian churches have, historically, shown concern for people, and the pastoral responsibility of the Church 1 has been at the forefront of its ministry, yet subordinate to the mission of spreading the gospel. Pastoral care for children and young people is a relatively recent engagement of the Church, with mostly Protestant (and specifically Evangelical) communities leading movements and various activities for and with children. The Roman Catholic Church has also been involved in these endeavours. More recently different Evangelical initiatives aiming to raise awareness of the needs of children-at-risk have emerged and are gaining strength and significance.
Where is the Eastern Orthodox Church 2 in this movement of the global Church towards children? How involved are the Orthodox churches in ministries for, and with children? Is the attitude of Eastern Orthodoxy towards children-at-risk any different from that of the Evangelical views and activities?
In an attempt to give some answers to these questions, a brief review of mission and ministries in the Eastern Orthodox churches will be offered. And specifically those in Eastern Europe, with respect to children, including those who are at-risk on a daily basis. In addition, questions will be raised, which are specific not only to the Orthodox churches, but relevant to all Christian churches, such as: definitions of mission and ministry; the relationship between mission and ministry and how churches do mission and ministry with children and young people; and the extent to which ministry with children is an engagement of a local church, Christian agency, association, group, and so on, or an engagement of the whole Church.
Mission and Ministry in Orthodox Christian Understanding
Orthodox churches have had a difficult history, due to undergoing persecution. For almost five centuries the Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe 3 were under the Ottomans, and later under communist rule. For the past 25 years they have lived in freedom and been able to strengthen their ecclesiastical life. Orthodoxy now claims to be one of the strongest Christian communities in the world. Both Catholic and Protestant Christians recognize and appreciate their ancient and rich heritage and value Orthodox theological achievements.
Through its history, the Orthodox Church has struggled to integrate doctrine and theology with the practical lives of the believers in their churches, especially after the adoption of many doctrines of the ecumenical councils. 4 Orthodoxy has claimed that there is no separation between theology and practical life in the churches. 5 This is confirmed by examining the liturgical life of Orthodox believers where church services reflect specific doctrinal elements of the Orthodox Church. Doctrine and theology are learned through participation in the worshipping life of the parish. Although claiming to have an understanding of mission, the Eastern Orthodox Church sees mission through the nature of the Church as the Body of Christ, and its hierarchical structures.
It has been said: ‘The Church is mission and that to be mission is its very essence, its very life’ (Schmemann, 1973: 107). Believers understand the Church as mission only through participating in the sacraments and church services, particularly the liturgy, the pinnacle being the Holy Eucharist, the God-human act which transforms the Church into mission (Schmemann, 1979: 215).
On the other hand, Orthodox churches have not come to a better understanding of what mission and ministry are, and the difference between them. Orthodoxy has been notable for its practical application of theological considerations. Given this history and reputation, applying mission and ministry in the daily lives of Orthodox Christians should be well-recognized and visible to every Orthodox believer. Although many doctrinal and theological postulates are evident in the liturgical life of a parish, the concepts of mission and ministry remain elusive in the Orthodox context.
Are the Orthodox Churches Missionary Churches?
A helpful first step is to clarify whether the Eastern Orthodox churches have ever done mission and if so, what type of mission. 6 When discussing the mission of the Orthodox churches, most often examples of Russian and Greek missionary efforts are given. Mission is referred to as early as the 4th century in the preaching activity of St Nina of Georgia, and in the translation activities of the 9th-century brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius. What is notable in Russian missions of the 17th to 20th centuries is that expanding Orthodoxy to many regions of the world has gone hand in hand with the expansion of the Russian empire, with little distinction between the colonial endeavours of the emperor and the patriarch. Theologically, it is difficult to distinguish where the Orthodox Church genuinely did mission and where it was done by necessity or by order of the emperor. Apart from the Russian and Greek Orthodox churches, history does not provide examples of Orthodox mission, which leads me to assert that Orthodox churches have not historically engaged in mission separate from the complication and taint of colonization.
