Affording a quality Christian education
Missionaries serving outside their home countries are often torn between the desire to stay on the mission field and the need to return home to earn the funds needed for the education of their children. When members of the van Rekens’ extended family returned from staffing a missionary hospital in Liberia with no way of financing the education of their two college-bound daughters, they recognized the need to support missionary kids in higher education.
“The Lord blessed me and enabled me to earn far more money than I needed. My family was well provided for, so to whom do I give the surplus? Missionary Kids are special and can use it to perhaps change the world we live in so I started the Christian Missionary Scholarship Foundation. I fully expect that one of my MKs will graduate from a Christian college and become the head of state in his own country some day.” - Stanley van Reken, Founder, Christian Missionary Scholarship Foundation
With help from the Christian Missionary Scholarship Foundation, missionary kids whose parents have made financial sacrifices to serve the Lord all over the world are able to afford a Christian college education. Each year the foundation provides scholarships for over 100 students that attend Calvin College, Dordt College, Hope College, Kuyper College, Trinity Christian College, Wheaton College. Awards vary in amount and are available for four years if the student is making satisfactory academic progress and is enrolled full time. This enables many missionaries to continue working on the field while their children receive a quality Christian education.
The Christian Missionary Scholarship Foundation recognizes the blessings that missionary children enjoy—families that model lives of service and sacrifice, homes that reflect the goodness and providence of God and an environment that recognizes the richness of other cultures, races, customs and languages. These blessings have greatly enriched and expanded the perspectives of these students, instilling in them an appreciation for others, a lively curiosity about the world God created and, often, a motivation and calling to further expand their worlds and share their Christian commitments.
It is the Foundation’s hope that the students chosen each year to receive the Christian Missionary Scholarship will make a substantial impact on the world and throughout their lifetimes, pass the blessing on to others in need.