January 2025
Dear Friends,
We are in awe at what the Lord is doing! Serving in Jesus’ Name, which started in 2016 by sending 800 stuffed animals to Kenyan orphans, is having a spiritual impact in a large swath of Western Kenya. We are invisible to the 10s of thousands of children and adults that we serve – located in the 66 schools and orphanages, plus countless churches. Other than the handful on our Kenyan Project Team and CEF staff, these people will never know our names. They rejoice, however, in knowing that the God of heaven has put on the hearts of some people in the US to extend His love to them in tangible ways. And we rejoice in knowing that He knows our names and sees every sacrifice done in love.
Experience shows that when you meet people’s most basic physical needs, you open the door to share the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ with them. When they see you working on their behalf year after year, demonstrating God’s love for them, seeking no personal recognition, and giving Him all the glory, they begin to trust you. They begin to believe that what you tell them about the Lord is true and that He is trustworthy. We are seeing this lived out in the testimonies our team share, by the hundreds of children coming to faith, and from the growing enthusiasm of the teachers and students stepping forward to share the Gospel through Bible clubs and Sunday schools.
What started with sending toys to children who would otherwise never have a toy, quickly grew to sending containers full of necessities, like clothes, shoes, and school supplies, along with fun items, like soccer balls and baby dolls. Meeting desperate physical needs through water and latrine projects became a priority as well. These projects have given safety and dignity through clean water and private latrines, kept schools open that have been cited for unsafe conditions, and are an ever-present reminder of God’s love and provision. The Scriptures the children see every time they walk to a latrine or get a drink of water remind them that these are gifts from God.
Pouring out God’s love through these projects, distributing Bibles, training men and women to teach Bible Clubs, and sponsoring these clubs is having a powerful impact on the region; with your financial help and prayers, we will be able to continue and expand our work in 2025. We are praying for funding to send 20,000 Bibles in our shipment this year. Please prayerfully consider helping us reach this goal.
An increased contribution from Hydromissions will help us complete 20 latrine and 10 water projects this year. Most of us could not imagine the humiliation of using a latrine without a privacy wall, a door, or a place to wash. For children who have experienced this deprivation each day, going to a clean, new latrine will hopefully say to them, “Jesus sees me, and He provides for me.”
The Good News Clubs in Western Kenya are expanding. The latest report is that the faithful teachers we provided training for are conducting 37 GNCs weekly with almost 1,600 children. Doreen, who attended the training in November said, “Thanks to the SIJN Team for giving me the opportunity to learn about child evangelism. Today I’m grateful seeing children in my backyard embracing the Gospel, with some accepting the giver of eternal life, the LORD JESUS CHRIST.”
Since our primary goal is to see children and adults come to Christ, we use the latrine and water projects as a springboard to share the Gospel. We will be recruiting Christian teachers from these facilities to attend our next CEF Evangelizing Children Course in the fall. Building on our work in addressing physical needs, we will be establishing Bible clubs to meet their spiritual needs.
Mary Kithuure provided this update on the four teachers we sent to the advanced CEF Leadership Training Institute. “Millicent, Prisca, Victoria, and Isaac Clinton completed the 11-week LTI training course with excellent results. The instructors were proud of them. After LTI, Millicent and Prisca had an opportunity to come back to train teens in CYIA. They were given children to mentor during training. They have started teaching children in their neighborhood. Keep praying that God will supply their needs as they reach children with the gospel.”
During the winter school break, Victor Mulati, who is part of our Kenyan Project Team, led the training for several groups of teens at camp in Bungoma. The teens are from Kenya Assemblies of God, and their leaders remarked that the sessions were especially successful this year since Victor was able to give each teen a Bible.
Elder Oseje, an elder from Citam Church, traveled to Maralal in Samburu, northern Kenya. The area is remote with extremely harsh conditions. We provided Bibles for his trip, and he sent us this message: “Kindly pass our sincere gratitude to our good friends who have been supporting us with Bibles. I am traveling back from Maralal, where we had a great time in the presence of the Lord. Twenty people received Christ, and we thank God for that. The church leaders also send their thanks.”
Many thanks to all those who make our work possible.
Blessings,
Kathy Carlin, Director Serving in Jesus Name
Serving in Jesus’ Name is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and donations are tax-deductible. We are an all-volunteer organization with 100% of all public donations going directly to our service projects. Visit us at servinginjesusname.org/
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