Stories from the Field

God is reaching out to those who have lost nearly everything in this small Eastern European country.

World Challenge’s partner churches in Lithuania have a motto in their city outreaches to widows and those trapped in inner-city poverty: Food kitchen ministries must not stop with feeding people.

Eating will temporarily satisfy a physiological human need, but people who come to the church kitchen should get much more.

God is working through the church in Burundi to help widows and orphans survive great emotional and economic hardship.

“My husband abandoned me and our two children,” one woman in Burundi shared with a World Challenge partner. “He’s a ‘pastor’ and now on his third wife.”

In a culture that traditionally views Christianity as a cult, one church’s work to overcome this has taken the form of food packages.

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is wrestling with freedom from the Russian Orthodox Church—which has often been an accessory to Russian political leaders—and trying to transfer its authority to a new archbishop.

India is a land of intense spiritual darkness, but in the midst of this, God is calling out his children to light and new life.

“Shitala” in Sanskrit means “the one who cools,” and among the Hindu gods, she is believed to cure people of skin diseases and fevers, particularly children. Her day of worship comes right after Holi, the festival of love where people are called to forgive others and repair broken relationships.

World Challenge partners are working to make sure one very special Cambodian girl can make it through school. 

When Rachana was a baby, her feet were unusually large. Her parents examined them then shrugged. They had no money to take her to a doctor, so like many Cambodian parents, they simply made do as best they could.

One widow remembers her harrowing childhood being taken captive by Uganda’s LRA and then barely surviving a tragic accident in a refugee camp.

How many of you remember the Kony2012 video?

It was a call to action, a cry for us to stop the human rights violations and atrocities that the Lord’s Resistance Army was inflicting on central Africa. In a few days, the video garnered millions of views.

God heard one woman’s prayers for what seemed like an impossible situation with her husband.

The border of Cambodia has known decades of conflict as French colonialists, the kingdom of Siam and the Khmer Rouge swept the whole region like a deadly blaze.

Throughout it all, many people clung to their traditional religion as the last bastion of their culture: Buddhism mixed with ancestor worship and animistic spirits.

A young woman trying to find her own freedom instead discovered that she couldn't escape her family's sorrows without God's help.

The Teen Challenge in Eswatini is dedicated to not only helping those struggling with addictions to recover, but also helping them reconnect with their families and children.

One Filipino church’s rough start in their new community turned out to be a perfect blessing for opening people’s hearts to God’s truth.

World Challenge partners’ work in the Philippines has sought to show people how they can have godly community through education and relationships.

A huge part of this has been helping people see how salvation should affect not only their own lives but also their families and neighborhoods.

One man in Nicaragua was stripped of his job only to find an unexpected opportunity to know and serve his God.

At 52 years old, Eduardo’s main focus was providing for his two daughters. He worked in the free trade zone and had labored in a sweat shop for nearly 13 years until he was suddenly let go.

When he asked why, he was told, “Oh, we’re downsizing.”