Rejoice!

Partners like you have helped make it possible for more than 100,000 men and women to be trained for ministry.

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.”

Bishop Daniel

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

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.”

Pastor Birkley (pictured) faithfully offers medical treatment and Christ’s love to people in need.

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.”

Praise God, Jenette (pictured third from the left) and her family now have more hope for the future.

At age 75, Jenette was a mother again. Jenette’s daughter had disappeared, leaving Jenette to care for her five grandchildren. With five extra mouths to feed, the weight of poverty became nearly unbearable. To make matters worse, Jenette’s eyesight was growing increasingly dim, making even the simplest tasks challenging.

By cutting nearly all expenses, Jenette was able to provide some food for her grandchildren, but severe malnutrition still plagued them. And Jenette had no funds to send her grandchildren to school—no way to give them a future beyond their current plight.

“I praise You, Lord, for Your unwavering love and kindness shown through Your people!” — Jenette

Then one of Jenette’s grandchildren was enrolled in GFA’s Child Sponsorship Program, and the whole family began receiving help. The children received school supplies, and their school fees were covered. The family received food to combat malnutrition. With the extra help, Jenette watched her grandchildren become healthy again—and knew that their futures were now far brighter.

Jenette’s future also became more hopeful. At trainings hosted by the sponsorship program, Jenette learned income-generating and resource-management skills, empowering her to overcome poverty. Today, her prayer is that the sponsorship program will continue bringing hope to more families like hers.

You, friend, are an answer to her prayer. Thank you for showing Christ’s love to families in need.

We appreciate Bill and Mary Jane’s dedication to reach hard-to-reach areas!

For decades, GFA partner Bill and his wife, Mary Jane, have had a heart for people living in the world’s hard-to-reach areas. “The calling on my life up to this point has been to either go to the [hardest-to-reach] or support the [hardest-to-reach],” Bill shares. “We want to make successful those who are engaged in that kind of ministry.”

Bill and Mary Jane’s part in bringing the Good News to hard-to-reach communities has looked different over the years. In the late 1990s, after K.P. Yohannan came to speak at their church, the couple began supporting national missions. Later, their family served as missionaries in Mongolia for four years. Today, Bill and Mary Jane partner with several ministries, including as GFA World Bridge Builders, to bring the Gospel to those who need it most.

Bill knows that this call on his life is not something he manufactured himself—it is part of the very heart of God. That is what keeps him passionate, even after more than thirty years of involvement.

“Passion … in and of itself can only last for a short time,” he says. “It needs to be fueled by the passion to know Jesus Himself and to hear His heart. And as you hear His heart and feel His heart, it will change you within, but it will also change what your own passions, what your own desires, are. … It’s then that you continue supporting things like this.”

The Psalmist tells us, “the heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the saints” (Psalm 89:5). Just as the Lord is praised in heaven because of His awesome works, we also praise God for His mighty deeds shared in this newsletter—deeds of healing, answered prayer and redemption—and we are honored to share them with you, the assembly of the saints! He truly is faithful.

We also rejoice in you, our partners in the Gospel, and your faithfulness to the Lord. Thank you for following His example and caring for “the least of these.” Because of you, many lives are being restored by the Lord. May He be with them, and you, always..  —Your GFA Family

K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan)

The call to follow Christ affects every part of your life, and by it you see all else. It inspires you to joyfully forsake all else to pursue it. It continually urges from within your heart, “They may; but you cannot. Be different. There is a higher call that you must follow.”

My wife, Gisela, was barely 14 years old when she felt a distinct burden come on her heart: I am called by the Lord to be a missionary. I want nothing else for my life.

As a symbol of her call, she took a South American coin and bored a hole into it, and with a leather string, she tied it around her neck. “Now,” she said to herself, “every time I look into the mirror or feel the coin around my neck, it will remind me that I am set apart by the Lord. Twenty-four hours a day, I am not my own. I must live to reach the lost.”

 All these years later, she hasn’t wavered. During the many times when the wind seemed to beat against us so strong, Gisela has stood by my side with such faithfulness to our Lord. Words cannot tell how grateful I am for her.

Brothers and sisters, we are not our own. We have been bought with a price (see 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Be different. Follow the higher call.