“Aslan is on the move.”

That is one of my favorite lines from C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Those fivesimple words inspire the inhabitants of Narnia. They know the true King has returned to break the power of the White Witch and end winter in Narnia.

Aslan is on the move to end another winter…the cold winter of the soul experienced by orphans in Russia.

In the last three years, Russian authorities have moved to restrict access to their children. We’ve seen the region of Ivanovo terminate our ministry to orphanages in Russia. We’ve accepted crippling restrictions on vital information about children like photographs, names, and bios. And we endured a baseless, six-month “investigation” where government agents seized computers, interrogated staff members, and threatened to close down ministry altogether.

God sustained HopeChest through these challenges. And in that same time, we saw some of the most dramatic results amongst our graduate orphans. And now, we are pursuing creative strategies to ensure that even with these new restrictions, we can still proclaim the love of Jesus to orphans in Russia. This is what Through the Winter is all about, and we need your help today.

HopeChest wants to provide every child in our Russia program–over 1,000–with a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. We plan to use the book in coordination with a new evangelism and discipleship curriculum. But we need your help. 

When you give $30, we can provide one child with a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and cover costs of creating the new curriculum and providing intensive training to our staff. Would you give $30 today?

Russian winters are legendary. They are credited in part for defeating the invading armies of both Napoleon and Hitler. They are powerfully cold and desperately desolate. If you have ever experienced the sub-zero temperatures of Russia’s winter, you know that it turns your blood to ice.

Children in Russia experience this winter in climate, but also within their spirit.

Orphans in Russia are abandoned by their parents, robbed of protection, and scorned by society. Too many children carry the scars of abuse at the hands of those who are supposed to protect and love them. There is a coldness in their eyes. A window into the winter they experience.

Through the Winter uses The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as a tool to show children how Christ’s love breaks and banishes the power of that winter. Through the Winter is a $30,000 campaign to reach 1,000 children–to see them through this cold winter.

“He’s wild you know. Not like a tame lion.” 

Another one of my favorite lines. If there is anything a child in Russia needs, it is the fierce and unrelenting love of Christ to melt the snow and thaw the ice of this winter. They need a lion and a champion. Someone whose love is boundless and untamed.  I invite and challenge you to provide a child with this love by giving $30 or more to Through the Winter.

You can read our full plan on the Through the Winter campaign site, and make a gift there. Thank you so much for extending the warmth and blessing of your family to children in Russia who need it most.