WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing GFA Bridge of Hope centers and GFA Sisters of Compassion teams that minister to the suffering especially to those worst affected by COVID 19 related hunger.
GFA Bridge of Hope centers are serving as community kitchens while workers minister to families worst affected by COVID-19-related hunger.
In Jharkhand, Bridge of Hope staff set up a community kitchen and daily have fed 300 of those hardest hit by the crisis, including street dwellers and daily wage laborers.
Workers at two centers in Bihar identified the most needy in their area. After obtaining proper government permission, they provided food for 200 families, which was a great blessing to the communities. Recipients expressed joy and gratitude to leaders for showing love and remembering them in this difficult situation.
“I am very happy to have the yummy food,” said Abeer. “I and my family have been going through financial crisis for the last two months, but today we feel very happy.”
Another recipient, Ushta, said, “[The church] is the one who always helped us in our difficult situation, and I am so glad to receive the meal from them today.”
Praiksha in Madhya Pradesh had heard of people distributing food to the poor, but no one had reached him. After a Bridge of Hope event, he said, “I am now so happy that [the Bridge of Hope center] has given us essential items that we really needed. Thank you so much.”
Bridge of Hope staff set up “community kitchens” to help those in their communities.
Compassion for Migrant Workers Amid COVID 19
Gospel for Asia (GFA) Sisters of Compassion in Jammu ministered to migrant workers living in tents or one-room homes in the slums. Many workers have been separated from their families because of travel restrictions and have struggled financially because of not being able to work. The sisters gave them packets of groceries and assured them they would pray for each of the families’ needs.
Local police officers accompanied the Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers to ensure people followed the safety guidelines. The head constable also directed workers to a man and his son living beside the station who were in particular need and had sought help at the station just a few days prior. In response to the head constable’s request, this man also received groceries, for which he was very grateful.
Sisters of Compassion distribute groceries in a slum.
After seeing the ministry and care for those in need provided by the pastors and Sisters of Compassion, one police officer offered to help them whenever they needed it.
“Good job,” he told them. “You have done a great effort. Thank you for the compassionate heart of yours.”
Palash, a father of three originally from Bihar, and his wife normally work in a box-manufacturing factory. But since the factory closed, they have been unable to earn an income.
“We had little rice and wheat flour,” Palash says. “Since we are from other states, I do not have a Ration Card to get groceries from the ration shop. I was anxious about the days ahead. But at the right time, you have given the necessary items for our food. … Thank you so much for having concerns about us.”
Jaiman is a widow from Chhattisgarh who works at the nearby pencil factory to provide for herself and her 4-year-old son, but she has been unable to do so with the factory’s closure.
“Thank you for the food items,” Jaiman said. “Almost all my groceries finished, and I was worried about the food, especially for my son. Now we will be able to survive with the grocery items for the next few weeks.”
GFA’s efforts such as those through Bridge of Hope and Sisters of Compassion are present throughout the year and serve as a natural conduit for showing the love of Christ in tangible ways during times of crisis. Click the above links to learn more about these ongoing programs.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
The mask-wearing woman grasped the package of food, smiled and thanked the workers. As she moved on, another took her place in line. Dozens of men and women, keeping six feet apart, patiently waited their turn to receive a package of food.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) workers and volunteers prepare to hand out ration packs to struggling men and women.
Before this, Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Alik had seen families going to bed hungry. People were starving, and Pastor Alik knew how to help. After visiting the local authorities and obtaining their permission, the pastor immediately set about organizing and planning a food distribution.
Volunteers from the local church along with some civic workers carefully bundled together hundreds of pounds of rice, beans, biscuits, oil, soap and masks. Once ready, the team spent nearly five hours handing out the packages to those who had come from families in five nearby villages.
Pranjeeta, a 32-year-old widow with two sons under the age of 6, normally works as a maid. She thanked the team for the ration kit, saying,
“I am deeply happy and thankful to [the church] for providing us with the ration kits during this time of crisis.”
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Bindhiya, her ministry in the slums alongside her husband, GFA pastor Sachitan, amid the Coronavirus lockdown.
Bindhiya leads a busy life serving Christ in partnership with her husband, Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Sachitan. When the COVID-19 pandemic kept Bindhiya at home, she felt powerless—but not for long.
