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The Sleeping Giant: Rethinking Orphan Care Through the Local Church
19 Plays3 days ago
In this episode Aixa sits down with longtime friends Chad and Marlena Smith to explore a radically different vision for missions and orphan care. Drawing from their years living in Guatemala and their work with World Orphans, the Smiths share how God reshaped their calling—from working in orphanages to focusing on family preservation and orphan prevention through the local church.
Together, they unpack hard truths about global orphanhood, the beauty and complexity of walking humbly with communities, and why the church—especially small, local churches—is uniquely positioned to care for vulnerable children and families. This conversation challenges the “do more” mindset of modern missions and invites listeners into a slower, relational, gospel-centered way of being present with people.
If you’ve ever wondered how faith, missions, and justice intersect—or felt overwhelmed by the needs around you—this episode offers hope, clarity, and a powerful reminder: God works through ordinary people who are willing to listen, learn, and love.
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Transcript
Introduction to Adoption, Parenting, and Identity
00:00:02
Speaker
We all have a story, and at times we feel we're walking it out alone. Let's pause and think. Join us for honest conversations about adoption and parenting as we lament, encourage, give hope, and explore our true identity and worth in Christ.
Welcome and Introduction of Guests
00:00:23
Speaker
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Pause and Think. I'm in Guatemala City in Jackie Darby's home, and she is actually in the background listening, but we're going to have a conversation with the Smiths, with Chad and Marlena. We are longtime friends. We go way back.
00:00:45
Speaker
We know each other from a support group that we actually started. and You guys were with the you know some of the first people to attend. um And it's been a delight to know you guys and see what the Lord has done in you and through you and
Journey to Guatemala and Adoption Experience
00:01:04
Speaker
your family. And as you can see, they are not in Guatemala.
00:01:08
Speaker
The architecture is different and there's a a certain character in the background that I named correctly, even though I have nothing to do with any of it. I knew that that was a buck.
00:01:21
Speaker
So I am so happy to have you, Chathamar. Maybe introduce yourselves a little bit so we know ah more about you and what you're doing currently.
00:01:32
Speaker
Yes, thank you. It's an honor to join you. um Yeah, we are Chad and Marlena Smith and actually moved to Guate in 2008. We have five kiddos and when we moved there, we had three. Our fourth was born there and then we were blessed to be able to adopt their as Guatemalan residents in 2014. And so,
00:02:00
Speaker
um we lived there for 12 years and relocated back here in 2020 and that's a story for another day but we um that is why we are still and we still travel back and forth and serve um serve with world orphans still in latin america and so we're in guatemala regularly chad is leaving on sunday to go again next week and so yeah our hearts are still in two places traveling back and forth and um But we Michiganders as well, and that is why there's other decor in our office.
00:02:38
Speaker
We love it. Yeah. um Yeah. Marlena kind of shared um a little bit about us. Yeah.
Mission Evolution: From Orphanage to Family Support
00:02:49
Speaker
So ministry-wise, do you want me to dive in a little bit about the connection to Guatemala? Yes, go for it. um So um we we we had this calling that kind of came out of my own story as a kid being bullied and wanting to help kids that feel alone. And that kind of snowballed from... mission trips to Mexico to a vocational calling to what would it look like to to start an orphanage or work in an orphanage. So um we went down to Guatemala with the idea that we might start an orphanage. We'll work alongside an orphanage. We did that for two and a half years.
00:03:29
Speaker
And, um, During that time, we were mentoring young people. So we lived at the orphanage and in Villanueva. But a common thread that we heard is most of these kids have parents, um living parents. And that's where we we we were like, man.
00:03:45
Speaker
um And it was actually, I don't know if any of you guys know Casa Viva, Philip Asperger, Phil and Jill. um they were we They were kind of mentoring us. And they said, go with eyes wide open, but ask lots of questions.
00:03:58
Speaker
And so as we went, that it was a two and a half year stint, learned language, two years home. We were asking lots lots of questions. What we learned is 80% of kids on average in in institutional care in the world have a living parent.
00:04:11
Speaker
So what's the problem? And that sent us kind of on a journey to go upstream, to go, well, it's what probably Guatemala doesn't need is more orphanages. um But what if we could prevent that from happening? What if we could, so if it's neglect, abuse, abandonment, ah poverty, what if we could go upstream and and help? So really that's that's what, after that two and a half year commitment, we went upstream and began working on the prevention, you know, family preservation or orphan prevention side of things.
