How would you define poverty?

To most, it is simply not having enough money, but in reality, it is a far more deeply rooted issue. A thorough and succinct definition of poverty must entail a lack of opportunity to grow and a lack of accessibility to basic necessities or beneficial services. An important reality of poverty is that it is not just about being in a state of need, but rather being stuck there with no apparent way out. Kingsview Sponsorship Program (KSP) was birthed out of this understanding. We don’t want to simply give temporary solutions to deeply rooted problems- we want to see the world changed, one person at a time, one country at a time.

To date, our mission focus has been in the Dominican Republic. More than 1 million Dominican children live in poverty, and around 20 percent of those children are orphans. The cycle of poverty keeps widows and orphans from finding the change they need in the forms of shelter, education, and stability. KSP is changing that. 224 children are currently being sponsored through the program, as well as 41 widows and 67 university students. These sponsorships allow the children to attend school and have access to the basic necessities of life and equip them to grow to a point where they are able to give back to their own communities.

You may be asking yourself, what separates KSP from other non-profits or charities? We believe it is our ‘family-oriented’ approach. Our sponsors (for the most part) have a deep commitment to seeing their sponsored children all the way through undergraduate and post-graduate training. They understand that the way to bring lasting change to a community is to equip their sponsorships to provide for themselves so that we can move on to provide for others who are in need. In this way, we unite together as one, great big family in a joint effort to transform the Dominican Republic from a developing country to a flourishing community.

In addition, KSP applies a thorough accountability system that ensures the children are in good hands and are being cared for. This system requires that children must attend school in order to be sponsored.

Attending school on a regular basis helps our program to keep up with the status of a child’s well-being and seeks to ensure that the sponsorship money is being used to benefit them. We think of this as if it were a familial scenario within our own homes and between our own family members. As parents, we would never want our children to drop out of school because of the harmful ramifications it might have on their future- this is the same thinking behind KSP’s accountability measures that ensure our children are getting a good education.

While physical poverty poses a threat to the temporary well-being of the body, spiritual poverty poses a threat to the eternal well-being of the soul. KSP cares deeply about providing for the physical needs of those living in poverty, but the matter that is of first importance to the program is the spreading of the Gospel to all nations and growing our communities through spiritual nourishment.

The goal of KSP is transformation, not transaction. We are not simply giving our resources to a community that lacks them, but we are giving our time, support, and care to those who we want to see grow into a state of flourishing, and equipping those we serve to give in return. This is why KSP children are also required to attend church. Local churches are often the most equipped to serve their community, and so their involvement in the lives of the children, widows, and university students being sponsored is crucial to the very foundation of the organization.

At KSP we see the church as a family, unified under the belief that we have all been adopted as sons and daughters of God through Jesus Christ. As a family, we look out for those amongst us who are weak, poor, or oppressed. We see KSP children as our own, and we encourage our sponsors to do the same. We believe this kind of unity and love is what holds the power to break the cycle of poverty as we come together as a family to protect and provide for those entrusted in our care.

We are so thankful to the Lord for all that He is doing in the hearts of those involved with KSP. We deeply believe that we have been called to share the gospel, and in addition, there is a call to those who have been blessed with an abundance to take steps to ensure that someone who is sick can see a doctor, someone who is hungry can be fed, or someone who is uneducated can go to school. This is why the Kinsgview Sponsorship Program exists! Join us and let’s continue in our work to end world poverty, TOGETHER, as one family.