John Templeton, the youth minister at Dwight Baptist Church, Gadsden, is always looking for ways to help the kids in his youth group be exposed to missions opportunities. So when the youth group was at Student Life camp at Samford University in Birmingham in 2014 and became interested in sponsoring two children through Compassion International, Templeton was excited.
“This is a way for us to have a global missions outreach,” he said. “We have local missions here, and we kind of saw this one as a way to be able to minister to someone overseas and share God’s love with them.”
The youth group chose to adopt both a boy (Amza) from Africa and a girl (Jossaira) from Central America. Members of the youth group bring in money regularly to send their monthly sponsorship fees to Compassion International. Amza and Jossaira exchange letters regularly with their sponsors in the youth group (with the help of translators) and share pictures they’ve drawn as well as details about their lives, like what they’re studying in school.
“Both children write about liking to go to Bible study too, so if they’re not Christians yet, seeds are being planted for them there,” Templeton said.
Templeton said he’s enjoyed watching the students in his youth group gain firsthand exposure to the reality of the way the sponsored kids live.
‘More thankful’
“They read about these kids and they think, ‘Wow. I may not have a new cell phone, but these kids don’t even know what cell phones are,’” he said. “It helps them be more thankful for what they have.”
Carolyn Oakes, who’s been a volunteer with the youth group for many years, has enjoyed watching the group members sponsor Amza and Jossaira, particularly because Compassion is an organization close to her heart.
When Hannah Oakes, Carolyn Oakes’ daughter, was just 6 she felt called to sponsor a child through Compassion. Fast forward a decade and that sponsorship is still going strong.
“Hannah and Miaya, who lives in Indonesia and is now 14, have grown up together,” Carolyn Oakes said. “At first they were coloring pictures to send to each other, and now they write letters. I’ve always tried to teach my children that there are always people less fortunate than us, and that was always her way of contributing.”
Carolyn Oakes noted that since the Compassion sponsorship through the youth group began the members have seemed closer to one another.
“For a while we had some walls built up within our youth group, and now we get into small groups and discuss the kids we sponsor,” she said. “It gives them something to have a conversation about and is something they all have in common. They’re all working toward the goal of helping to better another child’s life.”
Hannah Oakes is now a member of the youth group as well, so the adoption of Amza and Jossaira was particularly special for her to be a part of.
Keeping sponsors informed
Both Templeton and Carolyn Oakes talked about their appreciation for Compassion’s intentionality in helping sponsors know what the kids they’re sponsoring are up to.
“I like Compassion International because they keep you informed,” Carolyn Oakes said. “You don’t just send your money and that’s the end of it. To us it’s not a monthly bill or something.”
As for Hannah Oakes, she said her favorite things about being a sponsor are “showing love to those who have less than I do, and the joy I receive when I see a big smile from Miaya.”
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