Stories from the Field

In parts of Asia where Christians are not typically welcomed, World Challenge partners are building relationships and sharing the good news.

Yasira* is a respected Islamic woman and leader in a closed Southeast Asian country. In 2018, our team met her through a livelihood program for raising goats and developed a strong friendship with her. 

World Challenge’s partners in Brazil are working with communities to care for those who are ostracized and unloved.

Macumba is an old, spiritual practice in parts of Brazil, a blend of Portuguese Catholicism, ancient indigenous superstitions and witchcraft practices brought by slaves from West Africa. 

Believers in South Asia are working to be a sweet aroma among their neighbors but most of all to their Father in heaven.

Pastor Shalva* in South Asia was recently introduced to Community Health Evangelism through our World Challenge partner. He became very interested in the concepts of reaching the whole person for Christ and started implementing this into his own ministry. 

God revealed himself as the divine and loving healer to a woman and her grandson and, as a result, many of her neighbors.

Dina was from a very poor Hindu family in Bangladesh. She knew about Christians because she had met World Challenge’s partners in her city and been introduced to their church. Her family had been Hindus for several generations, though, so why should she change this longstanding tradition?

God introduced himself into one young girl’s life, and now as she becomes a young adult, she’s seeing how the road he’s set her on is a unique blessing.

Juli grew up in Iba village, near Albania’s capital Tirana. She was introduced to church and a children’s club run by World Challenge’s partner as a little girl. A very shy and reserved child, she still came every week with a friend. 

Has something ever happened to you that causes joy in such abundance that you just have to tell someone? This happened to me recently.

One lady’s generous heart toward orphaned children in Kenya ultimately turned her life toward her own heavenly Father.

Tembea

(verb) Swahili

 To walk around, often without a specific purpose or without a particular destination in mind. To wander aimlessly.

Distance, struggles, pain and Satan’s lies can cause us to question God, our faith, and our impact for the kingdom of heaven.

As a trainer and facilitator of poverty solution teams in Southeast Asia, I sometimes ask myself, “Are we impacting and transforming lives? Is the kingdom of God actually working through us to push back the darkness and bring forth hope, abundant life and reconciliation?” 

The answers to these questions are in the signs of new life. 

Community leaders in Haiti are reaching out to the younger generation to help them see a different future to which God is calling them.

CEO of the Global Fund for Women, Musimbi Kanyoro, spoke in a TED talk about the Maragoli concept of “isirika,” which is a mutual responsibility to care for one another. 

The power of prayer has always been an integral part of World Challenge’s ministry, and we are honored to intercede on the behalf of our partners around the world.