How 500+ Compassion Grads Said Their Sponsors Helped Them

What does releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name actually look like?

Maybe you think of the medical attention a sponsored child receives. Or their education and the doors it opens for their future.

Earlier this year, Compassion’s Global Insights team researched what Compassion graduates valued most from their sponsors, what stuck with them and what continues to bless them years later.

After surveying 514 graduates from six countries across the globe, here’s what we found.

Letters show them the love of Jesus firsthand.

That’s right — letters witness the love of Christ right to a child’s heart. Program graduates couldn’t say enough good things about their correspondence with sponsors: 94% said that letters were important to them.

But what’s more interesting is why those letters were important — because they helped children grow deeper relationships with Christ. Of the Compassion alumni surveyed,

• 89% agree that their correspondence with their sponsor motivated them to deepen their relationship with Jesus.
• 90% agree that their correspondence with their sponsor motivated them to be hopeful.
• 87% agree that their correspondence with their sponsor made them more joyful.

In the words of one alumni,

“I remember very well that every time we received a letter from our [sponsors], we all [felt like we were] in the clouds. Today when I remember this stage, it fills me with joy and makes me feel very blessed, since even when there were few letters, when I received each of them I felt loved and fully trusted that there was a family that prayed for my life, my family and my future.”

Every time you write a letter to a child you sponsor, you’re sending a simple but powerful message — that they are loved by someone they’ve never met in person. And that knowledge can open the door for them to realize that there’s a God who, while they can’t see him, loves them too.

Sponsors help introduce children to a safe Christian community where they learn to love God.

When you sponsor a child, education and medicine don’t magically appear on their doorstep. They come from the local church.

Compassion partners with local churches to set up programs for sponsored children. Sponsorship is what keeps those programs up and running.

But these programs do so much more than just give lifesaving medical care or teach ABCs or offer college prep.

Above all, program graduates are grateful that they were given a safe community in which they learned about the gospel.

Just hear what one survey respondent said:

“It feel[s] like a second home. Because since I can remember, there was a center that has always been looking after us ...The center cultivates us to know God.”

Almost every response said the same thing: Sponsorship introduces them to a haven where they learn, grow and encounter God’s love through the kindness of the pastors, tutors and mentors at the center.

And for many sponsored children, this isn’t a bonus feature they get in addition to education and medical care — it’s the main attraction. Eighty-eight percent of Compassion alumni surveyed report that the spiritual teaching and activities made them want to attend the Compassion center more frequently. That response is much higher than those who said they wanted to attend because of the education, their peers or medical care.

Physical needs are important — God designed us with bodies and with minds that require care and attention. But sponsorship gives so much more than just physical care. It can offer the spiritual healing and hope that children in poverty long for from the bottom of their hearts.

Sponsor letters inspire them to set — and achieve — goals they wouldn’t have thought possible.

For Compassion grads, spiritual growth goes hand-in-hand with personal growth. Alumni reported that their correspondence with sponsors gave them the tools they needed to

• Take responsibility for their choices.
• Pursue further education.
• Advance their career.
• Give back to their communities.

In short, sponsorship gave them what they needed to break free from poverty. According to one grad, “Those encouraging words really make a difference in our lives. I [had] an experience of hearing how someone is really proud of me, whatever I do, and pursuing [my dreams].”

What you get when you add all these results together is that sponsorship is powerful. It demonstrates the love of Christ through thoughtful letters. It introduces them to a loving community that they love and value and cherish. And it gives them the tools they need to build better futures and bless others with their talents and generosity.

In other words, your sponsorship releases children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

If there’s one thing you take away from all these statistics and numbers, let it be this: Your generosity does more than meet physical needs. It actively blesses a local church with the resources they need to help transform your sponsored child’s life with the gospel. And when a sponsored child leaves the program, they’re far more likely to know the love of God and live free from poverty than they would have been if you had stayed on the sidelines.

So for those of you currently sponsoring, thank you. Thank you for choosing to step in and help share the love of Christ with your sponsored child. Remember that you can bless the child you sponsor with a letter at any time. They’ll appreciate hearing from you!

And if the Lord is moving you to join the thousands of donors making an impact, you can find a child in extreme poverty to sponsor here. Simply choose the child you wish to sponsor and enter your payment info. And just like that, you’ll bless a child with the life-changing resources they need to find wholeness in Christ.