Compassion Sunday

Well, hello, everyone. It's nice to be here.

Good afternoon. I think it is now.

And yeah, I've not come too far. I'm Bradford.

So glamorous, isn't it? The places we're getting, the

places we're from. But yeah, my name is Bethan.

And I am married to Mark. We've been married for it was

actually just 24 years and we both forgot our anniversary,

which was brilliant. It's always too soon after

Christmas. But we have two kids, so we

have, I have Sienna and she's 13 and Jonah just turned 16.

So pray for us because we have teenagers, but by the grace of

God they're doing good. And so that's us, that's our

family. And I've grown up in church,

it's all I've ever known. And my husband, I met him at

Hillsong Church actually in Sydney in 1999.

And so he's a worship leader, and so I'll leave the singing to

him. And yeah.

So that's me in a nutshell. That's us in a nutshell.

But yeah, really great to be with you today.

And I've been with Compassion. I've been working alongside

Compassion. Me and my husband have sponsored

children for, oh, gosh, over 20 years.

But I started working with Compassion.

It'll be going on six years. And they're amazing.

They're amazing. It's very much a ministry, yes,

we're charity, an organisation, but very much a ministry and

very incredible to work alongside.

So it's a privilege to be here and talk about compassion.

And I know that compassion is already close to the heart of

the church and so that's fantastic.

But yeah, you're doing amazing work here already with

compassion. And let me just ask, is there

anyone here who is maybe not familiar with compassion?

Put a hand up for me if you're not great.

So I will explain anyway, all about who compassion are and

what we do. But we're child development

ministry and we exist to release children who are living in

extreme poverty in Jesus name. And that's really important in

Jesus name. And so we're a global community

of Christians who see the devastating reality of poverty

and choose to respond as Jesus word.

Amen. So at the heart of Compassion's

ministry are three core pillars and we are very much Christ

centred. Jesus is our model and we move

with compassion because he did. And everything we do is rooted

in Christ. Our desire is to introduce

children to the hope, the identity and the transformation

that is found in Christ. And we are child focused.

Poverty is not part of God's plan, is it?

It leaves scars that last a lifetime.

And so we believe very much in early intervention.

That's everything that compassion's ministry is about.

We're nurturing the child in their mind, in their body, in

their spirit. So the whole child, this is

holistic care. And as we know, children are

very close to the heart of God. If you want to know what he

cares about, one of the ways in which you know that is by

looking at the children. So how do we solve a problem

like poverty? You begin with a child and you

begin to rewrite their story. And we are very much church

driven. We love the local church and

currently partner with over 9000 churches across the world,

across the developing world. And every compassion project is

based out of a church. And so the local church knows

it's community best, just as we would do here.

And so the local church would know it's community's struggles,

it's community's strengths and is therefore placed do bring

lasting change in their communities through

relationships and local solutions.

And so that's how we work through the local church in the

developing world and the projects that are coming out of

the local church. They provide education,

healthcare, nourishment, life skills and support for building

healthy relationships, which is so important.

Basically, we say to the church out in the developing world that

we partner with. We say you take the lead and we

will come alongside you, we will partner with you.

You don't always see children running around in Compassion

T-shirts because it's about us championing the local church and

what they are already doing in their community.

So yeah, we work across 29 different countries in different

parts of Africa, Asia, Central and South America.

And this is all done through a 1 to 1 sponsorship model.

And so a child from a desperately called background is

linked with a loving sponsor from a local church, which

brings me here today as well. It's part of what brings me

here. Let me show you actually a

couple of pictures. So if you show a picture for me

of the projects, it says picture 1 and picture 2.

And so if you want to put one of the photographs up, there you

go. That's one picture.

So that's just gives you an example of what the projects

look like. So that's outside one of the

local churches, and I think that one is Zambia.

That's in Zambia. And then if you want to show the

other picture, there you go. That's a good one.

That's a really nice example of a local church out in the

developing world. And there's the children from

the project, which is fantastic, that is in Malawi, I think in

Southeast Africa. And actually we didn't have

these pictures until more recently.