00:04:42
Speaker
Wow. Okay. absolutely love like the journey the Lord graciously allows us to have because we start out with great ideas and big ideas. And then he's so tender in treating us to see another side of things because we assume a lot of stuff. And then we go in and we realize, hey, maybe we can do it better or deeper or wider than we expected it.
00:05:13
Speaker
And I think,
Rethinking Orphanages: Focusing on Family Support
00:05:14
Speaker
you know, it's not only American missionaries thinking, oh, we need an orphanage. I've heard that in Latin America a lot, like especially young believers. They're like, I have a heart for children and I'm gonna do a, you know, a home or an institution.
00:05:34
Speaker
And so I've learned to start asking questions because they have the right inclination towards service But they haven't realized, for example, the the factor that you actually mentioned, Chad, the fact that there's no like 100% like we would call it a pure orphan or a real orphan.
00:05:57
Speaker
Most of our kids in institutions have families that they're they were helped and actually supported, things would change. And so, of course, you need to rewrite your whole, you know, idea of what that looked like. Mar, what was the journey ah like, you know, for God to bring you from point A to point B because it ended up looking a lot different. So what was your process as a, as a wife, as a mom? Cause you juggled, you both juggled so much in another country.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah, I think it was like anything, really. It it took time and mentors and lots of different conversations and prayer with each other and with with other people like the Aspergans in Costa Rica. And And Christian Alliance for Orphans Conference, like we had started attending that years ago when that kind of was first starting. And that was really influential in our conversations and really in discerning those next steps.
00:07:08
Speaker
Yeah. I think for me as a mom, it was a little, like I was just in a different role. So even though the decision was ours to make as a family, do we keep staying here in a different capacity?
00:07:22
Speaker
What does that look like um when it's something where I didn't necessarily know um other people doing exactly the same thing? Like it was just a process as God continued to unfold that and Even now, like things continue to change and and what are more effective ways of doing ministry and and um and having more intentional relationships.
00:07:52
Speaker
connections, you know, with with with people and with different organizations and churches and that sort of thing. But I think for us as a family, it was even how do we continue to move in that calling that God really placed in our hearts, but being open, kind of how you said, saying, okay, we don't know all of this. We thought we were going into it this way, but I think from day one when we were there and seeing things that were way out of just my scope as a mother living in rest my whole life and seeing things even violent things or hearing things and reading things God just continued to kind of work on me of what is what does it look like to trust him with this and the outcomes and trust him with um the outcomes of going into this when it looked different, even in by year three and four, what we thought we were moving there to do with the young family. So, um yeah, it's deepening that trust all along the way. And still, yeah, today, even moving back and having to readjust here and not planning on moving back, that was a whole other thing. And
00:09:05
Speaker
traumatic for other reasons which sounds strange but it was yeah for us and so that deepening trust all along the way when we really nothing really is certain i don't know why we think it is so i think there's a lot of wisdom in what you're sharing more because um it takes It takes a lot of processing by the loving hands of God to actually bring you to a place of a humble disposition to say, you know what, I don't know everything.
00:09:41
Speaker
And it not only takes time, but it takes very courageous observation and reflection and conversation. I think, you know, there's, I can, I can see um your willingness to ask and to actually, you know, take a step back and think, is this really what the Lord wants us to,
World Orphans' Mission Shift to Prevention
00:10:07
Speaker
to do? And I would, ah you know, encourage Chad to share a little bit about the heartbeat with World Orphans, which I love. The fact that you even organizationally, the organization itself shifted and it very much mirrors what you guys are saying. So maybe tell us a little bit more of how the organization's focus shifted.
00:10:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So um I'll i'll ah hit like a fast forward button. I'll give you like a little. Yeah. piece So we went from ah from the orphanage to a school um in Guatemala. And it was it was a schools within the city.
00:10:49
Speaker
And they said, we have abused kids. We we we need help. ah You care about kids. You talk about prevention. Would you come help? So as Mara and I prayed about it. we We accepted, and that's where we hired a team of psychologists, social workers, much smarter than us, to help. But part of the problem was that and what we realized is that we were there as an organization from eight to five.
