Invitation to Participate in God’s Mission by Sponsoring Children in Need Through Compassion Canada

Invitation to Participate in God’s Mission by Sponsoring Children in Need Through Compassion Canada

Last week we had Compassion Sunday. Allison Alley, Compassion Canada’s President/CEO shared her story of saying ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to work at Compassion Canada through which she gets to take part in God’s mission of releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. 

Thank you to those of you who said, ‘yes,’ to sponsor a child last week. For those of you who missed the chance to sponsor a child last week, we will have two more Sundays when you can choose to make a difference in children’s lives, their families and their communities. 

I am mindful of the financial strain on many of us at New Hope. We are stressed financially due to inflation, high interest/mortgage rate, high grocery bills, high living costs in our city, etc. And in the midst of it all, so many of you have been generous in your regular giving, and even in special offerings like the Turkey-Syria relief fund. I am also aware that many of you are already committed to other charities and organizations. As a pastor of New Hope, I am so grateful for your generosity and faithful giving.

Now for those of you who were moved or stirred up by Compassion Sunday and gave, I want to affirm that your contribution will be used well to change lives for God’s glory. And for those of you who had the desire but were hesitant to sponsor a child, I want to share why we should consider sponsoring children for the first time or for the seventh time. What motivates us to give when there are other ways to spend our money on other things? I see at least three: the gospel, the need and the opportunity.

1. The gospel

People who know the gospel are generous because they have experienced the generosity of God. We don’t give our leftovers to God and his kingdom causes; we give our first fruits and we give even when we may be financially strained. It’s seen in the response of the Macedonian churches who went out of their way “beyond their means” and “urgently pleaded for the privilege of sharing” their resources with those in need (2 Cor 8:4). No one forced them to give; Paul did not twist their arms to give. They themselves initiated on their own to give. And they did so, not because they had a lot of left-over to give away; in fact, they themselves were in “extreme poverty,” and yet they gave with overflowing joy and in rich generosity” (8:2). 

How was that possible? How could they be so generous when they themselves were living in poverty? 2 Cor 8:9 gives the answer: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” What fueled their extravagant generosity was their experience of the extravagant generosity of God. That’s the gospel logic: we give in response to how God gave us. All of our giving is a response to the gospel of Jesus Christ who gave himself up for us, so that we may have life and life in abundance. 

So, if we give anything, we don’t give out of guilt or compulsion. We give out of joy and gratitude. Cheerfulness should mark our giving since our giving is fueled by the gospel grace.

2. The need

In partnership with Compassion Canada, our church has chosen to focus on the nation of Bolivia since 2020. Bolivia is a country with many needs. For instance, nearly 25% of the people in rural areas of Bolivia have no access to clean and safe water. There is a great need in Bolivia, even just in this area of clean water. When it comes to children in need, there are almost 12,000 children unsponsored, meaning they are 12,000 children living in physical, spiritual and social poverty. After the pandemic, the need is greater than ever before to connect children with sponsors.

Because of the great need there, we share little of what we have here. Paul says in 2 Cor 8:13-14 “For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness, your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness.” The children in Bolivia do not have much. They are in need. Many of us live in abundance. Many of us have been given much. Yes, we have our own struggles and challenges, but the struggles and challenges that children in Bolivia are facing are not only dire but something that we can do something about individually and also together as a church family. 

Jesus says in Luke 12:48, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” We cannot meet every need in the world or solve the global food crisis overnight, but we can do something to make a difference. And we as a church have been given this great opportunity to partner with Compassion to make a difference in the children and the future of Bolivia. 

3. The Opportunity: 

Sharing what we have with those in need through Compassion provides us with many opportunities.

First, it’s an opportunity to honour God. Proverbs 14:31 says “Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honours him.” By being generous to the needy, we are not just helping the needy, but in doing so we are ultimately honouring God.

Second, it’s an opportunity to exercise our faith. James 2:14-17 says the following: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Giving to the needy is an opportunity to exercise our faith. 

Third, it’s an opportunity to lay up for ourselves "treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break and steal” (Matthew 6:20). We will be judged according to our works (Revelation 20:12-13; 2 Cor 5:10; 1 Peter 1:17). We will give an account to God about how we have spent our time, money and resources in this life. Giving to the needy is an investment into your eternal account as it says in Phil 4:17: “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account.” 

Lastly, it’s an opportunity to make a difference in children’s lives and through them in the nation of Bolivia. Jesus’s great commission in Matthew 28:19 calls us to “go and make disciples of all nations.” How do we go and make disciples of all nations? One of the ways we can do so as a church is to partner with Compassion to disciple children in Bolivia. Children of Bolivia who meet Jesus and are discipled through Compassion will be transformed and in turn, they will transform the communities around them in that country. 

So we have three motivations to participate in God’s mission by sponsoring children in Bolivia: the gospel, the need, and the opportunity. For $47 per month, you can give a child what they need to overcome poverty in all its forms. We can spend that money on a meal with a friend, or something else. I believe sponsoring a child is worth every penny now and into eternity.