Making a difference

Ever been in church and heard a missionary sharing their stories? And at the end of their talk they urge you to help, volunteer or give money, insisting that every bit helps. So you pull out your wallet and take out a few dollars, maybe a little more if you want to fell extra righteous, dropping it in the offering plate as it goes by and knowing that you can feel good about yourself now because you’ve done your part and given some money. After all you’re just one person, what more can you do?

Well let me tell you a little bit about just one person, a child, who asked herself the very same question but responded in a very differ way. This girl was a teenager, about sixteen, when she started thinking about missions trips. She was raised in a Christian home, had family members who were missionaries and was now interested in short-term trips herself, maybe even getting her youth group involved. So she started calling around. But you know the world is a funny thing and almost every ministry she heard from the answer was the same, “we’re glad for your interest but I’m sorry, you’re too young. Call us back in a few years.”

Now she could’ve done exactly what most of us have done so many times in the past but she didn’t. She decided not to just give up but took a very different path. With the support of her parents and a few adults from her church, she and her older brother partnered together to find a worthy cause. World Vision.

Coming up with a financial plan these two teenagers constructed the idea to help a village by raising money and buying practical supplies like goats, shares in a well and even some medicine.  They put together fundraising ideas and took it to their congregation to ask for their help raising the money. They even did a thirty hour famine with their youth group to get some idea of how the families they were raising money for so often had to live.

Within just a few months the results had astounded them. They asked for just a few hundred dollars and the result was well over a thousand. With the money the teenagers were able to buy almost twice as much as they had originally anticipated to help families that they would never meet.

Now remember, the girl was only sixteen, her brother was eighteen, they were both in high school, neither of them were working regular jobs, neither of them had a steady income. They were simply willing to let God use them, and with the help of just a few adults they put together a plan that they took to their church to raise money that touched countless lives.

If two teenagers can do that, what can you do?

 

 

Now please understand that I'm not discrediting give funds, that's what missionaries and ministries need to run but please don't sell yourself short! Once a month I'll be posting a link to various ministries who are doing they're part to make a difference. Maybe one of them will touch your heart.