Two pastors from Barker Road Methodist Church (BRMC) and their wives have opened their homes to vulnerable children through foster care and respite care. Rev Joshua Kwok first shared this in August 2025 during a sermon series that launched BRMC’s Year of Release 2025/2026—where church members are encouraged to volunteer with BRMC’s community ministries through small Connect groups.
BRMC member Emily Lim-Leh spoke with Rev Joshua Kwok, Rev Gilbert Lok, and their wives to discover why they chose to welcome these children into their families.
“It started when my wife dropped a bomb on me. Jayna asked if we could be foster parents,” Rev Joshua, 34, said. “She had been convicted after attending a fostering information-sharing session organised by a Social Service Agency (SSA). I told her that we should pray and discern together. But in my heart, I thought, Hah??“
That conversation took place in August 2023. Rev Joshua had just joined BRMC’s pastoral team. He was in a new work environment with a steep learning curve. He did not want such a commitment—his heart was “locked”.
When God unlocks a reluctant heart
Ng of 3:16 Church shared this: “There are about 600 churches in Singapore. If every church in Singapore fosters just one child, we can provide foster homes for most of the vulnerable children who can benefit from a family environment.”
Rev Joshua was captured by this vision, and his heart partially unlocked. In October 2023, Rev Joshua and Jayna, then 31 and 34 years old, signed up to offer foster care through Epworth Community Services (Epworth), an SSA affiliated to BRMC. It took around nine months, from interviews to training sessions by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to waiting for the right match with a foster child. In July 2024, they received their first placement as foster parents and started off as respite carers, i.e. they would provide short-term care for foster children. They took in three-year-old B for six days, providing B’s foster family a week of respite. In August, B stayed with them for over two weeks. By then, they were aware that B’s foster parents might be relocating.
Then, in early September 2024, the call came. Could they take over as B’s foster parents? A foster child might stay with a foster family for a few months or years, returning to live with birth parents when the home environment is assessed to be stable and safe.
Rev Joshua struggled. As he prayed, he felt God break open his heart for B. He became deeply convicted and was finally ready to be a foster parent with Jayna.
Radical hospitality
For Rev Gilbert Lok, 43, and his wife Grace, 39, theirs was a journey to becoming respite carers. Grace had attended an event organised by Home for Good, Singapore—a network of foster parents, adoptive parents and volunteers. She was convicted when someone pointed her to the Bible verse Psalm 68:6 (NIV), “God sets the lonely in families.”
In her previous job with an SSA, Grace, who is a social work supervisor and licensed play therapist, had worked with children in foster care. “I’ve seen the difference it makes when foster kids experience warmth and care when living in foster homes,” Grace said.
Rev Gilbert and Grace prayed together in coming to their decision. “We are all adopted children in God’s family,” Grace said. “We can do the same for vulnerable children … giving them a home and practising radical hospitality.”
In 2022, they volunteered with Boys’ Town (an SSA) as respite carers under its Sanctuary Care’s respite care service.1 Their role was to provide short-term stays in their home for young children of families in crisis—which could be financial needs, medical emergencies and more. This arrangement comes with the goal of the child returning home when the natural family’s crisis is resolved.
The first child, 11-year-old girl A, stayed with Rev Gilbert and Grace for three weeks. The second child, 7-year-old girl S, has been staying with them on weekends since July 2025.
“We had some anticipatory concerns, such as how we would adjust our work schedules based on each child’s needs,” Rev Gilbert said. “We decided to enlist the help of both our mothers, who were vetted as carers.”
Rev Gilbert has been reading bedtime stories, first to A, and now to S. He was surprised that both girls looked forward to the daily 15-minute routine. He also tutored A, who needed help with math.
“I am only able to spend a few hours with S on weekends due to my work,” Rev Gilbert said. “But I take that time to listen and let S express her thoughts. That act of being present lets her feel God’s love coming from me.”
I am only able to spend a few hours with S on weekends due to my work,” Rev Gilbert said. “But I take that time to listen and let S express her thoughts. That act of being present lets her feel God’s love coming from me.
With consent from both girls’ natural parents, Grace brought A, and now S, with her to church on Sundays. Their church friends have rallied strongly around them, inviting them and the child in their care for playdates with their children.
Though their weekends are now packed, Grace feels that the sacrifices that they have made are small compared to the joy of obeying God in their calling as respite carers.
As for Rev Joshua and Jayna, both worked on weekends, with Jayna employed as BRMC’s pastoral team staff and counsellor. As such, they sought both their parents’ help to be vetted as respite carers for B.
The Kwoks’ fostering journey has been supported by Epworth, which handled the placement of their foster child.
An Epworth Foster Care Worker checks in regularly with foster families and maintains a 24/7 hotline which foster families can call during emergencies. Epworth also assists foster parents with applying for subsidies and tapping on other support services such as training programmes.
Epworth was appointed by MSF as the first fostering agency in Singapore in September 2015. It recently crossed its 10th anniversary, having served over 340 foster children and 220 foster parents. These children may have been abused, neglected or have family members facing mental health issues or incarceration.
Epworth’s Senior Manager Angie Cham believes that Epworth’s work in foster care can help these vulnerable children to rewrite their life scripts and look to a better future.
Jayna’s prayer is that their love as foster parents can help B to find healing and experience God’s love.
Loving without reservation
Rev Joshua acknowledges that fostering comes with challenges. “Why foster, knowing one day, our foster child B will return to his natural family? Am I going to withhold my love for B because I fear heartbreak? This is not what Christ’s love is about. We are to love with our whole heart, with the love that Christ has given to us.”
Why foster, knowing one day, our foster child B will return to his natural family? Am I going to withhold my love for B because I fear heartbreak? This is not what Christ’s love is about. We are to love with our whole heart, with the love that Christ has given to us.
“Not everyone is called to foster,” Rev Joshua adds. “But all of us are called to care for the vulnerable. You can volunteer on an ad-hoc basis or help with short-term respite care.2 As we know our adopted identity in Christ, it should spur us to adoption, fostering and other acts of mercy.”