Child sponsorships change lives.
They make a difference in the life of a child and have ripple effects in their family and community. But the impact doesn’t stop there.
It’s so much more than giving up a few dollars you could spend on coffee or a movie during the week. It’s about giving generously to change someone else’s life—and in the meantime, realizing your life, too, is changing in the process.
Benefits of Sponsoring a Child
Sponsorship isn’t just financial support. By sponsoring a child, you can make a long-term impact in life-changing ways, empowering them as they learn, grow, and dream. A child receives education, nutritious food, medical attention, and support in a community where many of these resources are limited or nonexistent.
Life-changing education
Education can change the course of a child’s life, moving them beyond the poverty that can feel overwhelming and inescapable. Child sponsorship allows a child to receive an affordable, high-quality education in areas where their options are either significantly limited or incredibly expensive. Without the investment of sponsors, many of these children wouldn’t have the opportunity to receive a quality education, participate in extracurricular activities, or develop practical life skills.
But the impact of education doesn’t stop with one child. It extends to their families and their communities as they develop the skills to support their loved ones and achieve their dreams.
Physical needs met
A sponsorship also invests in a child’s health, from nutritious meals and medical attention to mental and emotional needs. Being whole means being healthy. Children deserve an opportunity to grow and receive the medical attention they need to thrive, regardless of their economic situation. Sponsorships allow teams and ministries in disadvantaged communities to offer the care that might not be available without this support.
Someone to cheer them on!
Think of a time you had someone supporting you and cheering you on! It can make a huge difference, whether you’re running a marathon or learning a new skill. The same is true for life. While there is obvious value in providing physical and mental support to a child, it can also change their life when they have someone who cheers them on, wanting them to grow and succeed—and believing they can!
The life-changing message of the gospel
By sponsoring a child, you also invest in them hearing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Education alone cannot bring true restoration to a broken community. Medical attention cannot save a lost soul. Only Jesus can. Sponsorship gives these children a chance to find true hope in Jesus and learn about the love of a Father who will never leave them.
Transformation in Your Own Family
It’s easy to focus on the impact sponsorships make on the child you sponsor, their family, and the community.
But the impact goes far beyond that. This type of generosity not only changes lives in other countries, but it can change lives in your own family and your own backyard.
A sponsorship is a simple act that can rework the priorities for your family. It’s easy to make so many good things in life into “ultimate things” and forget about what’s most important, especially in a culture that focuses on instant gratification and what benefits us. Child sponsorship is a tool to not only change a child’s life but reinforce the values you want to instill in your family.
Sponsorship puts a face and name to poverty.
As humans, we relate to stories, not statistics. It’s easy to tell your kids that there are other children around the world who struggle to have enough to eat. It’s something different to talk about it in the context of a child your family has a relationship with and supports financially. It broadens the view your family has of the world and can be an effective tool to help understand the struggles people in other countries face.
Sponsoring a child gives your family a chance to connect to poverty and feel the weight of it because of the relationship you all have with a child you sponsor.
It starts conversations about gratitude and generosity.
Often the biggest lessons we teach our children are the ones we model for them, rather than tell them. By modeling what generosity looks like for your kids and allowing them to participate in that generosity firsthand, it’s more likely that the lesson takes root in their minds and hearts.
The same is true for gratitude. Having consistent conversations about your sponsored child, their life, and challenges allow your family the opportunity to be grateful for the blessings that you have in your life.
Displays where your treasure truly is.
Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Scripture makes it clear that our treasures are a reflection of what’s in our hearts. By modeling that you and your family value investing in other people and supporting them, it allows you to see where your treasure is. Do you spend your time and energy investing in things that are temporary? Or are you working as a family to make a lasting impact on the world for Christ?
Write letters and build a relationship.
Child sponsorship isn’t just about lessons you can learn or lives you can change in a far-off place. It’s about building relationships. That’s what’s amazing about this opportunity. It brings your family together to build a relationship and see God work in someone else’s life. Take advantage of that and make the relationship a priority. Come together as a family once a month and write a letter to your sponsored child.
- Ask them what they're learning in school
- Tell them about the members of your family
- Ask what activities they enjoy
- Talk about your relationship with Jesus.
These letters are a great way to “show up” for your sponsored child. It’s a simple investment in the relationship that reinforces that they are loved and valuable and encourages their growth.
The Life-Changing Impact of Child Sponsorship
Lives are changed when we imitate Christ and put the needs of others ahead of our own. Psalm 40:17 says, “As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me.” When we were needy and broken, God remembered us and provided for us. What better way to show our gratitude than to do the same for others?
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