GFA World Newsletter

August 2025, Vol. 22, No. 4

Gianna knows the privilege it is to be part of the family of God, and she’s passionate about sharing His love with others who aren’t yet part of that family. But perhaps she wouldn’t have this same passion today if it weren’t for the brokenness she experienced as a young child.

Gianna doesn’t remember worshiping anyone back then. She, her mother and her brothers lived separately from her father. Then, when she was 8, a traumatic incident changed everything: Gianna’s father and his relatives murdered her mother.

After this horrific tragedy, Gianna and her brothers went to live with her maternal grandparents and uncle, who were Christians.

“Because of them, we came to know the love of God,” Gianna explains.

She saw God work in people’s lives through her family’s presence in their community. They were the only Christians in their remote, forested village, and many of the other villagers limited interaction with them. Yet even these neighbors respected Gianna’s family and asked them to pray when someone was sick.

In addition to seeing her family’s example and attending church with them, Gianna attended a Christian school. There, she decided to follow Christ. As Gianna grew older, she wanted to grow in Christ through Bible education. But she had no idea where she could go for such training.

Then one day, a GFA pastor walked to Gianna’s home. “Are you ready to come to Bible college?” he asked her.

“Yes, I’m ready to come!” she said, overjoyed.

“We cannot wait for tomorrow.” — Gianna

She trained in a regional Bible college for one year. Then, after hearing about Sisters of the Cross, she underwent a six-month specialized training to minister to people often forgotten or neglected by society. For her first assignment, she served in a leprosy colony where many people had become followers of Christ.

During their ministry training, GFA missionaries grow in knowledge and experience Christ’s love in a nurturing community.

As she cooked food, trimmed fingernails and cleaned house for leprosy patients, she saw how they experienced joy and love in Christ despite the damage the disease had inflicted on their bodies.

“I lost my mother’s love, but in that mission field, they loved me so much as their own daughter,” she says. “And we also cared for them like their own daughters. … We were in one family in Christ, so really it was a blessed time.”

After more than six years in ministry, Gianna sensed the Lord directing her for further theological education at seminary. There she learns and worships alongside other staff and students. Their kindness and love foster a nurturing community where Gianna is growing in knowledge of God’s Word and passion for His name. Though she still waits for her next assignment in ministry, she knows she wants people to experience that same love in the family of God.

“I would like to meet the people and share with them the Good News of God because we may not get [another] chance,” she says. “We cannot wait for tomorrow.”

Imagine hearing those words from the Lord. What kind of life would it require to be called “faithful” in the end?

We tend to think of faithfulness as grand actions or bold decisions in defining moments, but faithfulness is often many small choices adding up over time. It’s maintaining a humble and teachable heart; repenting often; forgiving generously; taking God’s promises seriously; praying throughout the day, and practicing thankfulness. These are simple things, but they are born out of discipline and commitment.

Each decision we make pushes us forward on a path that will either draw us closer to the Lord’s heart or pull us further from Him. When we are faithful in the small things, we grow in our ability to be ready when God gives us bigger opportunities.

Take a moment to think of someone used mightily by God. Their incredible testimony didn’t happen overnight. They got to that place through many small decisions over a long period of time. When I think about the men and women who are carrying the ministry of GFA World forward, I recognize they are people who have consistently chosen to lay down their lives, day after day, in quiet, constant faithfulness. It’s people like Sister Gianna, and like Bill and Mary Jane, whose stories you’ll read in these pages, and it’s people like you.

The Lord has raised up many dedicated individuals, like yourself, to stand with us, to daily choose to invest their lives praying for people and places they will never see in this lifetime. They faithfully sacrifice for the sake of those who don’t know Christ.

As you read this issue of Rejoice!, my hope is that you are strengthened to endure in whatever it is God has called you to do. May the Lord give us grace to faithfully walk the path that He has laid out for us until the day we hear those incredible words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

May God bless you,
Bishop Daniel
President

Download K.P. Yohannan’s book about finishing strong!

Jesus Well Installed for 30 Families
In a village where our child sponsorship program was recently established, the only source of water was contaminated with arsenic. A Jesus Well was drilled for the 30 families living there; they are all daily wage laborers. “Within a year, our center has made a positive impact as well as gained the community’s acceptance,” shared a child sponsorship staff member.

Three Generations Praising the Lord
David and Sindi’s dream of children was dashed when they were both diagnosed with HIV in their twenties. Desperate, they visited a local church, where they heard of Jesus and put their faith in Him. Jesus healed them both, and they soon gave birth to their first healthy baby boy, Seth. David’s parents also put their trust in the Lord, and now all three generations worship the Lord together.

Relief for Fire Victims
On January 8, 2025, a fire completely engulfed 30 homes in a slum where GFA has ministry. GFA workers provided relief items, including food, clothes and kitchen utensils. “We lost everything in the fire,” said Maksen, a relief recipient. “I am so blessed by the [church’s] arrival here and the distribution of the relief materials during the time of our difficulties.”

2,000 Villagers Watch a Jesus Film
A film about Jesus in the local language was shown in 5 villages of Rwanda. More than 2,000 people watched the film of Jesus’ life for the first time. After the film, Christian literature was distributed, and many villagers invited the GFA missionaries to their homes for prayer.

First Women’s Fellowship Conference in Kigali, Rwanda
On March 8, 2025, International Women’s Day, 232 women attended the first Women’s Fellowship Conference in Kigali, Rwanda, where they were taught from Proverbs 31 and Matthew 5:14-16. “I am blessed to be a member of the church,” said Nadia, “which deeply cares about the emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of women.”

As Pastor Birkley treks to a GFA medical camp in a remote village, he doesn’t know whom he’ll meet. Their problems may be common, treatable issues, such as parasites or skin diseases, or they may be debilitating, complex health problems. Pastor Birkley wants them to experience the same healing he once found.

Growing up, Birkley saw people in his community suffer because they couldn’t access medical care. This influenced his decision to become a medical doctor. But his true calling wouldn’t be realized until after Birkley himself experienced a crisis.

It was first a crisis of faith. Disillusioned, he abandoned his family’s beliefs. Then someone told him about Jesus. As Birkley sought Christ, he found peace.

A few months later, however, that peace was tested. Afflicted with severe back pain, Birkley underwent a spinal operation that left him bedridden for three months. He didn’t fully recover, though. His parents blamed his new faith, but Birkley prayed, believing Jesus could heal him. After receiving treatment in a nearby country, God gradually healed him. Grateful, Birkley fully surrendered his life to Christ.

Birkley practiced medicine five years before making another life-changing decision: to become a GFA missionary.

As a pastor, Birkley continued to see the troubles faced by communities lacking medical knowledge and care. Often, people experienced treatable ailments but couldn’t travel hours on treacherous roads to reach the nearest medical facility, or they couldn’t afford treatment. Sometimes, lacking education, they heeded superstitions that made things worse. Pastor Birkley knew the church could help, and he would play a special role.

Now, while pastoring a church, Pastor Birkley regularly travels with other medical professionals to villages to offer free check-ups, treatment and health education at GFA medical camps. He leaves with stories of people whose lives have been impacted—like a lady who received help after suffering from gastroenteritis for 10 years or an elderly man whose breathing difficulties eased after Pastor Birkley treated and prayed for him.

“Christ told us to serve and help people in need,” says Birkley, “and that is the reason why we go and do what we do. … God not only heals them through the medicines that we give them but also heals their spiritual being.”