Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International, writes about child advocacy.

In Too Small to Ignore, Dr Wess Stafford writes of the plight of millions of children worldwide and teaches us that the solution to poverty includes love that leads to hope.

He writes of his upbringing in an African village as the son of missionary parents. His depiction of village life – the important responsibilities entrusted to children, the soccer game with the home made soccer ball, the togetherness after the evening meal – made me feel as if I had missed out on something rare.

The author writes of a dark period in his life during boarding school where he experienced tremendous evil. (Parts of his book would not be suitable for younger children.) That the author is able to see how God used this evil for good is a truly inspirational story.

Nor do the inspirational stories end there. The author recounts how the love of a schoolteacher shown to her sponsored child through letters resulted in a bronze medal in the Olympic games.

This is of great personal interest to me since I left Vietnam with the haunting question, “What about all the children that I won’t be able to adopt?” Adoption is a gift to be sure – but Compassion International, the organization that Dr Stafford leads, offers us another way to bring healing to a broken world.

Too Small to Ignore by Wess Stafford makes a compelling case for Jesus’ heart for children and our call to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to care for these little ones.