Support GFA World’s expanding ministry

GFA World: Showing God’s Love in Africa

The vision of GFA World has always been to touch lives with the love of Jesus Christ. We have served people in need for more than 40 years, reaching a dozen Asian nations by sharing God’s love and helping the poor and needy. We provide clean water; support children’s education; and serve people most overlooked by society, such as widows, leprosy patients and slum residents.

Out of obedience to go into all the world, we were led by the Lord to expand our vision to a new continent: Africa.

For more than a year, we’ve been praying, thinking, making visits and researching about launching a missions-and-church-planting movement in Africa.

1.2 billion

people call Africa their home.

Africa is a continent with one-fifth of the world’s population: 1.2 billion people, across 54 countries and a vast range of terrains, peoples and cultures. Historically, Africa has made significant contributions to the foundation of the Church. Now, about half of the population of Africa is under the age of 15: This is a land bursting with promise.

Yet, in the wake of the 20th century, many regions suffer extreme poverty levels. Many African people groups face tremendous hurdles, such as water crisis and lack of access to health care and education. Nations continue to reconcile the past traumas of genocide and the collective grief of hundreds of thousands of children killed.

GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program has begun in Rwanda

After years of faithfully carrying out the command to “Go and make disciples,” we have the tremendous privilege to carry it out in another part of the world! Our work in Africa has begun with GFA World's Child Sponsorship Program in the slums of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, one of the most densely populated African nations. This is the first of many projects, each with the same vision we started with: to meet tangible needs of precious people and bring the Gospel to those who need it most.

Learn more about GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program »

With more than 40 years of experience, GFA World is equipped to meet the expanding needs of Africa. We’ll soon train and send out national missionaries to share the love of Christ and make disciples, as well as begin clean water projects, medical ministry, provide education for the underprivileged, empower women and implement other community development projects. Our aim is to help those in desperate need by breaking the cycle of poverty and setting lives free through the transforming power of the Gospel.

Rwanda is just the beginning of an exciting new missions frontier for GFA World. We’re thrilled by the privilege to serve in the communities of Kigali, and this is just the beginning of a new ministry hub. By God’s grace, we plan to expand ministry to six other nations in Africa during the next few years. The ministry headquarters now being established will prove to be an integral part of the missions strategy in the years to come.

“We aim to be servants to everyone, showing them Christ through our lifestyle,” said GFA World founder, K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan). “Jesus told his disciples to change the world, and as we expand into Africa, that’s our calling, too.”

Give today to support the work

Your gift to GFA World enables our continued ministry around the world.

How Your Donations Are Applied

We value your donation and are committed to good stewardship of the funds entrusted to us by our friends and donors. All gift options represent GFA’s actual ministry efforts to meet the diverse needs of individuals and communities. Regardless of particular preferences, monies are raised for ministry purposes, and GFA retains discretion to use donated funds in any manner that serves GFA’s charitable objectives.

Current Prayer Requests:

+ Pray for our first missionary team of four experienced Gospel labourers, who are now in Rwanda, that the Lord would use them for His glory.

+ The Lord is already answering prayer, and our first church in Rwanda has been established, already with several hundred believers worshiping the Lord and growing in their faith! Please pray that as they mature in the faith, they will reach out to the suffering in their own communities.

+ Pray that the Lord will raise up at least 10 brothers and 10 sisters from East Africa to join in the discipleship training and missionary outreach team in 2022.

+ Four of our specially trained women missionaries are preparing to inaugurate the Sisters of the Cross ministry in Africa! Please pray for them as they begin this vital area of ministry.

+ Medical missions is one of our major thrusts in Africa because the need and opportunity to serve the unreached in this region through medical ministry is immense. Pray the Lord will help us meet this need.

+ As of 2020, 282 million people in Africa were experiencing hunger—and things have only intensified as the pandemic and global unrest continue to cause long-term ramifications. Pray for the Lord’s mercy, and ask Him to use us and other ministries to be part of the solution in this dire situation.

Common Needs in Africa

Health

Geographic obstacles and other challenges mean many Africans are left without access to medical care. In 2015, around 1.6 million Africans died of preventable, treatable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV-related illnesses.1

Water

Known as a “dry continent,” Africa is second only to Australia in difficulty to access water. While precipitation and water distribution vary by terrain, more than a quarter of Africa’s population has no access to safe drinking water.2

Education

Where poverty strangles communities, education is often exchanged for the requirements of daily survival—and yet, receiving an education is the most important key to breaking the generational cycle of poverty. In the sub-Saharan region alone, 32 million children—mostly girls—do not go to school.

Spiritual

Africa’s young population means there is a desperate need for church leaders and labourers trained for the rigors of ministry—especially in unreached areas. Less than 2 percent of North Africa’s population is Christian.

Our Ministry Strategy

Drawing from more than 40 years of experience in evangelism and humanitarian ministries, GFA World plans to bring our highly effective models to the needs of the destitute in Africa.

Medical Ministry

Our medical ministry will include health-care training seminars and medical camps, bringing quality medical care right to the people who need it most. We will also help at-risk children by distributing vitamins and other supplements, such as vitamin A, which helps in eyesight development, and de-worming tablets, which remove parasites from within the body—and every patient will also be introduced to the Great Physician.

GFA's projects

impact entire communities.

Clean Water Projects

We have drilled our first two Jesus wells in Rwanda, and we’ll drill more wells to help alleviate the water crisis. We work with local contractors and fund multiple wells at a time, getting the most “bang for our buck” while still building the wells to last. We’ll also work within the local communities to ensure the wells are maintained and cared for, and we use commonly available tools and parts, so they’re easy to repair. Jesus Wells serve an average of 300 people each day and last for 20 years. Learn more about GFA’s clean water projects »

GFA World Child Sponsorship

Inspired by Jesus’ love for the poor, we provide hope and help to free impoverished children, families and their communities from the cycle of poverty, all while counseling and discipling in the Gospel.