During the 19th century, and in the period of decolonization of Africa in the 20th century, mission was carried out by the Greek Orthodox in Africa, where many Orthodox churches were ‘planted’. In more recent decades some Orthodox churches have been planting churches in so-called ‘non-Orthodox lands’. What is notable in this process is that such ‘planting’ targeted the organization of local Orthodox communities, that is, nationals living abroad. The Russian church built churches for the Russians living abroad; the Romanian church did the same for Romanians living abroad, and so on. A strong indication of this dynamic is that in Orthodox churches in Western Europe, in the USA or Canada, 7 in Africa or Asia, services are conducted primarily in the national language of the immigrant people and congregations consist of nationals of the country that planted the church. 8
An additional reason for considering Orthodox churches as non-missionary communities is that no Orthodox church currently does mission in any country outside their own national territory, with the exception of the Russian Orthodox Church. 9 My personal estimation is that there are currently no more than 200 Orthodox missionaries (most of them Russians, and about a dozen Americans) doing mission in other countries. When we compare this number with the total number of foreign Protestant and Catholic missionaries operating worldwide, approximately 400,000 (Johnson et al., 2015: 29), Orthodox mission seems like a mere drop in the ocean of Christian mission.
Mission and Ministry: The Issue of Mission Awareness
Most importantly, Orthodox Christians are not aware of what mission is or its goals and purposes. The most common and accepted definition is something like this: mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith (or of the gospel, more narrowly understood). 10 Theologians accept that mission is about going out, 11 teaching, making disciples, and about the salvation of souls, including redemption of whole persons, broken and sinful systems, and so on. On the other hand, mission can be defined in different ways and understood very broadly, and some Orthodox would even insist that all ecclesiastical activities of Christians are missionary activities. But Stephen Neill (1959: 81) warns us: ‘If everything is mission, nothing is mission.’ Such statements lead some theologians to claim that mission is very difficult to define. 12 Orthodox Christians would refer to ordinary ecclesial activities, such as teaching at the church’s Sunday school, or visiting and praying in monasteries, as mission.
It seems that Orthodox Christians are unaware of what Christian mission is and have not understood the Church as a missionary Church. In a similar way, Eastern Orthodox churches are not quite clear about what Christian ministry is. Generally speaking, the Orthodox understanding of ministry is similar to that of the Catholic Church, where ministry is seen mostly through the perspective of the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the tasks the Church imparts to members. 13 The Orthodox accept that ministry is evoked, recognized, and shaped by the Church, and is accountable to it. Orthodoxy sees ministry as a function of the Church as the Body of Christ, and a function of the local church, which is governed by a bishop, archbishop, and patriarch.
The important point is that ministry is not exercised only on behalf of the congregation to which the minister belongs, but on behalf of the wider Church, and ultimately on behalf of the whole Church, in both its mystical nature as the Body of Christ and its visible, empirical manifestation as the universal Church. (Avis, 2005: 56)
From this perspective, ministry is not an activity of a specific congregation and a specific parish – it is a duty and responsibility of the Church, of the mystical and the human ecclesiastical hierarchical structures of the Church. In Orthodox understanding, local churches do ministry only in their being a Body of Christ – the mystical and God-human Church as established by Jesus Christ, its Head and Builder – and in keeping the Church’s hierarchical and sacramental foundations as inherited from the times of the ancient apostolic Church in its oneness, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity.
The Orthodox Churches in Eastern Europe and their Work with Children-at-Risk
Moving from these mostly theoretical and theological considerations, let us now take a closer look at the work of the Orthodox churches with children, and specifically with children-at-risk and try to see whether they are doing mission, ministry or something else in their activities with children.
There are 2.2 billion children in the world (UNICEF, 2015: 71). 14 ‘Very many, of course, are at risk because of poverty … at the same time, millions of children are at risk due to prosperity’ (Brewster, 2011: 1). It is true that many children of the world could be ‘at risk’ of not hearing the Good News and not following Jesus Christ. Our concern, however, is mostly about the children who in their everyday life are at risk as orphans, street children, drug addicts, prostitutes, poor and neglected, marginalized and unwanted. What was, and what is, the attitude of the Orthodox churches towards these children? 15
Churches and Children in the Aftermath of the Political Changes in Eastern Europe
The Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe have never viewed children separately from their families. Historically, there has been no difference between adult catechization, baptism and participation in church life and children’s catechization, baptism and liturgical life in the Church. There has been no special place for the children in the church and no distinctive attitude toward them. However, in the last 25 years, children in the Orthodox churches have been treated a bit differently, mostly in the catechization classes at Sunday schools but not in the temple during services.
