Child Sponsorship
Sharing the intimacy of Jesus Christ through a very intimate sponsorship program. Simba allows the sponsor to write and receive letters, report cards, pictures, and gifts. But the greatest gift we can offer is meeting the child face to face and washing their feet. Learn More
Family Strengthening
Sharing the intimacy of Jesus Christ by focusing on widows, orphans and vulnerable families in Kenya. Our social workers work to empower these homes through marriage counseling, family reunification, and acquisition of essential documents, such as birth certificates and health insurance. Learn More
Stewardship
Sharing the intimacy of Jesus Christ through businesses in Kenya. While we see this is a way out of poverty, these start-up businesses are centered on sharing the intimate love of Jesus Christ with customers, employees, and owners. Simba partners with the dreams of Kenyan families and entrepreneurs to reach economic independence. Learn More
Kingdom Building
Sharing the intimacy of Jesus Christ through physical building to help with education, business, and living. Simba also understands that as much as physical buildings are important, Spiritual Kingdom Building is even more so. Spiritual Kingdom Building happens through our discipleship programs, Simba church, and prayer house gatherings. Learn More
Health & Wellness
Sharing the intimacy of Jesus Christ through health care in Kenya. Simba partners with Kenyan nurses and doctors to provide outreach clinics to different villages throughout Kenya. Each clinic shares the love of Jesus Christ by caring for locals’ physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Each person is prayed for and has the Gospel shared with them. Learn More
“Our mission is to further the Kingdom of God by equipping and empowering Kenyan children with the boldness of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gospel, through a Christ- centered education.”
Simba Mission Statement
Our Story
Born when founder Chase Ward took a step of faith and obeyed the calling he felt to go to Africa, Simba Ministries has a vision to share the intimate love of Jesus Christ with every tribe, tongue, and nation.
In 2014, while working at a hospital in Sioux Falls, SD, Chase was asked by a co-worker if he would like to help her mom’s school in Kenya, aiding them in building a dining hall. Chase was just a poor kid fresh out of college, not an architect. Surely this wasn’t where God was calling him. After spending time in prayers, however, he felt the Lord call him to go, and he felt that God would provide the necessary tools and resources to accomplish his mission.
So that very year, not knowing anything about Kenya but trusting in God and the call on his life, Chase stepped out in faith and found himself at a beautiful school of 180 students and 8 small classrooms that had been running for 10 years. These children were eating on wooden benches with no tables. After talking with the director of the school about what their greatest need was, she handed him a blueprint of the dining hall. Chase continued talking to elders in the community, and together they identified more areas of struggle. Primarily, there were many children not going to school, a lack of jobs in the community, poor health care, and a lack of funds to complete needed buildings in the area. Above all, Chase felt like he needed to do something about the children not going to school. Every day, they would drive past children playing in the dirt, but not attending this beautiful school. The school director told Chase that they have been trying to help the children by sponsoring one child per year. During this time, the Lord was teaching Chase how intimately He loves him. After praying, Chase decided to collect information from 20 children to take back to the United States and begin a sponsorship program. After finding sponsors for the 20 children, Chase continued to look for the funds for the dining hall, and God provided a family that graciously gave enough to complete the entire rest of the project.
While still in the U.S., Chase was given advice to take steps to become a non-profit organization. Chase found himself in prayer about the name and mission of the organization. The Lord pressed Proverbs 28:1 upon on his heart: “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” “Lion” in Swahili, the common language spoken in Kenya, is “simba”. This was the birth of Simba Educational Ministries and its mission to “further the Kingdom of God by equipping and empowering Kenyan children with the boldness of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gospel, through a Christ-centered education.” After this, a logo was designed to display five pillars surrounding the face of a lion.
However, the Lord spoke into the logo that a sponsorship program is not enough. “If you want to show my intimate love, you must care for those you are serving in a holistic way, just like I care for you and every aspect of your life.” In our relationships with the people we serve, we must love them in every aspect of their lives. This is encompassed in Simba’s 5 pillars, which address what the elders of the village asked us to focus on: Children Sponsorship, Kingdom Building, Widows and Orphans, Health and Wellness, and Stewardship.
Please explore these five pillars to learn more.
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