And I was like, I must use them because it helps.

It helps, doesn't it, to be able to see the context that I'm

talking about. And so I will be giving you the

opportunity to sponsor a child today, by the way, guys.

So heads up on that. And I have children with me

today what we call child profiles.

But Christchurch currently have a project that I'm aware of

based out of City of Grace Church in Ho in Ghana.

I actually go to Ghana on Sunday.

This, I'll be on a plane this, I'm not going to the specific

project that you guys sponsor in, but I'll be seeing the

projects out there. So I'm really excited about

that. And but the project that you

guys support led by Michael and Mabel Arcotia and Christ

Central's Apostolic team, it's amazing.

And actually I have a clip specifically of that project.

So we have a little media clip of the kids at Christmas in the

project that a lot of the Christ Central church is sponsoring.

Here we go. Go ahead.

None. Love that.

That's fine. You can stop it there.

I love that. How fantastic is that?

I actually asked our team, I said is there anything I can

like show of the projects? And there's actually we have a

clip from Christmas. So that was just lovely.

And it's again, it's great to see the projects and obviously

the children who are part of the projects, they're having so much

fun. But yeah, so over 205 children

have actually been registered so far at this specific project in

HO. And these children are, they're

not actually just sponsored by Christ Central churches, but

they're also sponsored by lots of different people individually

around the world as well. But Christ Central have a lot of

children in that specific project, but there was two

children left available for sponsorship in the HO project,

which I have with me today. But I also have other children

with me who need a sponsor, which I spoke to Ben is like, of

course, absolutely. And they, they live in all

different corners of the world because no matter where they

are, they're in need, Amen. And they all need a loving

sponsor. So that's that today.

And so yeah, that's really great that have those children with

me. And so I have 12 children with

me, 12 child profiles with me today and their ages 2 to 13

years old, like I said, from all over the world.

And so that's brilliant, actually 13, what a brilliant

age to receive a sponsor, a really vulnerable time in a

child's life, a young teen. And so I always, a lot of people

think I want to sponsor a little one, but it's amazing to sponsor

a child of that age. And you get to communicate with

your child by writing to them. I do that on the Compassion app

now. It's very easy and you get to

encourage them, which is amazing.

So actually just to say, if you already sponsor A Compassion

child, please do come and let me know because I don't think

compassionate, fully aware of every of everyone that already

sponsors. And just a quick scan of AQR

code, we can make sure we match your sponsorship up with the

church here. It may be that you sponsored A

compassion child at a conference somewhere years ago, but we can

match that up with the Christ Central Church here.

And that would be a great thing to do so that when we come back

and celebrate the legacy of the church and what you're doing, we

have a good account of where everyone's sponsoring.

So come and see me if that's the case.

We love to work by relationship and come back and celebrate the

work that the church is doing every year.

But you know, church, it's £32.00 a month to sponsor a

child and if it helps, that's about a pound a day.

And actually it's challenging, it's challenging right now and

it can be a difficult thing to do, but it is a pound a day.

And I often say it's like the cost of a takeaway isn't it, if

that helps a little bit. But you get to write to your

child of as, as I have said, and you get to encourage them.

And so that's a brilliant thing to be able to do.

You know, we're talking about the kind of poverty here that is

life or death now, where people can't even go to the toilet in

dignity and where children are often being brought up living on

rubbish dumps. That kind of poverty, extreme

poverty and extreme poverty is defined as a family living off

less than £2.20 per person per day.

So there's no welfare, no benefits, no Universal Credit,

and we actually have the power, therefore, to AA household's

income through what we do. And I do believe that God will

put, you know, his resource where his heart lies.

And if we care about what God cares about and he'll care for

our needs. Amen.

We often see the physical effects of poverty, but we don't

see the emotional ones and poverty speaking into these

children's lives on a daily basis.

And it's saying things to them through their environment like,

you know, give up. You don't matter.

You know, life can never change for you.

You know, what you see in the project there is completely

different to the reality of the children who are living on the

outside of that project and who have not been fortunate enough

to be taken into the project because there's only so many

places at any given time available for them.