00:11:14
Speaker
But what happens when we punch the clock and we go home, what happens on the weekends? And that's what we realized is these that's the church. We need the church. And something that somebody more brilliant than me years ago said, I don't know where I got it, but um ah the church is a sleeping giant.
00:11:35
Speaker
ah and with so much potential. So how do we wake up the church? Now, that sounds very arrogant, so I'll take that back as soon as I say it, because we know God has worked through His church, but there's so much more potential within His church, right?
00:11:48
Speaker
and And so how do we continue to awaken the the giant that has so much opportunity? And so... And that began a journey for us to see where's the church as we looked in the communities where we were serving in Guatemala City. And that's where we met World Orphans in everything that World war And so just as ah to fast forward, today we work since 2017. We made a transition and got the blessing of the organization we were with to spearhead in and help lead the charge with World Orphans.
00:12:17
Speaker
And so at the time, we were part of one organization partnered with uh with world orphans uh and i was kind of the liaison between the two and everything that world orphans does the church is at the center now if we rewind in 1993 world orphans was building orphanages and there was there were some wealthy folks that had lots of money and they said want help it and if i can go back to our kind of dialogue one thing that love about I like a lot about God. I love a lot of about God, but but God is so gracious and merciful because he's patient with us and he takes our ignorance in the moment of where we're at. And he he's patient to allow us to continue to learn. Just like our story, if we're going to go start an orphanage, um in the same way World Orphans is, we're going to go build orphanages on the campuses of churches.
00:13:07
Speaker
And then you God's patient to go and gracious to say, maybe there's more. Maybe there's deeper, wider to what you said earlier. And so World Orphans had a paradigm shift in mid-2000s and by 2010, said, we're going to work on the prevention side of of of things. So it's equipping, mobilizing, inspiring the local church to care for them.
00:13:32
Speaker
orphans or vulnerable children, kids who otherwise would end up if in ah in an orphanage if we don't stop, you know, put the tourniquet on, stop the bleeding. So we kind of see ourselves then as world orphans as a ah toolbox.
00:13:48
Speaker
um we're a toolbox for the local church. How do we equip the church to give the church, and we're not talking about big churches. We're talking about little churches, beautiful churches, 50 to 100 people.
00:14:00
Speaker
But ah i hear I'll stop talking after this. No, go for it. I'm talking a lot. um But ah
00:14:10
Speaker
I used to be like, man, the little churches, why can't we get bigger churches involved? in um and And God just gave this to me and he's like the the church the big church they have a lot of resources and potential but there's a lot of ignorance and I put myself in the big church there's a lot of ignorance and fear whereas we have this the small churches they may not have a lot of funds but they have a lot of faith and And not fearful. They're in the communities. We need churches that are incarnate. They're in the communities. And so how do we partner? How we come together to be the body, to help those? Because they know their community, right? Exactly. So that's that's that journey that we've been a part of. And I'll stop talking now.
00:14:58
Speaker
that That is so exciting to me. The fact that you came ah came in like partnered and in the idea of... um Now, i'm i'm I'm getting ahead of myself because I know how I got ah closer to you guys recently and I've loved knowing what how you do things. And the fact that a U.S. church partners with a local, you know, Guatemalan whatever church in other parts of the world to actually build a relationship and be equals in this endeavor. And they don't come and and say, we're going to do this. It's just learning the rhythms and the and the culture and really learn it.
00:15:47
Speaker
and love them for the you know the the the brother and or sister that is before you. It's just a game changer. So I just ah have seen so much hope in the stories that that we've shared. And maybe we can actually go ahead and and share a favorite story, Mar, that has encouraged your heart and the work that you guys are seeing unfold.
A Story of Church and Community Support
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, i think um this is a story that you're familiar with, too, but one, it's fairly recent, one of the mamas. So I don't know how much we got into the nitty gritty of how the churches are actually caring for these families. But Guatemala in particular, there's about 12 churches caring for about 150 families. So each church has 10 to 15.
00:16:37
Speaker
20 families, depending on the scenario. And these families are identified by the churches and they're called home-based care committees. So the World Orphans team of mainly um therapists are working with these churches to kind of teach mainly women, lay leaders in these local churches, how to be an informal social worker.
