Compassion Sunday - Part 1

my little Compassion advocates wearing their skirts from Peru

There is so much I want to say about this year's Compassion Sunday.... please bear with me because there are some amazing gifts from God in this story.

First of all...PRAISE GOD for the amazing church family we have. I have been an advocate for 19 years and never have I come close to having the support that I have here at Harvest Christian Church. Not only were we allowed to hold Compassion Sunday at our church, we were entrusted with the entire service.

Kevin led worship (it was great!)...our friend did communion (also great)...then Kevin shared about our trip to Thailand and preached (great barely describes it).

Let's back up a bit...our first day in Thailand we met Orm, our sponsored child. She was painfully shy and we were a bit disappointed BUT.... at the end of the day she was able to come out to the Eubank's home and Dave (our missionary friend) was able to present the gospel to her in Thai. When we said goodbye to Orm we thought our "Compassion" time was done. Four days later we spent the night at a church on the Thailand/Burma border...when we woke up we realized this church was a Compassion project.

I had been trying to figure out a way for our family to visit a Compassion project - I really wanted the girls to see what Compassion does. Seeing it with your own eyes is so different than hearing about it. Sydney is the one who first saw the Compassion sign so she gets the credit for making the discovery!

We didn't get to see the project in action, but we did get to see evidence of Compassion's influence all around. When I scheduled this year's Compassion Sunday presentation and ordered materials, I asked Compassion if there were children available for sponsorship from this particular project. They sent me 10 child packets from the very project we visited. I should also note that this project is located right on the border of Thailand and Burma - ministering to the same people FBR is helping. They do very different things - Compassion is about child development and FBR is about immediate relief from oppression - but it's the same people - the people of the Karen tribe who have had to flee their homes and run to safety.

Our VBS is quickly approaching and there was a big VBS display where I normally set up my Compassion table. We still have the "raise the roof" building campaign display up, so I simply converted it into a Compassion display and it was perfect. I hung the packets of the children from Thailand at this display.

We also received 10 other child packets from other countries and I made a "continent" display in the hallway for those child packets. (It's hard to get good photos in a narrow hallway).

Back to the service...

Kevin talked about our trip and showed slides, then moved into his message. He shared the why of these kinds of trips. In years past he's gone on several medical mission trips and he's pretty much done with that. They aren't all that effective and in a way it more about Christian tourism than helping the local people in a sustainable way.

We've had a desire to not make our own kids our "mission", but to include our kids in world missions. This trip was a way to see the world, the need and serve together. It also keeps our hearts soft to what's going on in the world. It's way too easy and far too tempting to follow and pursue the American Dream...we need to keep our eyes open and our hearts soft. This was the main part of Kevin's message to our church...not to avoid talking with others who are involved in things out of fear or guilt, but to run to these things like a firefighter to a fire.

Even if we can't or don't want to support these particular missions in a financial way, we can support our brothers and sisters in Christ by hearing what they are doing - by listening to them - by asking them to tell you more.

We can't support every mission we hear about - there are many, many good ones out there. But we need to find one that resonates with us and excites us in a way we can stand behind and support. For our family, this is Compassion (and FBR and Rancho de los Ninos and TAM).

I love it when people ask me about Compassion and sincerely care about what I have to say. I used to get nervous about saying everything just right and discouraged when conversations didn't result in sponsorship, but now I am thankful for the opportunity to share. I don't need to convince people to sponsor, just like I don't need to convince every person I meet to play the violin or homeschool their kids. We can't and shouldn't all do the same things.

I have more to share about the evening event, but I'll do that in another post....