Woodburn Christian Children's Home
Years of abuse and trauma have shaped the boys and girls who arrive at Woodburn Christian Children’s Home. But their future will be brighter than their past: the Indiana ministry just opened a learning and counseling center, with construction and lending assistance from Christian Financial Resources.
Ben Greene
Pastor & Writer
Boys and girls come to Woodburn Christian Children’s Home with hopeless hearts formed through years of abuse and trauma.
But God’s people, powered by His wisdom and character, grow these boys and girls into adults who live strong, courageous lives. In April, the fifty-year-old organization opened a multipurpose learning and counseling center, with construction management assistance from Christian Financial Resources.
“The expertise of CFR created an air of confidence in our ability,” Woodburn Executive Director Joe Heins said about achieving the first phase of the vision.
Woodburn, inspired by the first chapter of Joshua, plans two more phases, including another residential home for children and then a home for youth who age out of foster care at 18 years old.
Heins said Woodburn staff know how to help children transform after trauma, both the behaviors of the kids and the beliefs boys and girls have about themselves and their lives. What CFR contributed — oversight of building the 13,000 square-foot center and assisting Woodburn with good stewardship of donations — meant Woodburn’s workers focused on children, not construction.
That’s exactly what CFR loves to do, Regional Vice President Keith Wood said.
“When we find good ministries that come alongside the church, we love embracing those kinds of projects,” he said. “We love seeing the changed lives.”
This new vision for the children’s home developed in 2017 and started in 2021 with a groundbreaking for the multipurpose center. Heins said the significant years-long effort had moments where Woodburn leaders were so glad for support. He compared help to Ur and Aaron holding up Moses’ arms as a battle ebbed and flowed.
“CFR is one of those folks who came alongside and held our arms up when we got weary,” he said.
Boys and girls who once saw themselves as unwanted and unappreciated throwaways now run through the new learning and counseling space. It’s there that a literal building shows them a community of people are for them, including CFR.
Now, those boys and girls hear a story greater than the hopelessness in their hearts. A triumph is possible for them after all the trauma. Every child can realize they are valued and wanted by a family of people, including the construction management and lending teams at CFR.
“CFR became part of that community,” Heins said. “It was participation in this kingdom event where the children know that they’re cared for.”
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