| World Challenge

  • 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.

  • Why People Leave Church

    Rachel Chimits
    June 3, 2019

    In our current culture of pluralism and individuality, a fair amount of controversy surrounds church, who leaves and why they leave.

    A Pew Research Center survey found that one in every two self-identified Christian believers who don’t attend church say that they “practice their faith in other ways.”

    In the same survey, over half also said their absence was because they hadn’t found “a church or house of worship they liked.”

    About 48 percent cited “not enough time” as their reason for not going to church.

  • A Beautiful Home

    Rachel Chimits
    May 30, 2019

    God brought one young woman out of a seemingly hopeless spiral and then blessed her with an incredible surprise.

    Ashley was a cheerleader at her high school. Popular, pretty, she had ambitious dreams for a future in the medical field.

    Life was buzzing right along between her family and friends, figuring out who was secretly crushing on whom, prepping for the next prom and keeping abreast of the most recent gossip about that hot new kid in her class.

    She had her feet on the car’s dash, absently chatting to her friend and checking her phone when a car smashed into them.

    A flare of light, a fan of shattered glass wrapped around the screech of bending metal.  

  • Mercy in the Slum

    Rachel Chimits
    May 29, 2019

    In Kenya’s grittiest and most impoverished sector, God is bringing incredible change to people’s hearts and lives.

    As the sun rises on the eastern part of Kenya’s capital, it brings to light one of the world largest slums: Mathare.

    The third largest in Africa, this slum is home to some 500,000 people scraping together a living in grinding poverty.

    Despite an initiative by Kenya’s government to provide the slums with better sanitation, a single toilet in Mathare may be shared by as few as 70 people or as many as several hundred. Hygiene is an issue, to say the least.