One Step at a Time

Derek, our minister, shares some thoughts about his trip to Kenya with Compassion.

‘If we all kept the step outside our front door clean, the world would be a cleaner place.’

That was the answer from a former sponsored child, who is now working to improve the lives of people in his neighbourhood and community, when he was asked to answer the cynic’s question: ‘What difference can sponsoring one child make?’. In so answering, he echoed the aim of Compassion to ‘change the world one child at a time’.

Compassion is a leading children’s charity. At their heart is a relentless passion to empower every child left vulnerable by poverty. They focus on the physical, spiritual, socio-emotional and economic areas of a child’s life. Their mission is to release children from poverty, in Jesus’ name - primarily through a Child Survival Programme, sponsorship and a Respond Ministry (for emergency need). The organisation is Christ-centred, child-focused and church-based.

Catriona and I joined a vision trip with other church leaders to see what Compassion are doing on the ground in and around Nairobi, Kenya. Kenya is a country of 40 million people on the central east coast of Africa, and its capital, Nairobi, contains some of the most poverty-stricken urban areas on the continent.

Everywhere we went, we were met by people who were polite, cheerful and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. That was humbling, especially when we visited some of the poorest ‘houses’ (a corrugated iron room with a bed separated by an old curtain or polythene sheet) in the shanty town districts. We were welcomed with gentle and warm greetings, and the only awkwardness seemed to come from us, who felt uneasy knowing the luxury and opulence of our lives back home, in comparison to what we were witnessing. The level of poverty was harrowing, but the beauty of the people, and the level of faith in Christ that many of them had - despite their circumstances - was profoundly paradoxical and challenging.

Then there was the children singing. Every project and school we visited, we were welcomed and serenaded with song - and dance. They giggled and smiled as the group of gawky Westerners tried to get with the rhythm, but there was no cynical mockery, only an instinctive recognition that God gave them something uniquely African, that their white visitors could only marvel at.

We were very impressed by Compassion as an organisation. We loved that they partnered with local churches who run projects in the poorest and most deprived areas around Nairobi. It is not ‘band aid’ charity, nor does it pretend to be the solution. But Compassion are developmental; they do see children growing up with the support and love that can make a difference, and they do see young men and women who have come through the Compassion sponsorship programme passionate to invest in their families and communities - educated, healthy and often with a living faith and love for Christ.

In the Free Church, we believe that mission through the local church is God’s primary way of building His Kingdom - in Scotland, or anywhere in the world. Compassion agrees. We also recognise the injustice of poverty but often feel paralysed by the vastness of the problem - what difference can we make? Well, let’s change the world one child at a time as a starting point - that’s a memorable strapline. Most effectively, individuals in churches can develop relationally-based financial support with the poorest children; pray for them, write to them and offer them friendship, in Jesus name. It will not only impact one child, but potentially a whole family and community - and who knows what God’s plan for that child will be.

One step at a time.

For details of how to sponsor a child visit www.compassionuk.org.