I must admit that I have a soft place in my heart for children, especially youngsters who are exposed to deep poverty and pressing spiritual want all across the world. With some 6.7 billion people living on our planet, the number of children whose lives are threatened every day is staggering.

The Enduring Work of Compassion International

One organization that I have long admired and supported is Compassion International. Compassion was founded in 1952 by Rev. Everett Swanson who began his work caring for Korean War orphans.  Swanson offered material comfort to these children in the form of food, shelter, education and health care while also providing Christian training.

The work of Compassion has spread over the years with many children helped. Indeed, South Korea is one of its brightest success stories as the country no longer has compassion programs in place thanks to widespread economic development.

Back in 1988 I was able to begin sponsorship of my first Compassion child and have sponsored one or two children at a time most years since. Today, our family has been sponsoring a young girl who lives in Guatemala which also happens to be the birth country for our two sons.

More Than One Million Children Currently Sponsored

These days, Compassion is much larger, sponsoring more than one million children in 25 countries. That amount, even coupled with the efforts of similar organizations, is still a drop in the bucket with so many children remaining unreached. Truly the need is great, the laborers are few, but the opportunity to make a difference in the life of just one child is enormous.

To that end, Compassion International is constantly looking for new sponsors to come alongside and offer a hand.  I understand that these are difficult financial times for many families, therefore taking on a sponsorship costing $32 a month may not be possible right now. However, you can make a one time contribution which will help defray some of the costs of the program, perhaps providing some money to help a waiting child until a sponsor can step forward.

Compassion Sunday & Your Opportunity to Give

Many churches will be holding a special event next weekend called “Compassion Sunday” as a way of telling this ministry’s story to the congregation.  Some churches choose to hold their event at other times of the year, especially if there is a conflict in the church calendar.  Regardless of whether your church is involved or not, you can help at any time in whatever way the Holy Spirit shows you.

One thing that my family likes in helping “our” child is that we are able to correspond with her. Several times a year we exchange letters and Gabriella shares with us what is going on in her life. These exchanges allow us to get to know each other while reminding us to continue to lift her up in prayer to God.

For more information about Compassion International and Compassion Sunday, please visit the ministry website and also please check out an article I wrote about this event which is posted at The Article Writer.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me — Matthew 18:5 (NIV)

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