Do you know when and how Compassion International got it's start? Well you are about to get a little history lesson....
In 1952, in South Korea, an American evangelist named Everett Swanson was moved to help children orphaned by the Korean conflict. After seeing the needs of the children and realizing no one was stepping forward on their behalf, he shared what he had seen with a missionary friend. His friend asked him....
"You have see the tremendous needs and unparalleled opportunities of this land. What do you intend to do about it?"
Upon arriving back in the United States, donations "for the needy of Korea" began arriving and Everett was convinced God was doing something great. What started off as support for an orphanage, turned into a one-to-one sponsorship program and provided the sponsored kids with Bible-based education, food, clothing, shelter and medical care.
In 10 years the sponsorship program grew to serving more than 10,000 Korean children and that was the beginning of Compassion.
Sixty years later the ministry of child sponsorship is stronger than ever - now reaching more than 1.4 million children around the world. The best part of this story? Korea no longer needs their children to be sponsored. They have been released from poverty and are now one of Compassion's partner countries.
There is so much more to this story and what how the ministry has developed since 1952. For a more detailed look at each decade of Compassion's history, visit THIS PAGE.