And many of these kids do not have the opportunity to be in a

project being educated everyday, medical cheques, being cared for

in that way. They're out on the streets being

forced from a young age to earn a living.

They're very vulnerable because they're not in a protected

environment. And so that reality is not the

reality for many, many children. And so their environment is

speaking to them on a daily basis.

Give up. You don't matter, you know.

But poverty is a liar, isn't it? And it is not part of God's plan

for these children's lives. I'm going to show you another

media clip now called Hope in La Rega.

And this is a brilliant story of a young lady who grew up through

the projects. Here we go.

I grew up in this place. I saw these things happen in my

community at the very young age. I am exposed to drug selling,

drug abuse and drug running. Lurega is a ring in the air.

If you say lurega then people will always associate you with

drug addiction, with prostitution.

Child protection is really one of the most important thing that

we partners of compassion can do to help the child.

I asked him what are the dreams and most of the mother cried.

So I changed the question and I said OK, if you don't have a

dream for yourself, what is your dream for your children and

decry more. And after talking to more than

200 parents, I can't sleep. I can't sleep because imagining

and thinking about I will. I will be ministering to this

place where people don't have real dreams.

When I was young, I don't have any hope, but then when I came

to know the Lord, it makes something new.

He moulded me. It's a beautiful one because of

the hope that He gave me. It's really my dream that they

can really be released from poverty in all aspects and can

be an influencer in their community.

I am now a teacher, so now I can teach more students, I can teach

more children, mothers, because God teach me.

And I want to use my life as a living testimony to those people

who don't know Christ yet. The region now is totally

different. Before urban taxi driver will

not come inside the Rena shooting every day.

The Regan now is totally open with the gospel.

I am here standing in front of you because I am one of those

children. My sponsor was from the US.

Through her, I am now a graduate student of the Bible.

School, I always dream with our children because their lives

have been giving hope in the community.

When other children will see them, it inspires others.

Compassion International the staff, the caseworker plays a

major role to instil into the child that there is hope in

spite of poverty and the region now is a is a better place than

before. I can say that God is my

Redeemer, God is my corner so and he has done beautiful things

in my life. I love that.

And that's just one story of one life change.

So it's fantastic. You know, what sets Compassion's

work apart is also discipleship. And that's why these lives are

so changed. And it was noticed that children

from many other programmes, you know, there's lots of wonderful

people do wonderful things. But one of our project leaders

observed that a lot of the kids, they will graduate a programme

in whatever form it's in, but then they will want to run from

poverty as soon as possible and pursue a life of comfort,

whatever that means for them. But he had observed that a lot

of the compassion children, because it's in Jesus name and

their hearts are different and their hearts have been

transformed and there is a real difference in that.

And many of them are wanting to stay behind and give back, which

is quite amazing. And I love that observation.

You know, only Christ can do that.

You know, this heart transformation comes from

ongoing church based discipleship and it's what

causes lasting change. You know, it's a place where

these young destinies can manifest, which is amazing.

You know, as followers of Christ, we are not only called

to see brokenness, the brokenness in the world, but we

are called to engage with that differently.

The systems that keep children trapped in poverty and not just

physical, but they're also all just economic, but they're also

spiritual, Amen. Like I said, it is not part of

God's plan that these children are born into poverty into these

circumstances. You know, as as God's Kingdom

people. We make a difference by

understanding that our battle is not fought just through resource

or strategy, but by transforming hearts and transforming minds,

taking captive thoughts and aligning them with the love and

the justice of Christ, which is why I love that.

What compassion do is in Jesus name, I'll often say we can do

everything holistically, physically, to clothe these

children and feed them, but if they don't have Christ, if

they're not taught how to align their mind with Christ, then

actually what have they got? What have they got?

The world and its problems would love to quench the hope and the

life within and weary our soul and cause us to be ineffective.

But my prayer is that we become masters of our hearts.

Because as this world deteriorates and my goodness,

there's chaos all around us, isn't there all the time.

But that we will continue to be the light, bringing hope and

restoration to those in great need.

