Teams of chaplains are providing spiritual support to staff and patients at our partner hospitals in Kenya.
On one Sunday afternoon, Geoffrey Ndivo received an urgent phone call that he would have to go in to the hospital. A man and his wife had been in a serious car accident that took the lives of the man’s father, mother, and brother. The couple had been rushed to the emergency room in need of surgery.
Chaplains provide an encouraging word and the Word of God to suffering patients and their loved ones.
Geoffrey left his home immediately and trekked the rocky, muddy roads through the Kenyan mountains to get to the hospital to be with these new patients.
As the procedure began to start, Geoffrey was outside the operating room, still in the clothes he wore to church that morning. Instead of reviewing patient charts or putting on scrubs, Geoffrey was praying over the operation with hospital staff members.
Geoffrey serves as the lead chaplain at AIC Kijabe Hospital, a World Medical Mission partner hospital an hour drive northwest of Nairobi. While the doctors and nurses treat the physical needs of patients, it’s hospital chaplains like Geoffrey who tend to the spiritual needs of them and their families.
When not praying with hospital staff over a surgery, Geoffrey and other chaplains make their way around the hospital praying with patients and their family members in wards filled with rare diseases not usually seen in Western healthcare settings.
“Hospitalization and sickness bring a lot of challenges for these patients,” Geoffrey said. “It can lead to them having questions about their meaning in life and whether or not God still cares about them. We are here to share the Gospel and let them know He does.”
Samaritan’s Purse is coming alongside chaplains like Geoffrey to strengthen them and equip them with the resources they need to share the love of Jesus Christ to those who are suffering. We provide a chaplain training curriculum that includes a workbook and a tablet filled with lessons, videos, and audio clips to help them learn more about the Bible and teach them practical skills like trauma counseling to help prepare them for ministry in their hospitals.
“We want to say thank you for helping our ministry in these mission hospitals.”
Chaplains also distribute Bibles given by Samaritan’s Purse to every patient who comes to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior during their time at the mission hospital.
“This is a great initiative that I believe is the first of its kind in mission hospitals,” Geoffrey said. “This training through Samaritan’s Purse and World Medical Mission is a great resource, and we want to say thank you for helping our ministry in these mission hospitals.”
Our chaplaincy training program is now being implemented at partner hospitals in Kenya. We plan to bring the program to dozens of additional partner locations across the globe in the future.
Through our chaplain training program at Kenya’s mission hospitals, the Good News of Jesus Christ is bringing hope and comfort to people in crisis.
