GFA World Newsletter

December 2025, Vol. 22, No. 6

Once again, life had dealt Tula a cruel blow—her husband of more than 30 years was gone. Maybe this new grief stirred in Tula’s mind the same questions that had begun nagging her decades earlier: Why did she have a life of suffering, pain and sorrow? Was that all there was? Now she had an opportunity to find answers, but was she ready?

Child Marriage and Consistent Challenges

Tula had married when she was only 14. She grew up in a remote, wooded, agrarian village, part of a community with its own language and culture. Marrying at such a young age might have been acceptable there, but it caused Tula hardship. Only a girl, she labored alongside her husband and in-laws, harvesting rice and vegetables.

They depended on her for help earning income. Then, at age 16, Tula had a miscarriage. For several months, she struggled to recover and lay confined to bed. Then it was back to work, but she still felt weak, making physical labor even more difficult. That’s when she began wondering why her life was so hard: Why do I have such a life? Why do I not have a life like … rich people? Why is my life all about … pain and sorrow?

At age 17, a joyous moment peaked through the gloom of Tula’s life when she gave birth to a daughter. The next few years brought more changes. Tula and her husband moved out of her in-laws’ house and into their own home. And they welcomed two more children, boys, into the family. Life still held many challenges for the growing family, though, and perhaps Tula never stopped wondering why genuine joy seemed elusive. The death of Tula’s husband must have only added to Tula’s sorrow. A widow at age 48, she moved in with her youngest son.

Finding Answers

Meanwhile, Kohen had grown up in the same village. He, too, had needed hope and purpose. When a GFA pastor, Emmanuel, visited the village and told Kohen and his friend about Jesus Christ, both young men found new life. They decided to follow Christ and later attended Bible college. Then they went back to share Christ’s love in their own village since no one else there knew Him.

Eventually, Kohen began pastoring a growing church there. But he didn’t forget about the people in his village who were still hurting—Tula was one of them. He often visited her, but she wasn’t interested in hearing about Christ.

Over time, however, Tula’s attitude shifted. Maybe she had grown desperate for the answers to her life’s questions, and his words rang true. She realized she needed a relationship with Jesus, who held the keys to lasting joy in heaven. Eventually, Tula decided to walk with Him forever.

Finally, Tula knew life was not made only for suffering. She began growing closer to Christ daily and longed for her children to one day know Him, too. In Christ, she has found peace and joy.

News always traveled fast in my father’s village. Every morning while we were there, he and I would walk to a little tea shop down the street. There we’d find an old man sitting out front while his wife sold tea and the village men hung out swapping stories, exchanging gossip and telling all the news from the neighborhood. Whether it was good news or bad news, everyone would hear it before long.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have lived in a community like that. I imagine that might be why she left to visit her cousin Elizabeth—she wanted to directly share the news she’d just heard from the angel Gabriel. When we read of their reunion in Luke 1, it’s pretty incredible: Elizabeth hears Mary’s greeting, and her unborn son leaps within her. The child in Elizabeth’s womb responds with joy at the presence of the Lord! It’s a prophetic moment, foreshadowing how John the Baptist will be the Forerunner. He is given the honor of telling everyone the news of the coming Messiah!

But the excitement goes beyond the part he gets to play. The real joy lies in that, after waiting so long for the Messiah, now He is in our midst. Christ has come! Their long vigil was nearing an end.

The Advent season is a special time of celebrating the presence of God. We also wait for the promise of Christ’s return. Every Sunday, Christians around the globe gather for worship and joyfully proclaim that Christ has come … and will come again.

At Christmas, and always, we don’t want to just look backwards. We also want to look ahead to the return of Christ. And it is because we believe that He is coming back for us that we also go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of “God with us.” That joy is what fuels missionaries like Azai and believers like Rachel, whose stories are shared in this issue of Rejoice!

I think back to that tea shop in my father’s village. Times have changed, and the shop is not there now. The chance to share news there is over. This December, we’ll be given simple opportunities to tell the story of Christ’s coming, and I pray that—just like John the Baptist—our joy will make His presence known to everyone around us.

Merry Christmas,

Bishop Daniel
President

Missionaries Begin Work in Eastern Rwanda

In Rwanda, four Sisters of the Cross and two missionary brothers moved from Kigali to a community in eastern Rwanda where they will serve full time alongside child sponsorship staff. Few churches exist in this area, but as the team shares hope with their neighbors and seeks out the forgotten, they hope to establish a congregation soon!

450 Attend Youth Conference

In April 2025, churches in one region of Asia organized a three-day youth conference centered on the theme “Honor Him in Thy Youth.” 450 young people from local congregations attended.

“I was drained spiritually for a long time,” said one brother. “I was not willing to participate in any spiritual activities, but after attending the sessions and hearing God’s Word, I am encouraged.”

Awareness Programs Reach 1,000

In August 2025, child sponsorship staff in Liberia raised awareness about the importance of education. They held awareness rallies, conducted skits and hosted community meetings to encourage parents and community members to do their part in educating the next generation. The staff reached more than 1,000 people across three communities with these programs.

Compassion, in Memoriam

In Sri Lanka, more than 2,500 people attended a memorial program to commemorate the one-year anniversary of K.P. Yohannan’s departure to be with the Lord. As part of the event, the church donated two ICU beds to a local hospital, gave school supplies to 1,100 children and provided 105 expecting mothers with nutrition packs and supplies.

