The Ferrer family recently started sponsoring two children from Christ’s Hope, a little girl for their daughter and a little boy for their son.
“Earlier this year, the Lord stirred a desire in me to cultivate in our family a heart for the nations and the global Church. It’s so easy to insulate ourselves into a Christian bubble and I began to realize that my kids’ understanding of the body of Christ was limited to the fellowship of local believers that we are a part of here in our community. I wanted them to understand how much bigger God’s family is than that, and I also wanted them to understand how blessed they are to grow up in godly community, with a healthy father and mother, and with abundant food, clothing, shelter, and education.
“So, we began to have conversations with our kids about the global body of Christ. I soon realized how beneficial it would be to put a “face” to these conversations and ideas, so I began to research Gospel-centered child sponsorship programs. We landed on Christ’s Hope because it encourages close relationships and correspondence with the sponsor children, because it is a smaller organization than some of the other options out there (we specifically wanted to sow into a mid-scale ministry rather than a huge one), and because its mission is to give children not just “hope”, but Christ’s Hope, the living Hope that comes only from knowing Jesus.
I showed my kids the Christ’s Hope website and explained how the sponsorship model works. I then asked them to go to a quiet place and spend a few moments praying, asking God to lead them to the child He wanted them to sponsor. We sat together and scrolled through the list of children needing sponsors. Lila chose Joy, saying ‘because I don’t have a little sister, so she can be like my little sister.’ Josiah chose Tyron because ‘he’s 4 like me.’ We printed out Joy and Tyron’s photos, and they now live on our fridge 🙂
“Without being reminded Lila and Josiah both, pray for their sponsored children regularly, before meals, at bedtime, throughout the day. My son often prays, ‘God, please help Joy’s daddy know You.’ It has opened a whole new opportunity for learning about what life is like for children who don’t have the same privileges as they do. Questions like, ‘Mama, what does Joy eat for breakfast?’ are a great lead-in to talking about how many children don’t have enough food to eat, and Jesus cares about that, which is why Christ’s Hope doesn’t just feed Joy and Tyron with the Truth about Jesus, they feed their bodies with good food too!
“We are so thankful for Christ’s Hope and the many ways that our family has been blessed through our sponsorships just in the few months since they began. We’re looking forward to building these relationships for years to come!”
We would encourage you to sponsor a child for your own child to build a relationship with. Give your child someone to pray for and care for in hopes that your child and your sponsor child will grow up encouraging one another Godward.
