“Our government has forgotten about us, we don’t matter to them and they don’t care!” were the words uttered to me by the chief of Kwame Dro village in Ghana. But his next words impacted me the most. He said, “But you guys do. We’ve never been treated like this before.”

What awesome words to hear. We care because God cares. When I was in Ghana, seeing the response of the villagers and their absolute delight when the pole went up was something hard to describe. Words that came to mind were: overwhelmed, excited, proud, encouraged, and motivated.

Something  as simple as light at night, access to power to charge phones, and having the  Word of God available daily are things we take for granted. But for a remote  village in rural Ghana, they are new, exciting, and life-changing.

I have included a picture of a village in the Volta region showing the mission pole in action. This picture has to be one of my all-time favourites. As I looked at it and thought about all it signifies, I realised that this is the first time in the village’s history that they have had light at night. Now they have physical light every night and spiritual light every day.

I want to say a HUGE thank you for your prayers and financial support that make all of this possible.

As Christmas draws near, the familiar sights and sounds of the season invite us once again to pause and wonder at the greatest story ever told: the eternal Son of God stepping out of heaven’s glory and into our broken world as a helpless baby in Bethlehem. In that humble manger lay the Hope of the nations, the Light that no darkness can overcome, the Saviour cradled by a young virgin and worshipped first by shepherds.

Jesus did not come as a distant ruler or a moral teacher only — He came as Emmanuel, God with us, to live the life we could never live and to die the death we deserved, so that we might be reconciled to the Father forever.

This is the heart of Christmas, and it is the heartbeat of everything we do at Reach Beyond. Every pole placed in a village, every radio signal that crosses a mountain, every Bible comic read in a prison, and every medical clinic opened in Jesus’ name exists because that little Child grew up to say, “Go into all the world.” He is the reason we press on when the work is hard and the promise that one day every tongue and tribe will sing around His throne.

So as you gather with family, light candles, exchange gifts, and sing the old carols, may your heart rest anew in the astonishing truth that the Baby in the manger is the King who is coming again. Because of Christmas, we live, give, pray, and serve in the confident hope of that Day.

Thank you for supporting us. Please pray with us that Reach Beyond will always stay true to our mission of “Sharing Jesus, Giving Hope and Transforming Communities”.

From all of us at Reach Beyond, may the peace of Christ, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit fill your homes and hearts this Christmas and throughout the New Year.

Merry Christmas!

Blessings,

Pastor Russell Grainger

CEO, Reach Beyond NZ