Dear Compassion,
I’d like to once again implore you to pray for Compassion’s ministry in India. As you know, Compassion’s program operations in that country are currently threatened due to increased governmental restrictions. Unfortunately, these restrictions have prevented us from transferring funds to our local partners for many months.
As I mentioned during the August Global All Staff Meeting, many of our local church partners have been able to extend program funds to sustain operations in recent months, but not all of them. Currently, nearly 83% of our India projects are still functioning at some level. However, that number is quickly declining. If the situation continues, all of our projects will be forced to suspend most of their operations by the end of November 2016. Of course, our local church partners are taking heroic action to stay connected with our children as best they can. We continue to believe that God will intervene in a powerful way, and will continue to pray to that end.
During joint Global Executive Team and Global Partner CEO meetings earlier this month, all leaders unanimously agreed that we should continue to persevere in this battle despite the looming November timeline. Even if operations are mostly suspended, we will continue to diligently work to resolve this conflict until our options are exhausted. I wish you all could have witnessed that key moment of God-inspired unity among our global leadership community. I was honored to be part of that decision to endure on behalf of our children and sponsors. However, there are still some very serious operational realities to be faced in light of that decision and some hard decision that must be made as we strive to resolve matters with the Indian government.
To address one of the issues involved, our Indian church partners have all submitted updated government applications to receive foreign funds. While most of those applications have been approved, approximately 17% of our partners have not been granted approval. Given that these partners can no longer legally receive foreign funds, Compassion has made the painful and difficult decision to end our partnership with those projects. We are working to transfer as many eligible children as possible to other projects, but in total this decision affects approximately 104 projects and 25,000 of the more than 145,000 Compassion children in India.
Despite the difficulties currently being faced, please know that Compassion is continuing to do everything within our ability to cooperate with the Indian government and restart the flow of funds into the country. We are working with government officials, including the U.S. State Department, key Congressional leaders, and the U.S. Embassy in India, to assure the Indian government that we fully intend to honor all Indian laws and policies, as we have for the last 48 years. We are also blessed that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently spoke to high-level Indian officials on Compassion’s behalf. Our hope and prayer is that we will find favor in the eyes of those who have the power to authorize the ongoing care for children in India and that this conflict will come to a full resolution quickly.
If you’d like to learn more about Compassion’s situation in India, please visit The Source to find answers to several frequently asked questions. Also, please remember that this is internal information that is intended only for Compassion staff. Due the very sensitive nature of this situation, I ask that you keep this in strict confidence and do not share any of this content publically or on social media.
Thank you for continuing to lift this most critical need in prayer. I deeply value your heart for children and am so thankful for this ministry’s passion to continue serving some of the most vulnerable children within India.
Blessings to you,
Jimmy