In the same way, the Eastern Orthodox Church has not distinguished between children in general and children-at-risk, and consequently churches have not organized any special activities or initiatives concerning children-at-risk, which has been seen as the responsibility of the state. 16 The Church has been preoccupied with restoring its spiritual life and its economic power in the past two decades after being liberated from political oppression. Despite these difficulties, the Eastern Orthodox Church is turning outward, with many Orthodox communities demonstrating an increased interest in children and young people as a special focus for the Church. This is true for children-at-risk, too, mostly because children in nearly all Eastern European countries have suffered due to high risk factors in society: poverty, high divorce rates, uncertain legal status, high unemployment, migration of parents apart from their children, high rates of child adoption by foreigners, and the influence of the media and internet in the lives of children, which is often negative.
Significant need provoked the Eastern Church to undertake specific activities concerning children-at-risk, mostly because the state could not and cannot manage to address the many problems created by the state’s poor economic and social situation. The Church hierarchy, and particularly the bishops, have not been ready to address the needs of such children. Yet, individual churches and Christians have enthusiastically engaged in ministry with children-at-risk, despite lacking adequate theological or biblical background for effective work (and their understanding of ministry is often framed as the tasks fulfilled by any baptized Christian, cf. O’Meara, 1999: 5). The initiatives of the Orthodox Church with children-at-risk concern mostly orphans, children living in one-parent households, children living in non-parental family care situations (primarily with grandparents), children using narcotics and/or alcohol, and homeless children, who often live on the streets.
Little or no attention has been given to other social groups of children-at-risk, such as children engaged in criminal activity, children living in poverty, sexually exploited children, underage child labourers, children subjected to violence, child trafficking, and so on. In my research I found that more than 90% of the work done by the Eastern Orthodox churches concerns orphaned children, possibly because orphanhood has been seen by Orthodoxy as something unnatural in the communal life of the Orthodox communities. The steps they have taken to address the issues concerning children-at-risk may be insufficient to address the significant needs, yet the increase in awareness and engagement in children’s ministry is an encouraging trend that deserves acknowledgement.
Four Main Steps Undertaken in the Church’s Work with Children
After the political changes in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, the Orthodox churches felt strong enough to undertake certain steps to raise awareness among their congregations regarding the needs of children-at-risk. In order to address the needs of children, the Eastern Church had first to satisfy its own needs after the destructive decades of communist rule. Initial energies were focused on the restoration of spiritual and liturgical life and economic strength, including building new Christian churches, monasteries and other places of worship and spiritual growth. Only after the Church rose from the ruins could it see that not only adults but also children were in great need of spiritual and physical/material help.
One of the first initiatives the Orthodox Church undertook was the creation of a wide network of Sunday schools where children and young people were catechized, nurtured, baptized and made Christian. In the first decade after the changes, these activities were done in unsystematic ways without sound theological background. In many instances, children’s education was a matter of volunteering and old-fashioned instructional teaching. Only in the last 10 to 15 years has children’s education been anchored in more sound pedagogical Christian form and content.
Secondly, the churches responded to the poor economic situation prevalent in almost all Eastern European countries. The Church realized that the state has been unable to cope with the significant number of problems relating to children and young people and has taken action through the creation of child-focused institutions, such as homes for orphaned children and centres for children and young people addicted to drugs.
The third phase of action was to address the plight of children who lack adequate parenting, the group called ‘nobody’s children’. These children live on the streets or in shelters or with relatives other than their parents. The latter living situation occurred because many parents emigrated to other countries for economic reasons. Although they initially intended to work abroad for several months in order to provide for their children, many have remained abroad for years while their children grow up without parental care and instruction. The churches started creating networks for adoption (primarily from the population of street children) and family reunification. Others were encouraged to develop relationships with adults and peers in a Christian environment, which to some extent provided functional parental guidance in their lives.
