The India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) has approached Wheat Ridge Ministries for a grant to enable the church to buy a milking cow ($300 per cow) for a widow in each of their 400 congregations and preaching stations.  Most of the IELC membership (approximately 80%) comes from the poorest levels of society in India.  Most congregations are in conservative, rural areas.  It is Indian custom that widows do not remarry.  According to tradition, widows are "cursed" and an "evil omen," shunned and excluded from many social events.  Widows also face considerable financial difficulties.  Men are the major breadwinners in this society.  Among the rural poor, it is very difficult for people to care properly for a widow's family as well as their own.

Anything done to serve the widows' families is a great encouragement to the congregations and a powerful witness to the rest of the community.  The situation is very similar to the New Testament church, in which care for the widows was a crucial part of life in and witness to the Gospel.  (c.f. Acts 4:34-35, 1 Tim. 5:3, Jas. 1:27).  As widows are served, people in the community know the Church cares and members of the congregation are bolstered in their faith that God cares and acts.  Preaching stations will be included in the project.

This project is aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty by identifying and providing a cow to very poor widows with young children.  She will use the income from the sale of the cow's milk to pay for educational expenses for her children and other needs.  When the children have grown up, the widow is encouraged to donate the cow to another needy widow.

Read CNN's story on the plight of widows in India (July 2007).

Meet the widows who have received a cow:

• Distribution Archive 

You are welcome to view the contents of the resource packet for the "Care of Widows: Cows for Kids" project.  You can also use an online order form to request an information packet or to request additional resources for the "Care of Widows: Cows for Kids" project (Materials are available to ship within the United States only).  A worship service created especially for the "Care of Widows: Cows for Kids" project is available in HTML format and PDF format.

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