Bindhiya gave face masks to children in a nearby slum.
Bindhiya obtained a degree in nursing, but since marrying her husband, she takes care of people in very different ways. She faithfully serves the women of her congregation and community and leads the local Women’s Fellowship group. As an accomplished tailor, Bindhiya teaches girls in her church and women in her village how to sew. Many can now sew their own clothes.
This girl told Bindhiya, “Thank you, didi [older sister], for this mask.”During the lockdown, compassion filled Bindhiya’s heart as she watched children wandering in her village and in the nearby slum. They played together without face masks, and she knew they risked transmitting the virus. Concern prompted her to action.
Bindhiya gathered all the cotton scraps she could find and sewed 100 face masks. Then she went to her village and the nearby slum and handed out the masks to children in need. She gave each child an extra mask to give to a friend. Soon, when other children saw their friends receiving face masks, they came and asked for masks too.
The children covered their mouths with the face masks right away, but Bindhiya could still hear grateful words spilling from their lips.
“Thank you for this mask,” said one boy. “I wanted one, but my parents could not buy it for me. Surely, I will wear a mask when I go out.”
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing the Gospel for Asia slum ministries & Compassion Services teams who forsake their own lives to offer spiritual & physical hope to the families and people in slums of Asia.
In 1999, Gospel for Asia (GFA) began supporting slum ministries to specifically help the plethora of neglected people in slums in Asia.
Tens of millions of people occupy slums in and around major cities. They live in abject poverty and indescribable misery, some within a few hundred yards of some of the most technologically advanced cities in the Asian sub-continent. Thousands arrive daily from rural areas in search of jobs and a better life, only to become trapped in desperate living situations with little hope of change.
Most families in slums live in one-room shanties. Toilets are scarce, so the stench of human waste pollutes the air. Garbage is strewn across the alleyways. Everyone is vulnerable to disease.
Every day is a new battle to somehow find a job, even one that is an extremely menial labor job. If that’s not possible, breadwinners—and often children—must resort to begging, scavenging or prostitution to be able to eat. If they get too sick or too old to work, most have no social agency to help them.
A Gospel for Asia (GFA) behind-the-scenes missionary had the opportunity to see a slum in Asia and described the living conditions of those dwelling in the slum, saying:
“They don’t have money, they don’t have clothes, food. Their houses are just…shacks. It made my heart feel sad.”
Breaking the chain of poverty is almost impossible without the compassion of others outside of these poverty-stricken communities. Many people do see the needs of these struggling millions, but for a variety of reasons, many others simply ignore them, passing them by without a second thought.
That’s why our Compassion Services—specifically slum ministry—makes such a difference.
Not only do these Compassion Services teams go into the slums, but they also sacrifice their own personal comfort by living within the slums. They serve in many ways so they may more effectively demonstrate what others are not: the value of each individual life, no matter how poor. Their acts of service and their encouraging messages are helping many families discover the love and compassion of Jesus Christ.
Jesus set aside all the incomparable splendor of His heavenly majesty to live among and minister to the poor, the weary and the brokenhearted. So too, our supported workers forsake the lives they could have to offer spiritual and physical hope that families in slums would possibly never hear about otherwise.
Living and ministering within the slums allows workers to build relationships, meet needs, teach about Jesus, and bring believers into fellowship with others.
Watch this brief (1:11) video to learn more about the impact of Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported ministry in 932 of Asian’s slums. Then, please prayerfully consider what you can do to bring practical help and news of eternal life to those living in slums.
Go here to learn how your donations toward Compassion Services will change lives in the slums.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about Dr. KP Yohannan’s book, No Longer a Slumdog, where real children living in slum conditions in Asia share their real stories of need and how our loving God intervened to redeem them with His love. You will be astonished as you read how God is powerfully moving in hearts right now.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Gospel for Asia Disaster Relief, the chaos and disaster the 7.8 magnitude Earthquake brought in Nepal in 2015, and the unflinching practical love through relief work and education through Bridge of Hope.
“A
ll the believers began to scream and weep. I told them not to be afraid and also not to run outside,” said Pastor Pahil.
The Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor thought their village, surrounded by hills, was experiencing a landslide. But when the shaking continued, he began to understand the reality of the situation.
