• Home
• About Me
• Lifefeed

Compassion Sunday

This past Sunday we hosted Compassion Sunday at church. Technically, the “official” Compassion Sunday took place on April 13, but we could not fit it into the schedule until today.

For those who don’t know, Compassion is an organization that provides sponsorship for children in impoverished nations around the globe. It’s estimated that there are over 1,000,000,000 (one billion) people alive in the world today who survive on less than one dollar per day. Most of the children in the Compassion program would not be able to sufficiently have food and nourishment, have decent clothing, have an education, or have medical treatment without the support of the sponsors. The sponsorship not only provides the needs of the child but does support the family as well. In addition, Compassion ensures that the children and families have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and understand who Jesus is while they experience the Gospel via the sponsor’s donation.

I am personally a sponsor with Compassion, and have had the honor and privilege of supporting a little girl, Melissa, from Honduras since fall 2005. I can say that it has been an amazing experience and one that has been fairly life-changing. It’s been an experience learning who this child is, what she loves to do, what her mother and family are like, how life is in Honduras, etc. Originally I really struggled with whether I would be financially able to afford to sponsor her. The deceitfulness of wealth in America toys with your mind, and our excessive wants cause us to think that we could never afford to help someone because there is always more and more that we “need.” I decided that it was the right thing to do, and went for it, and amazingly found that I can very well afford it. Even that one simple act has shown me that I really don’t need all that I have today and that there is more than enough to go around, if we only had the will.

But I digress… back to Compassion Sunday. We have three gatherings every Sunday, and I was to present it to the people in each. Compassion sent us a table setup, displays, information packets, and 25 children from around the globe for potential sponsorship. We showed a short video before the church in each gathering and I spoke briefly about poverty, Jesus’ response to the poor and downtrodden in Scripture, and our responsibility and ability to make a difference. In total we found sponsors for 19 out of the 25 children. I really wanted to sponsor all of them but were unable to. I have to send the 6 unsponsored children back to Compassion this week. Though, if your heart leads you to sponsor, and you’d like to take responsibility for one of them, please email me ASAP at whartz01@gmail.com with a subject of “Compassion Sunday” or call me at 908-998-2241. I must send them back before Friday, so do not delay.. Sponsorship is $32 per month.

There are two stories from the day that have stuck with me. Here is the first:

There is a man in our church whom I know struggles with money. He has a job, though I know he can’t make all that much. At best, he would fit into the “low income” bracket of American society. Yet, there he was at the Compassion table after one of the gatherings. He said that he felt God wanted him to sponsor one child. I’m not sure if he simply plans to sacrifice more of his own wants and desires or if he simply had a conversation with God and believes that He will provide the necessary monies to cover the sponsorship. Regardless of the process involved beforehand, there he was. He chose a little girl from Rwanda. He chose her because Rwanda, as many know, is one of the poorest economies and roughest areas in the world. This little girl must go through so much struggle and hardship. She was the perfect choice for him. And it doesn’t stop there. He not only agreed to the $32 sponsorship agreement, but he also agreed to the extra $8 per month to provide HIV/AIDS treatment and education as Rwanda is an HIV affected zone. I was quite impressed by his faith and heart to help those in need as most here would see him as being in some need.

And the second:

There is a woman in our church named Ruth. Ruth has been attending for a few years and was recently married one year ago to a man who helps me run the tech booth on Sundays. Ruth came up to me at the Compassion table at one point, telling me how great a program Compassion is. She spoke of how it is really making a difference in the Dominican Republic (she is Dominican herself) and that she was so happy we were partnering with it today. Then she told me something that I had to ask her to repeat. She told me that she, herself, was a sponsor child in the Dominican Republic and that if it wasn’t for her sponsors, there would be no way should would have the life she has now. She told me of all the sponsorship provided and aided her family with and the life that was provided. It’s amazing how small a world it really is and how connected we all really are. Incredible.

Overall, I think Compassion Sunday was a huge success, despite not sponsoring all the children. There were still many others (about a half dozen or so) who wanted to go to the Compassion Web site to sponsor a child from a specific country (usually their own country of origin), and so the effects of this past Sunday may stretch even farther than what Compassion intended for us. It was an encouraging experience to see so many giving of themselves to help another human being across the world that they’ve never even met. We intend to contact Compassion again for another group of kids to have available for Equip in order to get some more sponsors. I’m excited about it, and our new sponsors are excited as well to help out. If you have ability to host a Compassion Sunday in your group, I highly encourage it.

“Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”
- Proverbs 31:8

On this day…

• 2007: Of old friends and teaching — An old friend stopped by today. We haven’t really [...]
• 2007: Hamster — An old video we made in 2005 with Romulo’s hamster.
  [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNmpmGi-p1I]

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.