And fourth, the Eastern Church is only now beginning to explore the theological significance of children. The Church has increasingly realized that children and young people are the future of the Church through which the Christian faith can be ensured and preserved. In many Eastern European countries, quality Christian books on pedagogy and Christian psychology have been published and this fact helps the Church to ground its work with children theologically. In some countries, religious education, taught by the Church, has been introduced in schools, thus continuing the theological reflection on the significance of children and young people in the eyes of God and the Christian communities.
These activities, however, are not coordinated efforts and the Eastern Church is in great need of acquiring, reviewing, contextualizing, and adopting theological reflections coming from initiatives undertaken by other Christian communities, organizations, associations, forums and gatherings. Recent child-focused endeavours of evangelical mission, such as the 4/14 Window initiative, the Child Theology movement, Holistic Child Development programmes, the Global Children’s Forum, and so on, might serve the Orthodox Church, if they can be adapted to fit the Orthodox theological and ecclesial tradition. Although the Orthodox churches have yet to make any serious connections with these movements and initiatives, the results achieved in the last 20 years, particularly with children-at-risk, should be recognized and appreciated.
Practical Results in the Work of the Orthodox Churches with Children-at-Risk
In many Orthodox churches, Christians are becoming increasingly aware of children’s needs, changing their perspectives and responding accordingly. Such increased awareness has motivated churches to create various forms of ministry outreach with children and young people, such as building and maintaining homes for orphans. In addition, churches increasingly organize other types of child-related activities, such as supporting the well-being of children coming from poor or large families (6 or more children), helping drug-addicted youth, assisting homeless and disabled children, creating child-friendly spaces for those experiencing various difficulties and abuse, and helping single mothers and single-parent families in difficult situations.
In my estimation, these activities account for no more than 10% of the overall work of the Orthodox Churches. In the past 10 years, the Russian Orthodox Church alone (more specifically – its Department for Charity and Diakonia) 17 managed to create more than 2800 ecclesiastical social institutions, projects and initiatives. It has trained more than 1500 sisters-of-mercy and nurses, established some 200 nursing centres and another 200 groups-of-mercy. 18 It built and maintains 90 homes for children serving 1500 children and created some 160 Orthodox organizations and parishes helping drug addicts and their relatives. In addition, 62 rehabilitation centres for treatment of drug addicts have been established, plus 60 recreation centres for children and families. The Church also established over 30 kindergartens for children-at-risk, and organized more than 20 camps for children and families, primarily for the poor and disabled.
One organization is a particularly robust example of the kind of work that is arising from new awareness of the needs of children-at-risk. The Russian charitable foundation, Shores (Berega in Russian), has as its slogan: ‘In God, there is no orphan: if the child is with God, he is not an orphan anymore.’ This organization, which works exclusively with Orthodox children and families, gives regular help and support to some 20 orphan homes throughout Russia. They organize different training programmes and initiatives, conferences and seminars for both children and professionals (mostly teachers and nurses), and work on many collaborative projects to help not only orphaned children, but also children with disabilities and drug addicts. The Christian team provides information on ways children and families can obtain support and assistance, ensures financial support for child-related activities, provides legal assistance, and gives pedagogical and mental health support for children and families.
In 2010, the foundation managed to accumulate 5 million Roubles (some $167,000 US) to provide help to 6 orphanages. In 2011, it was 9 million to help 10 homes; in 2012, 14.5 million to support 13 homes; and in 2013, 15.1 million Roubles (approximately $504,000 US) to help and support some 20 organizations working with children in need. It is not the money, although the increase in resources is important, but the involvement of believers and specialists that enables at-risk children and families to reduce risks in their lives, to get to know Jesus Christ, and to start new relationships with God’s people and society. 19
There are similar child-related activities in other Eastern European countries where Orthodoxy is in the majority. What is notable is that most of the outreach is primarily self-funded, with little if any help on the part of the state or external (foreign) organizations. Only in a small number of instances do the Orthodox churches seek support from such organizations. One example is the Orthodox charitable foundation Filocalia in Moldova, which works with children-at-risk and relies on external foreign support. 20
Children-at-risk are also a special concern for the Romanian, 21 Bulgarian and the Serbian Orthodox churches. In the last five to ten years, children-at-risk have received special attention in Ukraine, and now, in the face of the armed conflict with Russia, the work has become even more demanding with churches seeking assistance from other Christian organizations from abroad, mostly because the Ukrainian Orthodox Church lacks the resources to accomplish this work alone.
