Children Ministry – Q & A
1. What is the next step if I decide to become a sponsor?
Please contact us via our website to obtain and fill up a response slip. After you have received the photograph and personal particulars of one of our children, you can help to sponsor their education scholarship, either on a monthly, half-yearly or annual basis. If you wish to send your money via cheque or money order, please make it payable to: CNEC.
At the back of your cheque or money order, please remember to write in English your name as well as the name and serial number of the child that you are sponsoring. This is necessary as we need to send you a receipt. Our address is found on our website. If you wish to make your donations or offering via credit card, you can also do so online.
2. How is the money that is received to be disbursed?
The money that you send to sponsor a child’s education will be channeled into a common fund to ensure that every child is helped, including those children who have not been able to get any sponsors. The money received from sponsors will mainly be used in three areas:
| I. | Education fees |
| – School fees & purchase of stationery | |
| – School uniforms & shoes | |
– Teachers’ salaries | |
| II. | Spiritual Education |
| – Pastors’ salaries | |
| – Sunday School materials | |
| – Camps | |
| – Evangelistic outreach and other activities | |
– Gifts for Christmas, birthday & other celebration | |
| III. | Facilities |
| – School buildings | |
| – Classrooms, tables & chairs | |
| – Maintenance fees |
3. Can I give presents to the child that I sponsor?
You may give practical gifts such as stationery to the child that you sponsor. But the gifts may only reach the child after 2-3 months. Please do not give expensive gifts to the child that you sponsor as this may lead to jealousy and rivalry among the other children. We encourage sponsors to make monetary contributions for Christmas or the child’s birthday. We will then disburse the money to the various locales. The staff there will buy a gift for every child so that all can enjoy the blessing together.
4. How many sponsors can a child have?
Every child is only entitled to one sponsor. But a sponsor may wish to sponsor a child as an individual, a family or a small group. If you wish to sponsor a child as a group, please nominate one person as a representative to handle the payment as well as correspondences etc. on behalf of the group.
5. For how long can I sponsor a child?
A sponsor can decide the period of time he or she wishes to sponsor a child. But we really hope that you can commit to the sponsorship for at least a year. There are many sponsors who have already sponsored a child for more than ten years and have experienced God’s grace and blessing through their simple act. If you wish to terminate your sponsorship for any reason, please do notify us in writing.
6. Can I correspond with the child that I sponsor?
The child that you sponsor will be very happy to receive from you letters, photographs, and birthday and Christmas cards. Please specify the child’s name and serial number in these correspondences. You may also share about yourself, your family or hobbies. Please address these letters to CNEC, after which we will hand them over to the local staff, who will then pass the letters to the child after translating them.
8. Can I visit the child that I sponsor?
If you do have the chance to pay a visit to the child that you sponsor, please inform us early so that we can make the necessary preparations, like providing for a translator and a suitable time and place to meet. There are also some children whose families are not able to host the sponsors, or who live in restricted access areas where foreigners are not allowed.
9. Do the children that receive sponsorship come from Christian families?
Many of these children come from non- Christian families. They follow the religion of their parents, which include: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism as well as various tribal folk religions. Your sponsorship will be that bridge that introduces the Gospel to the children and their families, and hopefully lead them to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
10. Which schools do these children study in?
The majority of the children study in local public schools. In certain areas, these children study in mission schools set up by CNEC. Other than the subjects that they study in school, all the children will receive Christian education and learn truths from the Bible through the local church and Sunday School. They also have a chance to take part in various activities organized by the church like camps etc.
11. Can I continue to sponsor the same child?
You may sponsor a child until he/she graduates from primary or secondary school. The sponsorship may also be discontinued under certain circumstances as follows:
- – The child needs to look for a job in order to lighten the load of the family
- – The child needs to stay home to look after his/her siblings
- – The child’s family moves to a different locality
- – The economic situation of the child improves
You will be then notified in writing.
12. If the child that I sponsor stops school, what are the alternative arrangements?
We will inform you once we have established the reason for the child’s departure from school. At the same time, we will furnish you with the personal particulars of another child and hope that you will continue your sponsorship with this child.