Pastor Pahil and his congregation of believers were worshiping together when the first earthquake struck the country of Nepal on April 25, 2015. The frightened believers huddled together inside their simple church building, which was made of tin sheets and wood. Even nonbelievers ran inside the doors of the church, hoping to find safety. Pastor Pahil encouraged the people to pray as they waited for the chaos to end. Eventually it did—but not without overwhelming loss.
Rumors and Anxiety
The earthquake registered as a 7.8 in magnitude and was the worst earthquake to hit Nepal in decades, resulting in devastation for much of the central regions of the nation. It took its toll on nearly all of the homes in Pastor Pahil’s village, causing cracks in the walls and shifts in the foundations. Four homes belonging to believers and two school buildings were destroyed. Six people died and 17 more were injured.
Many in Pastor Pahil’s village lived in fear after the first earthquake subsided. Rumors spread among them that the world was coming to an end and that another earthquake would finish the job. Pahil encouraged the people with Scripture verses, such as ones in Matthew 24, to calm their anxieties.
“[The earthquake] is just the sign of the last days. It is not the last day,” Pahil told them.
He assured them of God’s goodness and that He is the protector of His people.
When people in Pastor Pahil’s village started to fear the possibility of another earthquake, Pahil encouraged them with the Word of God.
As multiple smaller tremors continued to trouble the nation almost daily for the next few weeks, Pastor Pahil and many of the villagers moved temporarily to the grounds of a nearby hospital. There, in safety, the people became accustomed to the frequent, ground-shaking tremors. When another large earthquake hit the nation on May 12, they were unalarmed. The constant unrest and instability had become the most consistent part of the villagers’ lives.
Gospel for Asia Disaster Relief Work Begins
Eventually the aftershocks died down. As people moved back to their villages and tried to pick up the pieces of their lives, Pastor Pahil and the congregation reached out to their neighbors through prayer and encouragement.
Compassion Services teams were able to provide Gospel for Asia (GFA) disaster relief, administering food, shelter and other items to the earthquake victims. Pastor Pahil and the believers also did what they could to help the many in need.
As the villagers began to make a new start, Pastor Pahil and the other believers ministered to those in need by providing food and shelter.
“We got more opportunities to meet, encourage and share [Christ’s love] with them,” Pahil said. People from the surrounding areas traveled to Pastor Pahil’s village in search of safety as well. Many of them had been forced out of their own communities by landslides triggered by the quakes. The believers shared their clothing, food and shelter with those around them. As time passed, people slowly began to rebuild their lives, yet the definite need for schooling still remained.
Bridge of Hope Provides a Future
With both school buildings destroyed and classes out of session, children were left with no way to continue their education. When Pastor Pahil recognized the need, he helped establish a Bridge of Hope center in the village. The center provided many children with tutoring, school supplies, uniforms and nutritious meals.
Two young boys, Sejun and Badal, joined the center. After the earthquake, Sejun and Badal had traveled with their families to Pastor Pahil’s village with nothing but the clothes on their backs. All of their belongings had been destroyed in a landslide. Everyone in their village was forced to relocate.
Sejun and Badal’s families lost nearly everything in the earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, but Bridge of Hope helped give them a fresh start.
As the boys attended the center, the kindness and compassion of the Bridge of Hope staff greatly impacted the families’ lives. Soon Sejun’s and Badal’s families began to realize Christ’s compassion toward them. They are grateful for the help they received from the Body of Christ, especially after having lost much of their livelihoods in the earthquake.
Practical Love Offers Hope in Trial
Though the earthquake’s destruction was catastrophic, Pastor Pahil has an optimistic outlook on the situation. He’s seen the people in his village respond to God’s love and faithfulness in the midst of trial and tragedy. Through the believers’ tangible example of Christ’s love in their relief work, six villagers have decided to follow the Lord.
“The villagers’ attitude toward Christians . . . has been totally changed since the earthquake,” Pastor Pahil says. “Now they take us positively.”
Much of the damage caused by the earthquake in Nepal is long-lasting, but our workers are continuing to help as the nation recovers.
God has shown His goodness in the aftermath of this tragedy, and He will continue to bring people to Himself as the nation recovers. Though the first earthquake to strike Nepal in 2015 occurred years ago, our workers are still on the ground helping communities and individuals rebuild.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing the difficulties of people afflicted with leprosy, the rejection and isolation, and the GFA leprosy ministry and the GFA Compassion Services that helps leprosy patients understand how much God loves them and values their lives.
