Every year, the celebration of Christmas brings hope to many people. Likewise, Shechem Children’s Home has been sharing and giving hope. 

Shechem, which is located in Manila, Philippines, provides Christ-centered, family-oriented care, protection, comprehensive assessment, and assists with finding long-term placements for children rescued from online sexual abuse and exploitation. This intensive care in the first months after the rescue helps lead to the children's healing, resiliency, well-being, and hope for their future.

As 2021 came to an end, the staff of child development centers in Peru provided this update for those who sponsor children in the country. Sponsorship provides a child living in poverty with educational, physical, emotional, and spiritual support, and connects them to caring adults in a local Nazarene child development center.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child from Peru, or another country, visit ncm.org/sponsor.

Today, read about a boy and his father who connected with caring Nazarene volunteers while living in a refugee camp in Serbia. The Courage for the Journey project cares for adults and children living as refugees across several European countries. 

Today, read about Keila and Daniela, who are caught up in the lingering economic crisis impacting Venezuela.

The 2021 Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Christmas Project supports children caught in crisis.

The 2021 Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Christmas Project supports children caught in crisis.

All over the world, children are caught in economic crises, famines, conflict, and more. More than 80 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes as a result of persecution, conflict, and violence. Of those who are displaced, more than a third are children. 

The 2021 Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Christmas Project supports children caught in crisis.

Being a teenager anywhere in the world can be a challenge. For Siva*, a 16-year-old boy who attends a child development center in Nepal, the last year and a half has been in and out of restrictive lockdowns. 

Instead of growing frustrated, Siva wrote to his sponsor to tell her that he was using the time in lockdown, “as a great opportunity to learn creative things.” So, always a creative soul, Siva is teaching himself how to play the ukulele.  

Daniel* has been sponsored through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries in the Philippines since he was young. When the pandemic hit, the 8th grader wanted to serve other families who were part of child sponsorship, too. And serve he did.

For the last year, he has visited the Nazarene church next-door to his house to help pack relief goods and distribute relief goods to those struggling through the necessary lockdowns. He shared that it made him happier to be able to help other children have enough to eat.

Facing a cancer diagnosis is frightening at any age. Facing it as a child is unimaginable. In Belarus, a child diagnosed with cancer often receives care at the Belarusian Research Center for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology, and Immunology. Patients come to the hospital from all over the country.