One way GFA World seeks to give children hope is by enhancing education opportunities in their communities. We look at the roadblocks to education in communities and seek to remove them through development activities, such as school supply distribution, provision of clean water access, malnutrition prevention and more. We have enrolled our first group of children and are in the process of enrolling several hundred more children in latter part of 2022. Learn more about Child Sponsorship »

National Workers

We have missionaries in Rwanda working to open our first Bible college there to train indigenous missionaries who want to preach the Gospel and serve their own people. With their grasp of the local culture and traditions, national workers know the heartbeat of the communities in which they serve and are crucial to help meet both physical and spiritual needs. Learn more about national workers »

Health, water and education are just a few examples of the needs we intend to meet through our ministry in Africa. We plan to begin many other ministry initiatives in the coming days, including:

  • Broadcasting the Good News
  • Women’s empowerment
  • Community development
  • Theological education
  • Youth ministries

Give today to support the work

Your gift to GFA World enables our continued ministry around the world.

How Your Donations Are Applied

We value your donation and are committed to good stewardship of the funds entrusted to us by our friends and donors. All gift options represent GFA’s actual ministry efforts to meet the diverse needs of individuals and communities. Regardless of particular preferences, monies are raised for ministry purposes, and GFA retains discretion to use donated funds in any manner that serves GFA’s charitable objectives.

Africa is the poorest continent in the world.

The God-story about Why We’re Starting in Rwanda

In 2018, Metropolitan Yohan (KP Yohannan) happened to meet the Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Rwanda at a conference. He saw the incredible potential of partnership, and that is when everything began to come together for GFA World to expand to Africa.

Map of Africa and Rwanda

Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda, will be the location of our base for the entire ministry across Africa, and we already have a good relationship with the authorities there.

We have started helping needy children and communities in the slums of Kigali.

We will soon launch a training centre to raise up national workers who want to share God’s love.

Our Vision for Africa

“But when [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.” —Matthew 9:36

What is our vision for ministry in Africa?

It’s simple: The Holy Church, as exemplified in the Book of Acts!

Rwanda

is the first country of a new mission field.

KP Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan) shares, “We are looking at the whole continent. As we just started working with these children in Rwanda, our goal is hopefully in the days to come we will be able to see thousands of worshipping communities transformed as we care for the poor and needy, in the name of our Lord.”

Rwanda is just the beginning of an exciting new mission frontier for GFA World. We plan to expand ministry to six other nations in Africa during the next few years.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are you starting in Rwanda?

Through several divine appointments, it became clear that God was leading us to begin ministry here! You can read more at The God-story about Why We’re Starting in Rwanda »

Where in Africa do you plan to go next?

Rwanda is just the beginning of an exciting new mission frontier. We plan and hope to expand ministry to six other nations in Africa during the next few years, including Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan.

What community development projects is GFA doing in Africa?

GFA World has started helping children and communities in the slums of Kigali, Rwanda, in March 2021. This is just the first of many ministries! Each will have the same vision we started with: to meet tangible needs of precious people and show God’s love to those who need it most.

We’ll soon start training national workers, educating the underprivileged, empowering women, broadcasting the Good News, drilling water wells and providing health care.

How long have you been planning to move into Africa?

For more than a year GFA leadership and our field partners have been praying, thinking, making visits and researching about starting a community development initiative in Africa.

Join Us on This Journey

Will you be part of this exciting expansion?

This is just the beginning of our ministry together in Africa, but we must have strong support to fund it—and to move forward with next steps. Our team estimates that it will take significant resources to start the work in the areas where we see the greatest needs.

Your support of these ministry efforts in Africa will help us provide more safe drinking water, health care, education and so much more for the precious people of Africa. By God’s grace, we can make an incredible difference for many.

As we read the book of Acts and learn about the history of the church, we see that the disciples constantly care for the soul, the spirit AND the body. They lived as the hands and feet of Jesus, meeting the needs of the suffering and the needy. Then that love—that genuine, authentic compassion—opened the door for the disciples to share about God’s love, develop worshipping communities and help entire areas who longed to follow Jesus.

As we respond to people’s physical needs in the name of Jesus, we pray they will encounter the Good News of God’s love for them.

“We realize this is of huge importance in terms of communicating God’s love and helping the poor and the needy.” —Metropolitan Yohan (KP Yohannan)

Give today to support the work

Your gift to GFA World enables our continued ministry around the world.

How Your Donations Are Applied

We value your donation and are committed to good stewardship of the funds entrusted to us by our friends and donors. All gift options represent GFA’s actual ministry efforts to meet the diverse needs of individuals and communities. Regardless of particular preferences, monies are raised for ministry purposes, and GFA retains discretion to use donated funds in any manner that serves GFA’s charitable objectives.

*The images on this page are representative images of Africa, used with permission from Unsplash.

  1. “Dying from lack of medicines.” United Nations. www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december-2016-march-2017/dying-lack-medicines. March 2017.
  2. “Africa’s priorities for sustainable development.” United Nations. www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/april-2012/africa%E2%80%99s-priorities-sustainable-development. April 2012.
  3. “New Methodology Shows that 258 Million Children, Adolescents and Youth Are Out of School.” UNESCO. http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/new-methodology-shows-258-million-children-adolescents-and-youth-are-out-school.pdf September 2019.

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