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Children's Ministries Mission Statement
(Click here for Children's Ministries Overview)

Child evangelism and discipleship of children in The Gambia as part the developing world is our church main mandate. In The Gambia, needy children are at risk of not knowing Jesus. For this reason, we make a point of presenting the gospel to all the children and families in our programs despite the fact that Gambia as a nation is 90% Muslim population. As part of Christ’s ministry, we also clothe the children who need clothes, and teach those who need an education. It is all part of living the gospel and modeling the love of God.

It is a holistic approach which helps prevent a tragedy to satisfy human needs and fail to speak the life-changing words of Jesus. But we also have a responsibility as Christians to care for the poor among us (James 2:15-16). Providing for physical needs is a powerful way of modeling God's love.

The support for the people and their children is not the end “but a means to reach people with the message of Jesus. Since spiritual poverty is by far the greatest human need, we use child sponsorship as an effective strategy to communicate the gospel and feed people's spiritual hunger."

Working only through local churches in Gambia, as a church ,through prayer we release children from poverty by providing necessary physical, material and educational resources in a caring Christian environment. Christian teachers also share the love and gospel of Jesus with children daily. The church is based on, not simply speak the truth; but also apply ourselves to live the truth, ministering to the needy children of the world in Jesus' name. This means our work needs to be Christ centered. A Belief that God so loved this world that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for us that we may all have salvation. Following Jesus’ example, the church is dedicated to caring for the poor and giving hope to the hopeless by spreading the good news.

The church as Christ-centered Mission is established on biblical principles, for the love of all. We owe to fulfill the biblical mandate to bring and release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. This clear, consistent Christian identity is something we never seek to hide or compromise in any of our communications. Indeed, it is the main reason why many people choose to sponsor a child through us.

Every child attending our schools or child development center, that child is given the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ in a way that is culturally appropriate, without pressure or manipulation.

We want every child to see the reality of Jesus lived out through faith and action in the lives of each person involved in Mission schools and entities.
We believe that when children see themselves as Jesus sees them, when they realize their worth and identity in Christ, that they will flourish, grow and develop in all areas of their lives.

CHURCH-BASED    

We believe that the Church is God’s chosen instrument to transform a dying world. That’s why we pray extensively for all to work together in the church and with organizations to help support our church’s comprehensive child development model to children living in impossible poverty in The Gambia.
Though without the means , but we pray to evangelize equip, trains and provides resources to our local churches so that they may realize their vision of changing their communities for the better by helping the children they serve grow and reach their God-given potential.

Furthermore, the Mission in The Gambia engages its local Parish churches and Christian individuals in the communities to support those they serve in Christ and in and around their own communities. This will help us as a church to be become unfailing advocates for children in poverty — children who live in our own communities and else where in the world. This will also enhance development at our grassroots’ level, be done with integrity, efficiency and, most importantly, God’s love.

The local church provides much-needed continuity, stability and security to some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children. Indeed, our experience has shown that the church provides greater stability as an agent of continued development than do political, educational or judicial institutions in a community.

Often local church leaders are the most trusted individuals in the community. They can identify the children and families who are in the most need. With no regard to their faith or ethnic backgrounds, our local church partners identify these children and bring them to our schools in the various districts of The Gambia. . By the Holy Spirit’s direction, these local church leaders pray for the service provision of God to help these Poor but brilliant Children as the hands of God, offering solutions and resources. They see families transformed as they are drawn, without coercion, to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this way, Compassion-assisted child development centers become a powerful tool for evangelism.

WHAT IS YOUR ROLE FOR THESE “POOR BUT BRILLIANT CHILDREN”    

As a Christian, you have a biblical mandate to help the poor. Our strategic, must be efficient and life-affirming to live out the Great Commission of Jesus. As a church we pray the God’s support through his people for His ministry be translated into advocacy which in turns has a tremendous effect on eliminating poverty among children in The Gambia, so that those God use to support the children and His ministry have the satisfaction of knowing that their gift provides children with educational opportunities, health care, safe recreation, vocational training and the opportunity to hear the gospel. By this honest relation with God and His ministry those fulfilling the mandate of the scriptures will know that they are making a real difference by transforming the world for one child and his or her family.

The relationship between the child, family and the sponsor will surely grow bigger as the sponsor and child exchange photos, letters and prayers. It is this relationship that leads to spiritual growth as sponsors realize they are actually practicing “faith,” with “works.” This helps sponsorship deepens sponsors’ understanding of the realities of poverty and how best to overcome it. Many sponsors discover that the children they support have much to teach them about prayer, God’s faithfulness, and hope for the future.

HOW CAN WE REALIZE THE IMPACT OF THIS PROGRAM?    

