In preparation for 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 on April 28.

Local church pastors of more than 3,300 church partners are asking the Compassion-assisted children to join in this time of prayer. This marks the first time a coordinated day of prayer and fasting among Compassion Advocates, employees and Compassion-assisted children has been set aside. With more than 728,000 children participating in Compassion's program in 24 countries around the globe, this will be an extraordinary effort of people united in prayer.

Annually, Compassion dedicates a Sunday for its sponsors and church pastors in the United States to challenge their congregations with the needs of children in poverty around the world. 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. "Compassion Sunday provides Advocates with an opportunity to educate their churches 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, 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 pioneered a unique sponsorship program that helps meet these needs one child at a time. It costs only $32 a month to sponsor a child and provide them opportunities in 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 many different resources to host a Compassion Sunday event, including videos, bulletin inserts, sermon ideas and information on children currently waiting for sponsors. Churches can choose to host a Compassion Sunday event on a day other than April 30, if they prefer.

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. It has been recognized for its financial integrity with top ratings and recommendations by several of the nation's leading not-for-profit "watchdog" organizations. Recently, Compassion was recognized by Charity Navigator for its fifth consecutive four-star rating, putting it in the top 1 percent of 5,000 charities. For information about sponsoring a child, contact Compassion online at compassion.com/csplanning or call (800) 336-7535, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT.