Co-Laboring With JesusExemplo

You may be saying to yourself, Dr. Holson and Dr. Patterson are wealthy physicians who have the resources to travel and to address what’s wrong, but I have neither time nor money. But consider the choices of a young man who lives in a poverty-stricken community in Nairobi, Kenya. Kamua Ngaari is an artist who, as he describes it, “lives on his talent.” He struggles to support his wife and three children on his earnings. Nevertheless, with financial support from several donors, he is able to provide free art classes to approximately 100 children living in his community. In addition to providing the children meals, art materials, and a simple make-shift studio with dirt floors in which to paint and draw, Kamua also hosts art exhibitions where the young artists are able to showcase and sell their work.  

“My father taught me to put God first,” explained Kamua when asked why he extends himself on behalf of poor children who would otherwise not have an opportunity to cultivate their artistic talent. He further clarified that he sees his work as service to Jesus, and as he shares his faith with his students, he shows them by example the importance of serving others. 

As a co-laborer with Jesus, Kamua models for extremely poor children how to give, and he helps them to understand the connection between “good works” and simply “doing good things.” His efforts are yielding results. Recently a few of his students saw a friend dressed in torn and dirty garments that barely covered his body. They responded by helping to relieve his embarrassment by sharing with him the few garments they owned to ensure that he was fully clothed. Even in the midst of poverty, Kamua is raising up the next army of Jesus’s co-laborers.

Then there is Daniel Njeru, an engineer by profession. When he started his “mercy” ministry to students, drug addicts, convicts, and the public through street evangelism, he was “funded by faith” and by his own money. Later, others also contributed financially to his work. His goal for his corner of Nairobi is to share the Gospel, find homes for the homeless, jobs for the jobless, food for the hungry, and medicine for the sick. “It is my passion to see lives changed,” he said.

Kamua and Daniel are not wealthy. Yet, like the boy who gave Jesus his fish and bread, only to see it multiplied to meet the needs of thousands, they are giving Jesus their time, their talent, their energy, their ideas, and their money, trusting that he will multiply their gifts to reach more and more people. As devoted co-laborers with Christ, they give what they can, and trust him for the outcome.