Serving others in Jesus’ Name takes on many different forms. For many of our workers, their ministry is focused on bringing God’s love to people afflicted with leprosy.
One national missionary, Sakshi, experienced firsthand the difficulties of leprosy. She contracted the disease as a teenager, and although she eventually was cured of leprosy, Sakshi didn’t forget the rejection she experienced from her community.
Later serving as among leprosy patients, Sakshi noticed, “Nobody is there to comfort the leprosy patients and to give any kind of encouragement. Nobody wants to love them, hug them, or to come near to them to dress them.”
“I will become their daughter,” Sakshi decided. “I will become their grandchildren, and I will help them and encourage them, and I will love them.”[1]
Leprosy imposes an extremely heavy burden on its victims. News sources share story after story of the struggles people face after contracting leprosy.
Here are just a few stories of what some have had to go through as a result of their disease:
“Basha is 65 years old and told me he was thrown out of his family home when at 20 he started to develop small patches of numbness on his skin. This can be a symptom of leprosy and is what brought Basha to the colony, where he’s lived ever since, and although he told me he has several brothers and sisters, he said he’s never seen them again.”[2]
“Anjana is 45 years old, but easily looks a decade older with deformed hands, feet, and eyes, due to late diagnosis and treatment. She was abandoned by her own family, and now counts the community as her family. ‘I need bandages for my hands and eyes, but the government clinic keeps running out of them, so I have to buy them. Where will I get money to buy them?’ she asks.”[3] Adding insult to injury (which, in itself, is the story of what it is like to live with leprosy), Anjana has difficulty withdrawing her monthly pension ($4.21US) because her government requires a fingerprint verification—and her fingers are too marred to provide a fingerprint.
Ashok contracted leprosy when he was 10 years old. Cured of the disease but permanently deformed by it, Ashok, now 52, was forced into more than 40 years of begging to sustain himself.[4]
“Nagama is in her 20s. She does not have leprosy, but her mother and grandmother do. Because they are blind and incapacitated, Nagama could not care for them in her own home without raising the rejection of family and friends. So, she moved to the leper colony to look after them.”[5]
Nagama’s story is significant because she has demonstrated compassion toward her mother and grandmother—something too few leprosy patients receive.
Leprosy can be a devastating disease. Left untreated, it often renders patients physically disfigured and dependent upon help from others. The life-altering effects of leprosy cause others to fear catching the disease, even though it is not easily transmitted. That leads to the worst part of leprosy: the rejection leprosy patients typically receive from other people.
Because of the breadth and intensity of the ostracism they face, people with leprosy are often forced into isolated communities of leprosy patients, or they move to one voluntarily. The settlements are typically the only places where people with leprosy can obtain a feeling of peer acceptance.
God does not reject people afflicted by leprosy. Instead, He loves them and offers them adoption as His sons and daughters. National workers demonstrate His love to leprosy patients and help them learn about the eternal life found in Christ.
Our workers, such as Sisters of Compassion, care for leprosy patients in many ways, such as by distributing food, providing medical aid, teaching health and hygiene programs, facilitating adult education, and tutoring children who live in the colonies. Each worker also provides encouragement, comfort and prayer, helping people afflicted with leprosy understand how much God loves them and values their lives.
When leprosy patients learn Jesus cares about them personally, many want to put their trust in Him and be defined by what Jesus says they are: treasured.
Ask the Lord to burden your heart for people living with leprosy. Pray for GFA’s Compassion Services and for the workers who minister within leprosy colonies, and ask God to bring relief and eternal hope to people affected by leprosy.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing a despised widow Bidya and her daughter, the disaster that rendered them utterly helpless, and the Gospel for Asia Compassion Services teams that displayed Christ’s love in action.
Wind and rain swooshed across the Asian landscape, as a fierce cyclone raged through the village. A small bamboo hut collapsed. Now the poor and despised elderly widow, Bidya, and her unmarried daughter had less than they ever had before. Just as their dignity left them years before, now their shelter disappeared, too.
After Cyclone Phailin hit Bidya’s home, it was completely demolished, much like this home was destroyed by the cyclone in 2013.
