With an estimate of 100 million street children worldwide, the need for Christians to take to heart the words of James, "True religion is this, to look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27) is overwhelming.

One group that is feeling the pain and is searching for solutions is the Viva Network. This is an initiative to network Christian agencies involved in outreach to children in need, especially street children. Working in conjunction with 'Christ for the City', Costa Rica, they planned a conference that would draw together key representatives of organizations working in this area, from across the world. The aim was to effectively further the ministry of the evangelical church to children in need.

Despite the range of people at the conference, some clear conclusions were drawn. They included -

If the church has a biblical mandate to reach these children, then someone must be able to mobilize, to educate and to support this effort. We must learn from one another if failure is to be avoided. If every single project is to make all the same mistakes as the others, wait for the right connections to fall into place, understand all that there is to understand about fund-raising, prayer backing, recruitment, training for workers, administration, how to work with children, etc., ... we will never be able to reach the multitude of children needing to be reached. Networking is essential. On a local, regional, national, continental and international level, the Body of Christ must start to understand how we can work together.

The conference pointed strongly towards the necessity to network. Autonomous networks should be planted in all countries with a need, creating channels of information and exchange of ideas, mutual support, encouragement, prayer backing and training as well as resources, manpower and accountability.