It is also important to note that all the work with children-at-risk is done within the framework of the catechetical activity of the Church, that is, any ministry with children in mind is a catechetical ministry. Children are helped and supported, and at the same time they are catechized and spiritually nurtured so that they can be baptized as Christians. While not all children are baptized and become Christians, the environment of support they receive is Christian, which means they usually maintain a connection with the Church for the rest of their lives.
Is the Churches’ Work with Children a Missionary Endeavour?
The theological question as to whether the Orthodox churches see their activities with children-at-risk as mission or ministry (or something else) remains unanswered. I am inclined to think that these activities do not constitute the mission of the Church. There are several reasons for this opinion.
As noted above, mission is generally understood as ‘going out’ (usually to other countries), preaching the gospel and bringing people to Christ. The work with children-at-risk in the local Orthodox church is exclusively conducted within their own territories – their parishes and their dioceses. I am aware of no instance where Orthodox missionaries would ‘go out’ and preach the gospel while helping children-at-risk.
Another notable characteristic of the Orthodox Church is their lack of awareness for mission in embracing those who are different from themselves (Presler, 2010b: 195). Presler asserts that mission addresses the non-Christians, ‘the not-us’, ‘the different’, ‘the other’ (Presler, 2010a: 54), and mission is the encounter with difference (Presler, 2010b: 198). In contrast, Orthodox believers help children-at-risk mostly in their own Orthodox environment, in their own country, where for many Eastern European countries the percentage of Orthodox people is 80% or higher. Orthodox child workers sometimes cannot discern the difference between what is Christian and what is non-Christian as in many Eastern European countries the churches continue to work closely with the governments; this is especially true for the Russian Orthodox Church. Certainly, in their faith and church activities the Orthodox do distinguish between Christian and non-Christian, but in their social work in different institutions (especially orphanages and homes for children), they often ‘compete’ with various secular non-governmental organizations and adopt approaches similar to that of the state.
Often Orthodox Christians would view social work, educational activities, material support, and so on, as mission, thus expanding its notion to denote everything Christians do in their life as believers. More than half a century ago the Orthodox theologian and missiologist Nissiotis (1961: 31–32) wrote:
It is a great mistake when we think that by discussing social questions, or by analysing the secular environment, or by helping in educational and material needs, we are performing mission … There is one immediate need for those outside the Church: to be converted and become members of this community in a visible, concrete form.
And he affirms that service, even service done in the name of Christ, ‘is not absolutely necessary as a sign of the authenticity of the Christian mission,’ and that people do not believe because of service, ‘they are called to believe because they are converted by the power of the saving grace which is to be announced to them by word and shared by them through the sacraments in the Church’ (Nissiotis, 1961: 31–32).
Even today we notice that in their work with children the Orthodox churches continue to remain nationalistic. Orthodox theologians have repeatedly affirmed that nationalism needs to be abandoned, especially if the Orthodox churches would claim that they are missional. Some 35 years ago a prominent Orthodox theologian wrote: ‘A Church which ceases to be missionary, which limits itself to an introverted self-sustaining existence, or, even worse, places ethnic, racial, political, social, or geographic limitations upon the message of Christ, ceases to be authentically “the Church of Christ”’ (Meyendorff, 1978: 153).
The participation of Orthodox believers in the services of their churches, and especially in the liturgy and taking Holy Communion, has been seen as a missionary act (as suggested by Ion Bria in his affirmation of the liturgy after the liturgy, cf. Bria, 1996). The Orthodox are likely to agree with the statement, ‘Nothing reveals better the relation between the Church as fullness and the Church as mission than the Eucharist, the central act of the Church’s leitourgia, the sacrament of the Church itself?’ (Schmemann, 1979: 214). But we also need to see how and whether theology finds practical application in the daily ecclesiastical life of the believers in the churches. The Orthodox would affirm that they have the most correct understanding of what the Church is but my question is, how are they applying this understanding in their lives? They are likely to speak of Church unity and point to how they understand the Church as a sacramental (mystical) structure (cf. Hopko, 2004: 139). Yet the question remains, how in practice do they see the Church ‘in operation’ and in action to bring justice, peace, reconciliation and, most importantly, to bring the younger generation to Christ by doing the mission of the Church?
