Wow.

What an incredible day at a Child Survival Program in northern India. According to Compassion International, nearly 21,000 children under age 5 die every day of preventable diseases. As a result, Compassion began Child Survival Programs as avenues to provide long-term, sustainable care for mothers and their children in high-risk areas of the world. And this is where the Radical Experiment began for us—partnering together with 21 different Child Survival Programs across India, working with our brothers and sisters in impoverished communities to help children who were previously dying live.

Today, we visited one of those Child Survival Programs, and words really can’t describe what we saw. So I’m going to let video do the talking. Below you will find five videos, each with a bit of explanation. Brook Hills faith family, we want you to see the fruit of your sacrificial giving…

This first video introduces you to the coordinator of the Child Survival Program who is also one of the pastors of the church that hosts the program. One of the reasons we are most grateful for our partnership with Compassion is because of their emphasis on the local church. Everything we saw today was based out of a local church, and all of the ministry is aimed at connecting people to Christ in the context of a local church. Hear this pastor give a brief explanation of the Child Survival Program that his church facilitates.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21163810]

 

Another reason we have been confident in ministry alongside Compassion International is their faithfulness to do exactly what they say they will do. They are meticulous in their record-keeping, ensuring that every mother/child in the Child Survival Program is accounted for, cared for, and provided for. Every mother/child unit has a file like the one you hear about below. We praise God for the integrity of our brothers and sisters at Compassion.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21163157]

 

The woman below shared her testimony with us today. She was pregnant, and various signs in her pregnancy indicated either that her baby would not live or that her baby would need extensive medical treatment. Consequently, the two different hospitals in her area turned her away when she visited them. They said that her baby would require too much care, and they would not be able to help her. The CSP coordinators stepped in, offered her the help she needed, and not long thereafter this precious mom gave birth to a healthy baby girl…a baby girl that is alive and thriving today.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21162825]

 

We had the opportunity to visit various women in their homes, and this was the last house we visited. The walls on the homes in this village are made of mud, and when heavy rains come, it is common for these walls to collapse. That’s exactly what happened in this mother’s home last year. The walls in her home caved in and ruined what little she had. But she was involved in the CSP, and she shared with us that she had learned to trust in the one true God. Her circumstances are still difficult—her home consists of one room in the open air that she shares with her husband, her two children (one of whom is under a year old and involved in the Child Survival Program), and the cow that helps provide for their livelihood. In other words, they sleep, play, and eat in the same room as their cow. But to hear this mom talk about the goodness of God to her and her family was awe-inspiring. This is Heather praying for her at the conclusion of our visit.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21165116]

 

This final video sums up the entire day. We were in an area where, until recently, many people had never heard the gospel. Most of the mothers in this Child Survival Program had never heard the gospel until they came to the church and began receiving care for their children. But this program is not ultimately about providing physical care for mother/child units; this program is ultimately about advancing the good news of God’s grace in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. And we have great news to report: this ultimate aim is being achieved! Over the last year and a half, we have partnered together with local churches in India to care for over 1,000 mothers and their children. And in the past nine months alone, 267 of those mothers have turned to faith in Christ. Some of those moms are represented in this video below. As you listen to these women singing praise songs to Christ in the middle of a Hindu village, pause and give God glory for the spread of His gospel in northern India!

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21162449]