On a war-torn Korean street in 1952, God moved Everett Swanson with compassion. Watching city workers scoop up what looked like piles of rags and throw them into the back of a truck, he walked over to take a closer look. Swanson was deeply troubled to see that the “piles” were not rags, but frozen bodies of orphans who had died overnight in the street.
On the airplane home, Swanson heard a simple message resounding in his head. As the engines whirred, he heard the challenge, “What are you going to do? What are you going to do?” over and over again.”
By the time his plane landed, Swanson had made a decision: God had moved him with compassion so he needed to take action.
See more at: compassionuk.org
Today Compassion is an international Christian child development and child advocacy ministry working in 25 countries and where two million children have been released from poverty by one man’s clear, God given ministry.
A few years ago, St. Luke’s decided to help with the Compassion project in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and now more than 50 children are sponsored by church members, who contribute £28 per month to assist each child.
Jesus Christ is at the heart of Compassion’s ministry. Each of the sponsored children is given the opportunity to learn about Jesus and to develop a lifelong relationship with God for themselves. This good news is modelled and shared in age-appropriate and culturally relevant ways – never by coercion.
Compassion’s ministry is focused on the individual child and his or her development. By working holistically with individual children to address their spiritual, economic, social and physical needs, we present every child with an opportunity to become fulfilled Christian adults.
What happens in the life of a child ripples throughout their environment now and in the future. We believe that changed environments may assist children, but transformed children will inevitably change their environments.
For details of the child sponsorship programme, go to www.compassionuk.org or speak with one of the Leadership Team at St. Luke’s.