Is the Church’s Work with Children a Ministry?
If the work of the Eastern Orthodox churches is not considered to be mission, is it Christian ministry? The Orthodox would often point that Christian ministry is the specific tasks done by the Church where priesthood and lay people work under the authority and the direction of the local hierarch – bishop, archbishop or patriarch. The Orthodox are sceptical when Christian activity is done by a Christian agency or other Christian organizations without the oversight of a bishop or other Church leader. Whenever they see Protestant agencies and organizations working with children by themselves, without any oversight and direction on the part of the Church’s hierarchy, they believe that this work is done by ‘private’ Christian organizations, not the Church. The different Christian communities do not have the same understanding of ecclesiology and the nature of the Church activity, which is one reason why the work with children is seen differently when it comes to the Orthodox Church’s sanction, authority and leadership.
For many Orthodox who work with children, their activity is neither mission nor ministry – it is simply the tasks given them by the Church in their duties as Christians. It is the Church (the ecclesiastical hierarchy, the believers in Christ and the Head of the Church Jesus Christ Himself) that wants them to help children and young people know God and become Jesus’ followers.
The work done with children in Orthodox churches at the local parish level is under the authority of a bishop or under his blessing but in most cases this means that the bishop has only given his consent and may not be aware of the exact activity being done within the specific parishes. Instead, the work with children is usually initiated and then continued through the personal initiative of several Orthodox believers who form a committee or an ‘action group’ seeking support to carry out specific activities. Such support is usually provided by the Christians themselves, sometimes (though rarely) also through government assistance, and in some instances – by foreign Christian and non-Christian organizations, primarily because almost all Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe are quite poor. Certainly, this work is carried out in a specific Orthodox diocese and the local bishop is aware of it, but the bishop himself would rarely exercise any supervision or oversight with the exception of approving or disapproving certain actions of the believers in their work with children and their liaison with other Christian (or other religious) organizations and groups, and with secular organizations.
Conclusion
To conclude, let me summarize and reaffirm that the Orthodox have only begun to take children seriously and to work with children-at-risk in the framework of Christian ministry. Although some Orthodox would see the mission of the Church in these activities, the majority believe they are fulfilling specific ecclesiastical tasks and duties, not a specific ministry. But if it is neither mission nor ministry, then what is it? To be mission, the work with children-at-risk, as well as any other work with non-Christian people, must cross certain barriers between what is Christian and what is non-Christian, which is not the case for the Orthodox churches’ work with children. To be ministry, as understood by a hierarchical Church, the work must be guided and supervised by a bishop, yet this is not always the situation with the Orthodox churches.
At times the Orthodox see their church as playing a significant role in world events and in Christianity (cf. the Albanian Orthodox Church Archbishop’s passionate affirmation in Yannoulatos, 2003: 204) but in practical terms it is often difficult to define whether their activities are mission or ministry. Observers have the feeling that the Orthodox Christians in their parishes only maintain certain activities, without innovation or change. I suggest that mere maintenance is not enough: all Christians must adopt a new direction where every parish should seek to transform itself from maintenance-oriented to a mission-directed parish (cf. Rivers, 2005: xi). This is especially true for the Church’s work with children and especially children-at-risk. And this is particularly true for the Orthodox churches, if they desire to maintain that they are apostolic and missionary churches.
What I would like to see is the work of the Orthodox churches with children-at-risk becoming not only an orphan-oriented ministry but a missionary endeavour aiming to raise up a new and young Christian generation. As these churches gain experience in the field, they should cooperate with other Christian churches and organizations that are engaged in the work with children so that all Christians learn from each other and continue their mission and their ministry with children in more innovative and successful ways, for the glory of God and the salvation of people, especially the ‘little ones’, whom Jesus welcomes.
Footnotes
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.