“Do you want to change the world? Sponsor a child.” That was the headline of a Christianity Today article several years ago about Compassion International’s child sponsorship program.
When I read that story I was encouraged, and, a bit relieved. Our family sponsored a child, and I had often recommended child sponsorship to others. I believed in the goals of these programs: freeing children from poverty in Jesus’ name, through church-based programs, providing educational opportunities and health care. However, I knew that some had criticized such one-to-one sponsorship programs as more of a marketing gimmick to boost fundraising, than an effective and efficient way to fight poverty.
The good news is, the critics are wrong. The Christianity Today article, written by an economist at the University of San Francisco, summarized his research into Compassion International’s sponsorship program. He collected data on more than 10,000 individuals in six countries and found that sponsorship caused measurable, long-lasting impact. Children were 50 to 80 percent more likely to complete a university education, and much more likely to get a salaried job, and become leaders in their church and community.
Wes Stafford, former president of Compassion International, explained it this way: “The big difference that sponsorship makes is that it expands children’s views about their own possibilities. Many of these children don’t think they are capable of much. We help them realize that they are each given special gifts from God to benefit their communities, and we try to help them develop aspirations for their future.”
In other words, the difference is the gospel. The lie that poverty tells to children is: “Your life doesn’t matter.” The truth of the gospel is that your circumstances aren’t what define you, but rather your relationship to Jesus. And, the hope the gospel provides is not that your circumstances will get better, but that whatever your circumstances — even if they get worse — God will be with you.
There are many organizations that offer the opportunity to sponsor a child. Some are better than others. Compassion International is one of the best. They are changing the world, one child at a time. One of those children was David Mutua from Kenya. David was sponsored as a child by Compassion International, and now he works for them (similar to the story of Junior Obrand in the Emailmeditation two days ago). He tells his amazing story in this four minute video:
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For another story of hungry children being helped by a man who had been hungry as a child, go to this Emailmeditation from a while back:
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Jeremiah 29:11 — “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Matthew 5:16 — (Jesus said), “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Mark 9:41 — (Jesus said), “Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.”
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A PRAYER FOR MEALTIME:
Bless, O Lord, these thy gifts to our use, and us to thy service. Give us grateful hearts, Lord, for all thy mercies, and make us mindful of the needs of others. Amen.
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(some of the information above was taken from an article by Joy LaPrade, posted at: www.theexoduschurch.org )
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Compassion International has had its critics; and so has every person and every organization that has ever tried to help anyone. Even Mother Teresa faced criticism. Here are a few words from Teddy Roosevelt regarding such critics:
It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.
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