“This memorial went beyond ceremony,” a special guest remarked. “It was a moment of compassion and service, just as [Metropolitan Yohan] lived his life.”

Church Building Dedicated

On August 1, 2025, a congregation in Nepal dedicated their new church building. The church in this village has been growing since 2008.

“For years, we worshiped in cramped spaces, but now God has given us a sanctuary that reflects His glory,” one believer shared. “I believe this church will become a spiritual home not only for us but for many who are still searching for peace.”

Singing Christmas carols … distributing blankets or groceries to people in need … proclaiming Christ’s birth … visiting leprosy patients or children with disabilities—these are just a few examples of how GFA missionaries and their congregations celebrate Christ each December. As they share the joy of His birth with their communities, the Lord often uses believers’ faithfulness to transform lives. One December, God sent a GFA missionary to Niek and his family when they faced a matter of life and death.

Christmas Visit amid a Crisis

Niek knew his family needed help. Earlier in the year, both his wife and his sister-in-law had passed away with no apparent sickness or explanation. Now, Niek was raising two teenaged daughters alone, and his troubles weren’t over.

One day, Niek visited a witch doctor, who gave his own explanation for why Niek’s wife and sister-in-law had died: An evil power was at work. When Niek returned home, he discovered his older brother had become unwell, plagued by dizziness. Worried, Niek visited the witch doctor again and sacrificed a goat on his brother’s behalf. But Niek’s brother grew only worse and lay confined to bed. Would Niek lose another loved one?

That December, though, GFA pastor Azai and some fellow Christians came to Niek’s village with a message of hope. When the believers visited Niek’s home, they shared about the God whose birth they celebrated. Could this Jesus save Niek’s family from their troubles?

After Pastor Azai’s visit, Niek’s family began experiencing a surpassing peace—and, miraculously, Niek’s brother recovered! From that day on, Niek trusted in Jesus. But there was no church nearby where he could worship with other believers.

Hope for a Community

A few months later, Niek saw Pastor Azai again and thanked the pastor for his visit—and told him of the miracle Jesus had performed for his family. Pastor Azai began visiting regularly to pray with Niek and his family. Neighbors joined, and in a few months, 10 to 15 people were gathering regularly to worship Christ!

Niek, his family and his village found hope because some Christians came to share about the Word who became flesh and dwelled among us. This December, ask God to transform more lives, filling them with lasting joy, as GFA missionaries and their congregations celebrate Christ in their communities.

At age 11, Alaia knew hopelessness. It felt like hunger. It felt like being forced to drop out of school. It felt like watching her parents struggle to provide and knowing that, unless something changed, that struggle would be her future, too.

Then Alaia’s family received a visit from child sponsorship staff, who were beginning a sponsorship program to provide community-wide solutions for the most pressing needs in Alaia’s community. When the staff saw the family’s desperate situation and heard that Alaia had been out of school for the last six months, they immediately offered help.

The child sponsorship program addresses a variety of needs, and in Alaia’s case, she received a new school bag, notebooks, two sets of uniforms and, most importantly, help with school fees. The program also provided her with a one-year bus ticket to ensure that she could travel to and from school.

“I received the necessary things for my education, providing me new hope. I am truly overjoyed.” —Alaia

“Due to lack of money, when my family was struggling to meet our basic needs, affording my education seemed impossible,” Alaia said. “But thanks to the support of [the child sponsorship program], I received the necessary things for my education, providing me new hope. I am truly overjoyed and sincerely thankful for this opportunity.”

Today, Alaia knows hope. It feels like a new uniform. It feels like riding the bus to school. It feels like people believing in you and knowing that the future is bright. Thank you for helping uplift entire communities and provide new hope for children like Alaia!

“Jesus, truly, He’s the only source of joy—true joy—that we can ever experience in this world,” says GFA sponsor Rachel. It’s a simple truth that she’s striven to live by since she was 18. After graduating high school, Rachel planned to go to college and pursue a normal American life. But then two things happened that changed Rachel’s plans entirely.

First, she met a missionary couple who invited her to an open house at the mission school they had attended. Rachel then enrolled in the school herself. During that time, she developed a passion for Asia, hoping to go there as a missionary after her studies.

Second, around the same time, Rachel read K.P. Yohannan’s Revolution in World Missions book. “His book opened my eyes to how materialistic we are here,” Rachel wrote in a journal entry. “… We will never be fulfilled because we are constantly chasing after the things of this world, which is a secular mentality.”

Rachel then determined to fight materialism in her own life by investing her finances in eternity. She began sponsoring kids in GFA’s child sponsorship program. Through these sponsorships, Rachel was able to help share Christ’s love, even after God closed the doors for her to go to Asia as a missionary herself.

“He’s the only source of joy—true joy—that we can ever experience in this world.” —Rachel

Today, Rachel and her husband help support national missionaries who are bringing the hope of Christ to communities in Africa and Asia. Rachel sees this partnership as a safeguard for herself—a practical commitment that helps her keep her eyes on eternity and the true Source of joy. But she also sees the impact her partnership has on others. As she puts it, “I truly believe that helping support [GFA World] is … offering that joy to people that don’t have it.”