And one by one, our actions we become the answer to a suffering

world. I know that many of us are

carrying cares and burdens, and I'm sure that we're all feeling

the pressures of life in 2026. But all I can do is stand here

and say, you know, what is in your hand to do?

Is there something you can do? And what is in our capacity to

to do? Like I say, you know, God is in

this work and I believe He will bless our actions today, but we

are His hands and feet on this earth.

Amen. God gets things done through us.

You know, it's important, of course, to divert ourselves to

prayer that there's such world changing power in prayer

partnered with action. You know, it's like one of those

things they could often say, Oh God, you know, will you just

open the door? Will you just do this, that and

the other for me and God, sometimes I believe he's kind of

pushed the door. You're like, move, do something.

Give me something to work with here, guys.

I'm going to read from Isaiah 61.

I love this scripture because as well as applying this to our own

lives, I read it and think of the children and how it is for

them to receive a sponsor actually and the difference it

makes to their lives. I love it.

I'm going to just read from I think it's the passion

translation so no need to put it on screen.

The Spirit of the Lord guardians upon me because the Lord has

anointed and commissioned me to bring good news to the humble

and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the

broken hearted and to proclaim that the captives will be

released and the prisoners will be freed.

He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of Lord's

favour has come, and with it the day of God's anger against their

enemies. To strengthen those crushed by

despair who mourn in Zion. To give them a beautiful bouquet

in the place of ashes and the oil of bliss instead of tears,

the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of

praise instead of a disheartened spirit.

So they will be called the trees of righteousness, strong and

magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice and right.

Standing with God, planted by Yahweh as a living display of

His glory. They will rebuild the ancient

ruins. They will raise up and restore

the former desolations, and they will renew the ruined cities.

And another version of Scripture says that they will revive the

desolations of past generations. I love that in James 214 it

tells the story. Dear friends, do you think

you'll get anywhere in this life if you learn all the right words

but never do anything? It's hard hitting the scriptures

just straight down the line from the message version.

Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really

has it? For instance, you come upon an

old friend dressed in rags, half starved and say Good morning,

friend, be clothed in Christ, be filled with the Holy Spirit and

walk off without providing so much as a coat or a cup of soup.

Where does that get you? Isn't it obvious that God talk

without God acts is outrageous nonsense.

It's true, right? It's just true.

You know, basically as Kingdom people, we are designed and we

are called to serve and love others.

We are heavenly ambassadors. We are heavenly ambassadors

working on his behalf. You know God is so in this work

because we know that He chose humble circumstances to birth

greatness just like these children.

When God wanted to reveal Himself as a man to humanity, He

took great delight in revealing Himself through Jesus Christ.

His arrival was marked by very lowly, very humble conditions.

As we know, God could have chosen His Son to come through a

royal lineage, or to be born through the rulers of the age of

the time. We all know God could have sent

his Son to solve the world hunger problem, could have had

Jesus go on tour filling amphitheatres and hippodromes,

impressing everyone with supernatural performances.

But he didn't. He could have set Jesus up to

take over the governance of the world, but he didn't.

He gave us the miracle of Jesus, of course, as a helpless infant.

And actually the Ephesians church I think was birthed in a

similar way. I'm sure those looking in were

like it's the unimportant, it's those that don't matter.

And it could seem ordinary to some, but I think that God

specialises in miracles undercover, Amen.

Miracles happening in the places where it's the powerless, the

vulnerable and who might be considered the unimportant.

I believe that is where God specialises and does his best

work. I heard it said again by one of

the compassion directors who works in Brazil actually.

And so wow, major gang issues in Brazil.

And he just said he hears so many stories, so many children's

stories. Absolutely heartbreaking stuff.

But in hearing one story after another, he just, he was just

talking to us and he just skipped over it.

