April 20, 2026
The Bible is very strong on the subject of God’s love for us. It stresses again and again that his love is unfailing.
Sometimes the word “hesed” meaning “unfailing love” in the Hebrew is also translated as “lovingkindness”. For instance, in Psalm 25 King David prays, “Remember, O Lord, your tender mercies and loving kindnesses”. He then links God’s love to truth and covenant. In other words, God is faithful. Indeed, He never fails. We can trust and count on him even “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Ps. 23). So the bar is very high when we say we want to be “his hands and feet” to sick and dying orphans and widows. We need to be unfailing in love, too.
In our 26th year of ministry WOW is very aware of the relevance of unfailing love in the face of unfailing suffering.
When we began this ministry, the HIV & AIDS pandemic was at its height ravaging the lives of thousands of young mothers and their children with certain death in sub-Saharan Africa. We saw the church of Jesus Christ as the only answer to this relentless killer. So I resigned from Broadway Church in Vancouver and Kathy and I incorporated WOW in order to challenge the churches of sub-Saharan Africa to become “a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows”. We started from scratch but now many years later YOU are a player on a mighty team bringing light and love to a very dark place. Your love is unfailing.
The relentless nature of human need can be daunting. It seems the more we do, the more we need to do. The scores of orphans and widows we first began to reach in the year 2000, number today in the thousands. But the Lord was faithful when we had little to give and He is faithful in 2026 when we have much greater responsibilities. As the old hymn says, “He giveth more grace as the burden grows greater, He addeth more strength when the labors increase…”
So today our Home Based Care ministry (HBC) with partner “Somebody Cares Malawi” (SCM) is feeding 3000 orphans and 2000 elderly widows through their village feeding programs as well as visiting and providing comprehensive care for hundreds of the sick and dying with teams of local church based volunteers. We have a state of the art Gender Based Violence (GBV) mitigation program as well as community transformation efforts championed by pastors and Christian chiefs. SCM has become a national treasure as WOW has been and continues faithfully to be its key supporter.
In Zambia WOW partners with CHRESO (“chrezo” meaning “need” in Greek) based in the capital, Lusaka, and ICO (Impact Community Outreach) located in the mining town of Kabwe. With CHRESO we provide the funding of medications for 5000 rural orphans and widows via mobile medical clinics. And with ICO we are engaged in HBC with several impoverished communities surrounding Kabwe. Both of these Zambian partners are local church based, their pastors proven men and women of God who are unfailing in their love for “the least of these”.
In South Africa we are vitally engaged with our partner ministry called Cross Connect (CC). WOW has funded the purchase and renovation of two houses that are now “homes of rescue” for abused and abandoned children. From this centre CC is also caring for the needs of orphans and widows in surrounding “irregular settlements” (read “slums”) with a population of 3000-plus. Their impact has attracted the social services and police of the greater Johannesburg region who often call on CC to be first responders to reports
of children in distress.
WOW also is involved in a vital ministry in India, but due to governmental and cultural opposition I can say nothing in a public forum lest our partners there be shut down.
And as you may know we have been quietly helping a ministry to orphan and widow refugees from the Russia–Ukraine war.
In all this, we are committed to unfailing love in the name of Jesus. I am counting on you (and myself) to be faithful.
Blessings
Jim Cantelon
