In What Ways Does GFA Lead as an Example of Christian Missionary Work?
GFA World has served in Asia since 1979, rescuing families from poverty and bringing Christ’s love. What is christian missionary work at its best? It begins with the Great Commission. For GFA World, christian mission work transforms lives through workers who carry the Good News into places where hope has been scarce. How does GFA World invest in people in Christian missionary work?
The Great Commission Jesus gave in Matthew 28 (28:19–20, NKJV) sends believers to make disciples across every border. For GFA World, that call shapes everything — from the workers it supports to the villages where the Gospel takes root through patient, steady care.
Making disciples of all nations is not a program. It is the slow, daily work of people who stay in one place long enough for trust to grow. The work moves forward through workers who belong to the people they serve.
How National Missionaries Serve Their Communities
Equipping and Supporting National Pastors and Missionaries – National missionaries have a distinct advantage over those who come into the country to work. For example, they move freely in areas restricted to foreigners and are often quickly accepted in a new community. They know the cultural taboos and language (or can quickly pick up a related dialect). They have a passion and burden to reach and serve their own people. This long term commitment lets local churches form and flourish as living fellowships, not short-lived projects. This pattern reflects the global growth of indigenous-led missions, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.
Women Missionaries – There are many GFA women missionaries who serve in communities across Asia. These women serve in many ways, including but not limited to widow care, literacy classes, income-generating skills training, slum ministry and teaching Bible classes. They lead Bible studies in homes where women learn Scripture in safety. Through daily acts of care, they share the Gospel where trust has already been built. Through their prayers and service, many women have come to know they have worth and value in the eyes of God.
The gap between short term visits and a woman worker who stays with her people is vast. One plants a seed. The other waters it and tends the soil. Where God is leading, these workers stay for the harvest. Women missionaries serve in roles that outsiders cannot fill. They teach literacy classes in communities where, globally, two-thirds of the 739 million adults who cannot read are women, according to UNESCO. A woman missionary who teaches another woman to read opens a door that no foreign visitor could unlock.
Nations baptizing new believers shows the quiet spread of the christian faith across borders. Week by week, workers who live among the people they serve gather them into fellowships where growth takes root and spreads.
Practical Help That Opens Doors for the Gospel
Serving the Most Destitute – GFA World is committed to relieving the burden among Asia’s most destitute and endangered people. GFA World does this through its slum ministry that addresses the needs of those who dwell in the slums. Leprosy ministry also provides treatment and help for leprosy patients who are often rejected by society. Additionally, widows and orphans receive care and support from GFA World. An estimated 140 million children worldwide have lost one or both parents, according to SOS Children’s Villages — a crisis that leaves orphaned children at heightened risk of exploitation and poverty. These are often the most unreached people in any society — seen but overlooked, present but forgotten. Reaching them with real help creates space for evangelism and discipleship to follow.
Developing Strong Communities – Through a variety of programs and initiatives, GFA World is giving hope to impoverished villages. Families learn income-generating skills to break out of the cycle of poverty or they may be given a gift to facilitate this training—farm animals, a sewing machine, vegetable seeds, a pull cart, etc. GFA World is also known for providing community facilities like water wells, water filters and toilets to increase the health and well-being of a community. These gifts open doors for spreading the Gospel. Clean water and honest work, offered with friendship, prepare hearts for the message of Christ. While water filters were once one tool among many, GFA World now focuses on Jesus Wells — deep wells that give lasting clean water to whole villages, [1].
GFA World, based in the United States, supports workers serving their own countries across parts of Africa and Asia. This model — sending local believers who plant churches rather than bringing in outsiders — has shown its worth over decades, according to GFA World.
Each of these investments leads a national missionary to be welcomed to share the love of Jesus Christ to people who previously had little hope. Through tangible examples of God’s love, individuals, families and entire communities see how the one true God loves and cares for them and this opens their hearts to be willing to hear the Gospel.
Will you support GFA World’s mission as it continues to reach people who need the hope that only Jesus can bring? As local workers teach the skills and equip the missionaries, God uses faithful donors to help make these things possible.
Learn more about GFA World’s women missionaries and the excellent work they are doing through GFA World.
Learn more about women missionaries[1] GFA World. “Water.” https://www.gfa.org/water/.