As a church we are praying for partnership and co-operation with other Christ –Centered related organizations and individuals that share the visions based on the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ join us work together to provide a holistic child development program that meets the real-life needs of children living in poverty in The Gambia. This will help us break down the immense barriers children in poverty in The Gambia face by addressing the “whole child,” including spiritual, physical, economic and social aspects. Our objective like others in the same vision is to develop children in poverty so that they will become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults who will:

  • Be Christian in faith and deed;
  • Support themselves and share with others in need;
  • Be responsible members of their families, churches, communities, and nations; and
  • Maintain their physical well-being.

OUR IMPLEMENTATIONAL MEASURES    

These include equipping children in the following aspects:

SPIRITUAL — Through prayers and support received from other through the church, the church helps children regardless of their religious affiliation. But through the spiritual aspect of our program it is made abundantly clear that we are an evangelical Christian organization and each child will participate in Christian training. Each student in our schools is introduced to the gospel and encouraged to accept Christ as his or her Savior. Through regular worship time, devotions, Bible study and other activities, child development center staff teach children to live according to the principles of the Bible and encourage all children to assume responsibility within their local churches.

ECONOMIC — Our strategy in our battle against poverty is through education. Our schools work to ensure that each sponsored child receives age-appropriate and various learning opportunities to better their economic situation through a consistent monitoring school attendance, providing on-site after-school tutoring in reading and math skills or offering vocational training that translates into employment. The schools provide or give impoverished children a pathway out of poverty through educational opportunities.

SOCIAL — What we become is to some extent determined by how we relate to others. Often children in poverty who have been abused or exploited have no good experiences relating to other children or adults. That’s why our schools become a safe environment where children can develop critical social skills in a protected environment. Children participate in group or special learning activities that help young people to live in harmony, learn teamwork and support and encourage each other. The outcome is a child who is self-aware; exhibits self-control is self-motivated and committed to his or her community.

PHYSICAL — Children in The Gambia can go weeks, months even years without seeing a doctor or receiving medical care. We pray that God provide the means for our schools to have partnership with God’s people to provide Volunteers or support for the task with monitoring the health of each registered child as well as teaching children and their families’ preventive measures that allow the child to experience healthy development. In addition to monitoring their health, our school child workers to teach children about nutrition, offering them a healthy meal and teaching them how to prepare nutritious food. We pray for our children to be given the support for the opportunity to engage in school organized sports activities to encourage healthy physical development. With support, ministering to the “whole child” our child evangelism Ministry will provides children with the skills needed to succeed in life and to overcome poverty and hopelessness in this predominant Muslim but religious tolerant part of Africa.

As a church, we pray for partnership, to support sponsorship programs that will benefits the child and his or her entire family and the wider community. This will help reduce the often insurmountable financial burden families in poverty must contend with. Additional sponsor gifts — 100 percent of which go to directly benefit children — are often used to buy items that benefit the entire family.
But in doing this, with our God giving partners we will also encourage to engage communities, encouraging them to take responsibility for their children. Community groups, parents associations and church leaders are all involved collectively in the development and ongoing management of the sponsorship program.

Every community is encouraged to use its individual skills and resources to benefit the children attending the local school, as the Mission school. Centers also transform communities by creating employment opportunities and stimulating increased church growth and activity. Many children graduate from the sponsorship program and pursue higher education. They then return to their communities as trained teachers, and other leaders of tomorrow.

INTEGRITY

As a church we take stewardship seriously, not only in our finances, in our school but also in our children ministering delivery. More than 80 percent of all our expenditures go to program activities for the children we serve. We conduct annual financial audits to show exactly how income is used and regular audits of each of our Mission area offices. In addition, we conduct sponsorship program audits to evaluate the effectiveness of sponsorship entrusted in our care for the poor in the lives of the children we serve.
As a church, we bear the light to Christian morals and integrity in our work. We will never engage in bribery with corrupt local officials in the areas where we work. We also reject the practice of “double sponsorship,” where more than one sponsor is led to believe he or she is the only sponsor of a given child. When communicating the needs of children, we place great importance on preserving their dignity. We refuse to engage in “the pornography of poverty.” While we believe in being honest about the challenges that children face, we always seek to portray them in ways that show hope and the promise of a positive future.
By keeping accountability and integrity at the forefront of Compassion’s ministry, we make the most of the sponsorship money and gifts that we receive.


CHALLENGES

The challenges facing our Ministry is leadership training that involves educating, training and descipling servant leaders:

We need partnership to support this aspect of our ministry which will help us train people with their lives vastly improved. Among them are a number of young leaders who aspire to continue their education and training in order to become agents of change for their communities and nations, yet they lack the resources.

Our Leadership Development Program identifies outstanding students and provides them with an opportunity to attend university, receive Christian leadership training to develop their intrinsic leadership skills. Each student is selected according to strict criteria including proven academic achievement, Christian commitment, demonstrated leadership skills and a willingness to serve .

    

 

 



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