| World Challenge

  • Working in the Graveyards

    Rachel Chimits
    June 19, 2019

    Bangladesh’s most impoverished and discriminated-against group is slowly opening up to outsiders and the good news of Jesus Christ.

    Aatmaja waits by the gates, wreathed in the scents of smoldering camphor and incense, burning bamboo and bodies.

    The cremation grounds are filled with pyres, feet often poking out with the big toes tied together. Families gather around the hottest burning ones, chanting matras that will hopefully help their loved one achieve “moksha,” freedom from the endless cycle of death and rebirth.

    Another family enters the grounds, carrying a body on poles, everyone careful not to touch it. That’s Aatmaja’s job, that and tending the pyres, because she has no caste status or purity to lose.

    She’s a Dom, the lowest strata of the untouchable caste “Dalits.”

  • Believers Banding Together

    Rachel Chimits
    June 18, 2019

    As natural disaster hits Kenya, the local church is reaching out to bring a saving message and much-needed supplies to the hardest hit communities.

    Famine has hit Sub-Saharan Africa.

    In Kenya alone, about one million people are facing starvation. Cattle and other livestock are dropping out on the arid fields where drought and locusts have cleared away all but the thorniest plants. 

  • God’s Greatest Commands

    World Challenge Staff
    June 17, 2019

    When Priya* and her husband accepted Christ, their neighbors weren’t excited. Vicious gossip began circulating, and the pressure to convert back to Hinduism became intense.

    “At times,” she confessed, “I wanted to give up and become Hindu again.”

    World Challenge partners came to Priya’s church and talked about living as a light for God in the neighborhood.

    Her heart was struck by Matthew 22:35-40 where Jesus lays out the Bible’s greatest commandment: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart’ ... And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

    Being a Servant

    Priya had noticed that the drainage between the houses was full of mud and rotten garbage; flies and mosquitoes formed thick clouds over the muck.

  • Stranger in a Strange Land

    Rachel Chimits
    June 13, 2019

    Part of World Challenge’s domestic mission work is reaching refugees making their home in the United States.

    The Refugee Project released a shocking statistic: “Nearly 69 million people have been displaced from their home due to war, persecution or violence. That’s one of every 111 people on the planet.”

    In 2017, the United States had over 280,000 refugees enter, the majority of them from Asian countries where governments are cracking down on Christian churches. 

    A Barrier of Tests

    Many U.S. citizens might be shocked to learn how difficult it is for a refugee to enter the country.

  • Caring for the Homeless in Lithuania

    Rachel Chimits
    June 12, 2019

    One woman is working hard to make sure that those often neglected by her hometown have somewhere safe to go. 

    Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, is the country’s largest city and famous for its historical architecture. Mark Buzzetta, Director of World Challenge’s Mercy Missions, wasn’t there to see castles and museums, though. Instead, he was looking for a food kitchen.

    Larisa is the founder of Charity Kitchen and one of World Challenge’s partners. She has a huge heart for the neglected elderly and homeless in a city that often has little time for either.

    1 Corinthians 1:18 has motivated her to carry on in the face of criticism for feeding the homeless: “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.” 

  • Youth in the Heart of Africa

    Arthur Manirambona
    June 11, 2019

    Concern for the young people and future of Burundi is what drives one young man, a World Challenge scholarship student at Summit.

    I am from Bujumbura, the capital city* of Burundi in East Africa.

    Raised in a non-Christian family, I started drinking when I was 6 years old. It’s not uncommon for people to start drinking at an early age with the traditions in our community.

    Later, I started going to clubs when I was about 12 years old. I used to sneak out of my house late at night. The men at the club didn’t care about my age as long as I could pay. Especially on Friday night, I would go out with friends and buy drinks.

    In high school, one of my friends told me the gospel then invited me to a movie night at church because he knew that I’m a fan of movies. Through that movie and my friend, I got saved.

  • Holy Healing in the Dominican Republic

    Rachel Chimits
    June 10, 2019

    Local leaders and medical students are working to more effectively spread the gospel to rural communities.

    Over a decade ago, Tom and Nancy Hinton founded Barnabas Task to help address many of the medical needs in Central American communities, but they had a larger vision for these health clinics.

    They focused on evangelism and leadership training for locals who were becoming involved in the work. Only a change in people’s hearts could bring the community-wide change many of these volunteers passionately wanted to see.

    As leaders naturally sprang up, Tom and Nancy began handing more and more of the ministry responsibilities over to the local team, until the ministry in the Dominican Republic was entirely run by people living in the communities where they were serving.

  • Acting Out the “E” Word

    Rachel Chimits
    June 7, 2019

    Evangelism is becoming an increasingly touchy subject both outside and inside the church.

    A Discipleship Pathway Assessment study found that “most Protestant churchgoers say they are eager to talk to others about Jesus, and are praying for opportunities to share their faith. But most say they have not had any evangelistic conversations in the past six months.”

    Is modern Western culture making evangelism more difficult than it was before? This seems unlikely. Every generation has faced obstacles to sharing the gospel.

    So why do Christians feel like they can’t or shouldn’t evangelize? 

  • Running the Good Race

    Rachel Chimits
    June 6, 2019

    Pastors around the world need encouragement, refreshment and prayer from their fellow believers.

    Recently, Gary Wilkerson, Kelly Wilkerson, Nicky Cruz and Carter Conlon were invited along with other pastors and leaders to speak at a pastors’ conference in Kenya. 

    The vice president of Kenya’s wife, Rachel Ruto, is passionate about encouraging the church in her country. She organized and laid the way for everyone who came to speak as well as for many of the attendees to be aware of the event and able to attend.

    The purpose of this conference was to encourage Kenya’s spiritual leaders, whether they were from a Nairobi megachurch or a tiny village’s house church. 

  • An Orphan Turned Mother

    Rachel Chimits
    June 4, 2019

    Many of Lithuania’s children have grown up without families, but one woman is working to give them a home.

    Reda spent four years in a children’s home during the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. Later, as a young adult, she was moved to a dormitory with other children like herself. No one seemed to care about them, and they had to find jobs and otherwise prepare for the adult world alone.

    “There was no help for kids in the homes,” she said, remembering that time. “Even then I wondered why.”

    When she turned 24, Reda was saved, and she strongly felt the Lord said, “Reach out to these children.” God gave her a wonderful husband, and they began raising their own family, but God’s call on her life was always in the back of her mind.