00:17:01
Speaker
So they're the ones going in and doing the monthly visits. They're evaluating the needs, prioritizing the needs, holistic needs, whether it's education and making sure these littles have their birth certificate to be registered in the local school, or whether it's health care needs or whether it's bringing Bibles and different things and sharing different opportunities through the church and all of that. And so it's connecting them with that church, but it's evaluating their needs on a regular, consistent basis with their visits. And one of these mamas was... um
00:17:34
Speaker
became one of the families that was identified and was receiving the visits and had a lot of needs. She was a widow and had a few kids and even a grandmother and saw lots of different dynamics going on with her story. But the family or the the church, the committee had surrounded her and um she's in our sewing program as well, vocational training program. Chad could talk to you way better than I can, but just having the economic side of things as well that own peace through the church and world orphans. And so she was receding, you know, all of these levels of care. And um then recently in the last few months, law her son was killed. at
00:18:18
Speaker
So tragic. And all of a sudden, and to see the church wrap around her in that eating process, and even in the practical needs of um funeral costs and meals and um All of those things. And then see the global church step in of how they could help the local church, that church partner and from the states. And even just the different ways that it wasn't just one person. It wasn't just the maker, right, who's a believer, still powerful in and of itself. But it's like Chad said, it's the sleeping giant. It's all of it. it It's the world orphans therapist that's already been meeting with that son. Mm-hmm. And had a relationship with the one who who's no longer here. And then because of even that connection could go deeper with a mama and the other siblings who are grieving.
00:19:09
Speaker
And teach the Home Base Care Committee, the the main lady, like just hearing her heart, seeing her. talk about this loss and saying church has stepped in and I can't even, i can't even believe what God has done through all of these people. And she was in the savings group too. The mama was, how to save in the other mamas in the savings group donated to help with some of the costs. So like you all these layers of care because his global, local, we're all working together and, um,
00:19:42
Speaker
It is the sleeping giant. Like it isn't. it What's the beauty? so Maybe not sleeping. Maybe okay. Yeah. And you know what? It's what you say. It's that one. When we look at the needs around us and we think, oh, it's up to me to do so like it's on me. Of course we feel overwhelmed and frozen. but when it's all of us offering what we have, it's It becomes a beautiful dynamic. And even if it's intentional, it's, it becomes organic. You set it in motion. I mean, the Lord sets in motion, you obey and you put in place. Cause can tell you guys have, you know, processes and like,
00:20:27
Speaker
structures to safeguard resource and whatever. But it becomes such a lively dynamic where everyone just steps up and knows how to respond because they actually love each other. And that to me is a glue that holds everything together. The fact that it's alive, you actually tap into like the bloodstream of the Lord doing things through his body. And so it is very effective. It goes beyond programs. I can, I can see it goes beyond programs and it really brings the gospel together. And so Chad, what can you tell me about the witnessing that's happening? Cause then you go over to a, to a church in the U S and you tell them about this testimony. What has, has happened as a result?
Challenges and Inspiration in Mission Work
00:21:21
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Um, I will say it is a um it's a game changer, but it's a challenge. And I i see that as... my culture, our church, we're doers and we do things really well, but it's hard to be right. um And so ah we're not, this paradigm isn't for everybody because often people want, if they want a partner, they want to go do something. And we actually, we call it a missions trip because we're going to accomplish a mission.
00:21:53
Speaker
And we actually try to say, you're actually going to go be with people. Relational. The hardest thing is it people there. Once we get people to Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iraq, India, and they're able to be with the church and they realize what I we i just have myself to offer. And it's a relationship. We see these relationships or friendships, you know, forged. And there's this beautiful, now the church coming together, being the body of Christ, mutually encouraging. We see then the U.S. church influenced by, if it's Guatemala, Ethiopia, Kenya, you name it, ah saying, what if if this church with the resources they have is doing this, what are we called to? What can we do?
00:22:39
Speaker
And in they're looking at their community. We see churches here motivated to serve their vulnerable in their community. And so that's lot now there's a mutual app in church.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yes. there's So now there's a mutuality. So we try to create a level ground where there's not this top down. We all have something to offer. And to your point, like what what do we have? Then I'll just, I'll say like right before this call,
00:23:08
Speaker
I was thinking ah about like, we all have time, talents, treasures. We have something God's given us in the passage of the feeding of the 5,000 where Jesus, ah he says, give them something eat.
