I’m familiar with Wycliffe’s work, although I am glad to find out about the Joshua Project.

Thanks for the update–even without exact data on how many Compassion centers are without native-language Bibles, it appears that there are, in fact, some. I will pray for God’s continuing to provide missionaries to serve as translators to ensure that everyone will soon have God’s Word in their language.

I spoke with the folks in our International Program Group. They’re in the best position to answer your question (comment #5).

Here’s what they said.

It’s difficult to precisely determine how many Compassion church partners are located in areas still in need of native Bible translation. Answering the question definitively would require an incredible amount of data integration between ministries.
However, ministries such as Wycliffe Bible Translators and Joshua Project work specifically toward bringing God’s Word to Unreached People Groups around the world.

There is an exciting story from Ecuador that speaks to your question. In the case of one primitive tribe in the Amazon, Wycliffe was the first outside contact for this tribe, who came to know God, established a church and eventually became a partner with Compassion.

Wycliffe has played a powerful role in establishing literacy among this people, helping translate Scripture, build a written language and teaching the tribe’s children to write so they could communicate with their Compassion sponsors!

According to our Writing and Visits (WAV) team, the folks who handle the questions we receive via e-mail and the compassion.com contact us form:

“Up to 250 children can be enrolled at each child development center. There has to be a minimum of 50 children in order to open a new center.”

By far, most sponsors are currently sponsoring one child. 87% of our sponsors support one child. The remaining 13% sponsor more than one child (it’s usually two children) or sponsor one child and have other commitments with us (e.g., supporting a Complementary Intervention fund)

And piggy-backing on Denise L., you can give a gift of $25-$1000 each year to your child’s center. If you’re interested in doing so, you should speak with a sponsor relations representative at 800-336-7676.

I gave a gift to my child’s center (secretly hoping they could buy swings for the children, since when I visited my child I had to teach her how to use a swing). The center’s staff wrote a nice letter and included a photo of themselves with heavy-duty wooden chairs for the early childhood class. These chairs had been the center’s priority for purchase, since they didn’t have enough.

@ Judy,
Depending on the church partner, children usually attend the child development center three to five times a week.

What is the average number of children sponsored by one donor at one time?

In addition to prayer, letter writing and gifts, is there anything else I can do to assist my kids/families/centers?