History

Chris and Debbie Clark founded COTN in 1995. God was working in their lives many years before, however, preparing the couple for this ministry.

Chris is himself a fifth-generation missionary raised in Africa by missionary parents. Convinced that God called him to minister to children, he pursued a career with Youth for Christ (YFC), where he worked as Director for ten years. Debbie, a teacher for ten years, also had a heart attuned to children in special need of care.

The turning point came during a project assignment to Africa in 1995, when Chris and Debbie encountered orphans and refugee children in dire need of assistance. Committed to finding help, the Clarks returned to the United States and began searching for an organization or mission agency that would come to the children’s aid. Sadly, they found none willing to offer help; nor, surprisingly, was there a single organization whose sole purpose was to provide for the needs of orphans around the world. Sensing God’s call, Chris and Debbie resigned from YFC to form Children of the Nations to meet this very real need.

Today, COTN is working in the USA, Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and most recently in Uganda to provide relief for orphaned and destitute children. COTN operates homes, schools, farms, skill centers, clinics and village feeding centers in an effort to give quality care to our children. Each country is established with an individual nonprofit organization.

Many people are involved in making this mission/movement a reality. Local governing boards oversee local ministry staff in each country. Our country directors and management committees work closely with staff to provide the best for our children. Missionary staff works with specific tasks as consultants, providing empowerment for our national staff. And we can’t underestimate the impact of the hundreds of individuals from churches, specialty groups, and youth programs who visit our sites to offer support and encouragement. To date, over 300 interns have served from one month to one year in each country.

From the initial desire in 1995, to “rescue” children from their despair, to today—creating a family for each child, COTN has come so far. Today, 400 staff members and thousands of volunteers provide care to rescue and raise over 6,000 children who then are learning to be leaders for tomorrow!

Looking back on the last ten years, we can see that outreach to each country began by God bringing together two resources: people and finances. We are confident that as God blesses us in the future with both resources, COTN will continue to influence additional countries and the lives He loves there.