The ABCs of Compassion - Letters

When was the last time you received a letter in the mail?

When was the last time you wrote a letter?

I can imagine for most people, the answer would be ‘I don’t remember’.

But if you are a Compassion sponsor, I sure do hope you have a different answer for those two questions!

As a Compassion sponsor, we have an opportunity to encourage the children we sponsor through the letters we write to them. Many times, these letters are read by the children more than once. A lot of the children keep the letters from their sponsor in a very special place so they can read them when they need to remember that someone who lives thousands of miles away is praying for them.

When my daughter and I went to Mexico almost three years ago on a sponsor trip, I will never forget what Alfredo brought with him.

The paper in Alfredo’s hands is a letter that Kelsey had written to him. He wanted her to know that he is receiving her letters and that they are very important to him! How precious is this!

Compassion has a few sections on their website with answers to frequently asked questions, letter writing ideas, and some letter writing prompts.

Need some motivation to write a letter, you can find that too!

My personal suggestions on writing letters?

Reply to each letter, and write a few additional times a year also.

Ask a couple of questions and include a Bible verse with each letter.

Send photos, especially of your family. The kids love seeing the people who are praying for them.

What questions do you have about letter writing?

The ABCs of Compassion - Jesus

Out of all the letters of the alphabet for Compassion, this has got to be the most important one.

‘J’ is for Jesus!

Jesus is at the heart of Compassion.

So much so, that Jesus is a part of Compassion’s mission statement:

“Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name”

In the book, Mission Drift, the authors share that Compassion has been told that if they remove the last three words from their mission statement, they would be able to work in more countries around the world.

And I tell people at events all the time, there are a lot of wonderful organizations doing amazing things to help people who are living in extreme poverty.

But if those people do not know who Jesus is, and if they do not have the opportunity to enter into a relationship with Jesus, they have no eternal hope.

This is why I love volunteering with Compassion!

I love knowing that at each and every Compassion center, the Gospel is being taught to each and every child. And in many cases, the children are sharing about Jesus with their families!

What word would you have chosen to go with the letter ‘J’?

The ABCs of Compassion - Individual

When I starting thinking about this series of posts about Compassion, I knew some letters would be a challenge to come up with an appropriate word for the letter. Take ‘I’ for instance…

International? Could work, but I just did a post on ‘Global’ which kind of means the same thing.

Invest? Sounds more like a financial term.

Integrity? Another one that could work.

Impact? Well…

Then, it hit me…Individual!

And why ‘individual’?

Each individual child registered into Compassion’s program is individually known, loved, and protected at their local Compassion center.

Each individual Compassion child at every center around the world has their own individual binder. Entries are made in these binders for the registered Compassion children in four key areas: Socio-emotional, physical, educational, and spiritual development.

Copies of birth certificates, immunization records, health check-ups, copies of letters from sponsors, receipts of purchases for financial gifts from sponsors, profession of faith certificates…these are just a few of the items in the binders for each individual child.

And best of all about the word ‘individual’?

When you sponsor a Compassion child, you are the only sponsor for that individual child!

If you are not a Compassion sponsor already, what is stopping you from becoming a sponsor today?

The ABCs of Compassion - Holistic

The next installment in my series on the ABCs of Compassion is the word ‘holistic’.

Why is it important that Compassion uses a holistic child development model?

Merriam-Webster defines ‘holistic’ as: “relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts”.

All of us have critical needs that need to be met every day.

We all need water.

We all need food.

We all need shelter.

We all need clothing.

We all need basic medical needs met.

We all need to know we are loved.

Imagine trying to survive without one of these basic needs and you will have a hard time. Period.

Compassion realizes that children growing up in extreme poverty need more than just clean water and food.

Compassion realizes that children growing up in extreme poverty need to have their physical, social, economic, and spiritual needs met.

Holistic.

The whole child.

When you sponsor a child through Compassion, you become a partner with the local church and that child’s family.

Your monthly sponsorship provides for the holistic needs of the child, their physical needs, their social needs, the economic needs, and the spiritual needs.

You are providing more than just clean water and food.

You are given the opportunity to pour into that child through letters and prayers to help them dream and have a bigger hope for their future.

Will you sponsor a Compassion child today?

The ABC's of Compassion - Global

One definition for the word global is “relating to or embracing the whole of something, or of a group of things”.

Compassion has made it their mission to “release children from poverty in Jesus’ name”.

This is a big mission and goal, especially since there are approximately one billion children living in poverty around the world.

This Colorado non-profit is not working alone though. Back in the 1960s, Canada became Compassion’s first global partner. Now, there are fourteen countries who have come alongside the United States headquarters to work toward their global mission.

Compassion’s most pivotal work takes place in 25 countries where millions of children are growing up in extreme poverty. Through the local churches in these 25 countries, children are known, loved, and protected, and given a chance to dream and to have hope for their futures.

You can read a lot on Compassion’s web site about their amazing work around the world, but the thing I want to share about the topic of ‘global’ in this post is the headquarters of Compassion in Colorado Springs.

If you are a Compassion sponsor, and you ever find yourself in Colorado Springs, I highly recommend you take the time to take a tour of the GMC.

The GMC is Compassion’s Global Ministry Center, basically their headquarters. On the tour you will learn more about the beginnings of Compassion and the important work that is happening around the world to “release children from poverty in Jesus’ name”.

The tours are free and are well worth your time!

I have had a chance to visit here a few times and I always learn something new about Compassion while I am there.

Have you had a chance to visit the GMC yet?