00:23:21
Speaker
Well, what do you have? And there's a little boy that's got a couple of fish, right? And that's, they're like, this is all we have. And then he blesses it, right? And he does so much more than the impossible.
00:23:34
Speaker
and and And so I think, what do we have? Maybe we don't have a lot, but let's bring our couple of fish. Let's bring our loaves and let's bring it to Jesus. and And even with our doubts and go, Hey, this is what I got.
00:23:47
Speaker
And then if you asked us in 2008, that this would be the case. No. And this isn't us. This is God. And it's him blessing our couple of fish and our little faith.
00:23:59
Speaker
i I feel so ah encouraged by just seeing the Lord work through ah quote unqu quote unquote small churches and common folk because that's him. you can You can be absolutely sure and certain that it's by the spirit. It's not our spirit.
00:24:21
Speaker
ah you know, our invention, our our strength or anything. And so it is a very mind-blowing concept to go back to how, you know, the Lord does things, which is usually not our idea of how, you know, things should go. And so the flow is challenging, but it is beautiful.
00:24:44
Speaker
And so, you know, to just wrap up, what would you ask um the Lord to do even more? Or what would you ask him to do next?
00:24:58
Speaker
um You know, around the topic of church or missions or, yeah, everything that you're actually touching on. Yeah.
Prayers and Reliance on Faith
00:25:09
Speaker
Mar? yeah um and there Years ago, we were reading um missionary stories, which i sometimes have resistance to because they can we can put them on pedestals and they're normal people. um But I was really inspired by, i think it was Gladys Allward, and I might be butchering her name, but praying this prayer, and it's been something that since then just...
00:25:36
Speaker
um For God to open open doors, um that can be doors with government, doors within communities, within neighborhoods.
00:25:47
Speaker
open hearts um of his church, of his people um to see the needs and see the ways that they can meet the needs. It might not be adoption. It might not be foster care. It might not be, um you know, stepping into some of these harder situations for whatever reason, but open hearts to do that next thing that he is calling them to do. And the two fish, like Chad said,
00:26:10
Speaker
And then open windows of heaven to receive more into his kingdom because he just stepped out to care for the vulnerable and the marginalized. And um I just think that's like that to me is big picture, big picture prayer. ah But on an individual, on a just a basic everyday kind of ordinary level, like praying, praying.
00:26:31
Speaker
praying for our hearts to receive that love like chad said that we can be those that we can be that we can receive so that we can then go and do and and having that kind of paradigm shift that we can't receive we can't the other thing too is we can't be shepherds and feeding his sheep when we don't realize that we're in need of a shepherd and so getting that right order if that makes sense think the lord has continued to remind us of that over and over again in very tender ways like you said at the beginning he's so tender but returning to that that um that being first and then doing yeah amen yeah chad anything you want to add
00:27:20
Speaker
No, I think i probably God's blown my mind on what he's already done. i would i would echo um would echo what Marlena said. i would, yeah, I think my, I am a doer.
00:27:36
Speaker
um And so... I have, I often, i want to be in step with the spirit. I don't want to get ahead of spirit and I don't want to do things in spite of, or or I don't, I want to do it for his glory. My tension is like um that I can just run ahead instead of slowing down and paying attention what he's doing right now. In fact, this comes to mind, um like the closest place that we can be to God is right now.
00:28:07
Speaker
And so ah not in the future. I think it's John Mark Comer that said that. But basically not not in the future of where I want him to be and not in living in the past in those beautiful kind of glorious moments. But right now, if I can slow down long enough to say, like, like I can meet God right here and he's real and tangible right here. I need that.
00:28:32
Speaker
And so because I'm a visionary and I'm always looking to the future, so probably for me, it's like, Lord, would you do that? Would you help me see what you're doing and even celebrating what is instead of hoping for what will be? um Yeah.
00:28:47
Speaker
Oh, that's good. Thank you guys for chatting with us. We are so honored to get to know ah you better and World Orphans better. So we hope and pray that the Lord expands what you're doing. More local churches embrace this community.
00:29:06
Speaker
model and we hear more about his faithful care for his people through relationships. So thank you so much. And we want to have you on soon um for more.
00:29:22
Speaker
So we need to run right now, but we are so happy to have you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Conclusion and Further Resources
00:29:32
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for this episode of Pause and Think. For more resources and information, go to whosami.org.