Caring for Orphans and Street Children is Faith in Action

“Christians need to get off their self-righteous pedestals and love as God loves, sacrificially.” – Os Hillman

You’ve heard it said many times before, but it still rings true today. “People don’t care how much you know; they want to know how much you care.” In other words, head knowledge and lip service don’t impress people or “move the needle”, but sacrificial love sure does.

That’s one of the reasons why I enthusiastically support James Onunga and Joseph Kinuthia, and their respective ministries in Kenya.

James Onunga’s full-time job is as a high-ranking prison official where he openly shares his faith each and every day, providing Bibles for the inmates entrusted to his care. However, he also has a real passion for orphans, which is why he started an organization called Vulnerable Children in Homa Bay. James believed God wanted him to build an orphanage from scratch and so, he raised the money to buy some property after which he began building a concrete structure with donated funds. Today, the orphanage houses dozens of former street children in a safe and secure environment.

But James isn’t done yet, not by a long shot. He has already launched Phase 2 of his vision, which is to construct a two-story school for the orphans and other underprivileged children where they will receive a solid Christ-centered education.

Speaking of street children, Joseph Kinuthia has been ministering to homeless boys in the bustling city of Kakamega for decades. Through his Broken Chains Ministry, he also visits female prisons to share the gospel and take toiletries (in Kenya, the prison system does not provide personal hygiene items for inmates). On his prison visits, Joseph also distributes powdered milk, diapers, and medical supplies because in Kenya, if an incarcerated mothers has children ages 4 and under, her children are imprisoned with her.

I met James and Joseph on a two-week prison ministry trip to Kenya in 2014 and have been supporting their ministries prayerfully and financially ever since. You can too, by visiting Partner / Donate - Risk Takers for Christ and clicking on the Kenyan Konnection tab. Your tax-deductible gift will be wired directly to Vulnerable Children and Broken Chains.

“And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’” Matthew 25:40 (BSB)

“Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1: 27 (BSB)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President