But I loved he just said about the, the reverence and the awe

of the work of Christ and the work he's doing in these

children's lives and, and the vehicle for the vehicle of

compassion. He said, sometimes I feel as

though I'm stood on holy ground. And I thought, gosh, like their

stories are so humbling. It's like I just feel like I'm

stood on holy ground. And This is why God specialises

in in the unseen through this work church, you're leaving a

legacy and you've began a legacy through those children that

you're already sponsoring in the whole project, or maybe it's in

another project. And so that is a legacy that the

that the church has. And I hope to help you continue

today. But just in closing, God's glory

means God's beauty on display, and you are bringing God's

beauty to display. So often I think that we box the

word glory into an external moment and the glory of God's

often wrapped up in I think very earthly actually and very normal

circumstances. And like I've said, we just need

to look at Jesus life to see that.

In fact, I think that the glory of God in our lives can often

look like pain. So many of these children have

been born through no fault of their own into circumstances of

pain. Jesus mission was immersed in

pain, started in pain, and it ended in pain on the cross and

it looked like anything but the glory of God.

But there is something about the pain of a life's journey that

displays the glory of God. I think quite often as the

evangelical church, we celebrate, you know, the outward

manifestations. Somebody might fall in a prayer

line or and that's all wonderful and that is the power of God.

But I think we can easily overlook, like I say, the

miracle undercover the ordinary, you know, the daily been able to

conquer the day. And you know, the glory of God

is wrapped up in so many different ways.

And there's real power in that. You know, God sees the beauty of

that completely of ordinary circumstances and he uses that.

He uses that. It looks like anything but the

glory of God sometimes, but he uses these things and these

young lives to show his power. I read in Lectio 365.

I don't know if any of you know the daily devotional app, but I

love this. It said the anointing of the

Spirit rests upon Jesus for the sake of the poor, the

imprisoned, the disabled, and the oppressed.

His mission has a clear bias to the poor.

One theologian said every sixth line in Luke's gospel is about

the physically poor and our call to respond.

Later on, Jesus even identifies his own presence with the poor

and tells us that ultimately, how we treat the poor is how we

treat God. This has revolutionary

implications for us today. It means that whenever I pray,

come Holy Spirit, I'm not necessarily asking for

comforting feelings and a bit more peace.

I may well be asking for uncomfortable feelings and a few

more tears. I pray, come, Holy Spirit.

To pray come Holy Spirit is to open my entire life, my heart,

my schedule, and even my bank account to a disruptive

realignment of my spiritual, political and financial

priorities away from myself and towards those people in the

margins. That's great isn't it?

If the church lose her identity, we just become a social club, no

different to any other gathering that happens down the road.

The Church must not lose its life changing power.

The Church has the power, the power to actually change the

world. One word, 1 movement, one

decision at a time. And I think we forget that so

easily. Like I said, we are Kingdom

ambassadors and my prayer is that we will continue to be that

as His Church and continue to rise up, continue to say yes.

We must never arrive at a place where the value of a human soul

is diminished. The cries of humanity must never

just become statistics. And in the modern world, when

we're absorbing things on a regular basis from around the

world, I'm not sure we're always built to absorb it, everything

in the way in which we do. But we live in a time when the

anguish of a child and the suffering of a mother and the

despair of a man are not always met with reverence or with

mercy, But what belongs to the sacred realm of compassion must

never be diminished. Let's always ask, how can we

love? How can we care for one another?

Let's just close in prayer if that's OK, and I'll hand back to

them. Thank you Jesus, thank you

Father for the opportunity of being here with your church

today and being able to represent this amazing work and

speak on behalf of these children who cannot speak for

themselves. Holy Spirit, mobilise me in

mission, anoint me to do what you do, let my life reflect your

Kingdom. Thank you Jesus, disrupt us,

realign our lives so we can move with your heart for the least,

for the lost and for the lonely. Thank you, Father, that we get

to take action on your behalf. Thank you, Lord, that as long as

we have breath in our bodies, we can say yes.

And what a privilege, what a privilege is to be a part of

your plan. And so thank you, Father, for

the opportunity to keep moving forward as your ambassadors and

to care for what you care about God.

And so I want to thank you. Thank you for your church.

Thank you for the legacy of what you are already doing here.

And thank you for every single person who loves you, who

engages with you, who walks forward with you, and who cares

as you care. So thank you, Father, we love

you so much. Thank you, Lord.