Children around globe pray for ministry

[Shammu]

Children around globe pray for ministry
Compassion International beneficiaries join employees to petition God
Posted: April 26, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jeremy Reynalds
© 2006 Assist News Service

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – In preparation for child development organization Compassion International's annual Compassion Sunday event, thousands of children around the world are joining child advocates in the United States and employees worldwide for a day of prayer and fasting Friday.

Local church pastors of more than 3,300 church partners are asking the Compassion-assisted children to join in this time of prayer.

According to a news release from Compassion, this marks the first time for a coordinated day of prayer and fasting among Compassion Advocates, employees and Compassion-assisted children. There will be more than 728,000 children participating in Compassion's program in 24 countries around the globe.

Compassion dedicates one Sunday a year for its sponsors and church pastors in the United States to challenge their congregations with the needs of poverty-stricken children worldwide. This event presents an opportunity to get involved with Compassion's ministry and sponsor an impoverished child. The goal this year is 21,000 new child sponsorships.

"Compassion is fortunate to have a team of more than 1,000 advocates in the United States who speak out on behalf of children," said Regina Hopewell, director of Compassion's Advocacy Network, in a news release. "Compassion Sunday provides each advocate with an opportunity to educate their church about the challenges children face living in poverty, and invite them to make a difference in the life of a child. And this effort always starts with prayer. Together we can make our voice heard on behalf of these little ones in need."

According to UNICEF, the Compassion news release stated, 1 billion of the 2.2 billion children on the planet live in poverty, often lacking adequate food, shelter, water and health care. Compassion, working with local churches, has a sponsorship program that helps meet these needs one child at a time. It costs $32 a month to sponsor a child and teach him or her about education, health care, nutrition and life skills, as well as an opportunity to learn about Jesus. Taking this message to the church is the emphasis of Compassion Sunday.

Compassion provides churches with a variety of resources to successfully host a Compassion Sunday event, including videos, bulletin inserts, sermon ideas and information on children currently waiting for sponsors. Churches can also choose to host a Compassion Sunday event on a day other than April 30, the news release stated.

Compassion International is one of the world's largest Christian child development organizations, working with more than 65 denominations and thousands of indigenous church partners in Africa, Asia, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

Since 1952, Compassion has touched the lives of more than 1 million children.