Nazarene churches are invited to participate in the inaugural Child Sponsorship Sunday on Sunday, June 14. Through this event, individuals who currently sponsor children through the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Child Sponsorship program will have a chance to share about child sponsorship with their local congregation.

The theme of the event is "Be a Part of the Story," a concept centered around the idea that sponsors can help children living in poverty to change their stories. Churches are also invited to schedule the event on alternate dates if this Sunday is unavailable.

Local congregations around the world partner with Nazarene Compassionate Ministries to meet the spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, and relational needs of children living in poverty. The holistic child development model also incorporates family and community, working to equip them to provide safe, nurturing environments for their children.

Through the Child Sponsorship program, children are able to attend church-led child development centers, where they receive education and tutoring, supplemental nutrition, hygiene education, counseling and support, play-based social development, Bible-based teaching, and spiritual nurturing.

Through the program, children gain skills and opportunities to interrupt the cycle of poverty they were born into, learn about and experience God’s love, and grow into the people God created them to be.

A recent study of more than 1,380 children in Bolivia, India, Indonesia, and Kenya showed that children who were a part of a child sponsorship program experienced higher levels of self-esteem as well as educational and occupational aspirations. They were also more likely to become community and church leaders as they grew up.

Child Sponsorship Sunday is a day set aside for churches to advocate on behalf of children in need. Through child sponsorship, children gain the opportunity to change their stories from those of poverty to those of possibility.

Currently, 12,000 children worldwide are being sponsored through the NCM Child Sponsorship program, but thousands more are on the waiting list.

For more information and church resources, visit ncm.org/sunday.

--Nazarene Compassionate Ministries