Living Through the Worst Storm
In 2013, Cyclone Phailin devastated the southeast region of India. Around 38 people lost their lives and it left another million people wondering about their future. Cyclone Phailin was the worst storm the people of this region had seen in 14 years, but its destruction left a pathway of God’s mercy behind as Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services teams ministered to the suffering.
Workers provided cyclone survivors with food rations, clothing and cleaning supplies. They stayed behind for many months to help rebuild thousands of homes that were lost or greatly damaged. Together, they strived to bring relief to the victims of the disaster—people like the widow Bidya.
Rejected Widow Receives Aid
The villagers despised Bidya after her husband died. Impoverished and alone, she had to earn her living by working as a daily wage laborer. Because of her situation in life, no one would marry her daughter. They both toiled hard every day, finding whatever jobs they could to simply keep themselves alive. When Cyclone Phailin roared through their village, their bamboo house couldn’t withstand the high-speed winds. After it was destroyed, Bidya and her daughter were helpless. They had no means to build a new house for themselves.
Surprisingly, when a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services team surveyed their area, the entire community, even the leaders, requested that Bidya have her home rebuilt. The team went to work and built Bidya a more substantial home than she had in the beginning—a cement one.
Bidya was given this home after Cyclone Phailin ruined her bamboo house. She and her daughter are very poor and were unable to rebuild a home for themselves. But Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services built her a brand new one, this time one made of cement!
Villagers are Blessed by Gospel for Asia Compassion Services
When the villagers saw what the believers had done to help the poor widow, their minds began to change. Before, they strongly opposed Christians and were very unhappy when a church was built in their area. But now, they thought maybe Christians weren’t so bad after all. Maybe the God they worshiped really cared for the world, and maybe the church building in their village wasn’t the curse they once thought it to be.
Maybe Christians weren’t so bad after all. Maybe the God they worshiped really cared for the world.
Bidya and her daughter were so blessed by the new house. After her home was constructed, the villagers grew to respect Bidya, and her daughter has even received a marriage proposal. Bidya and her daughter also have grown curious about Jesus, and have attended special services at a local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor’s church. They are learning more about the compassionate God who provided them with shelter and a sense of worth.
Christ’s Compassion Put in Action
God is using Compassion Services to extend hope to those who have endured much destruction and heartache. Just like Bidya was helped and the villagers were impacted through the love of Christ, many others in desperate need have observed the gentle and practical love our brothers and sisters pour out in Christ’s name to help alleviate their suffering.
Recently, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services teams provided food, pots and pans, cleaning supplies, tooth brushes and soap to flood survivors in Sri Lanka. You can be part of helping in times of crisis like this. By giving of your resources and by praying, you can be the hands and feet of Christ in troubled times.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the GFA-supported Compassion Services teams comprised of national workers and missionaries, and their commitment to bring disaster relief to where it’s most needed.
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services teams grew in the wake of natural disasters, such as the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, that pummeled areas where Gospel for Asia-supported workers were ministering. National workers had always responded in times of crisis, but as the ministry grew—and disasters seemed to increase in ferocity—the need for coordinated relief effort took form.
Present the Moment After Tragedy
In the hours following a cataclysmic event such as a tsunami, cyclone or earthquake, stunned silence punctuated with grief-soaked sobs hangs heavy in the air. Compassion Services teams—often the first to arrive—bring provisions for survivors and listen to those who endured such horrific experiences.
These relief workers quickly erect emergency shelters and distribute food rations. Along with provisions for basic needs, survivors are given comfort and hope.
Kalei, a mother and grandmother who survived 2013’s Cyclone Phailin, which ravaged the coastal shore of Odisha, India, escaped the storm with nothing but the clothes on her body. Her family’s mud hut was washed away by torrential rain, along with all their possessions. Compassion Services came to her village with groceries and clothing to help the immediate need.
Then there were the side-by-side earthquakes in Nepal during the Spring of 2015. It was the worst disaster in the nation’s history. The 7.8 and 7.3 magnitude earthquakes, occurring two weeks apart, toppled cities and villages across the rugged landscape of the nation, whose northern border runs through the Himalayan Mountain range.
With a wide reach of established pastors and national workers in the country, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported disaster-relief teams partnered with the government of Nepal to search for survivors and rescue people stranded in the mountains.
Committed to Long-term Rebuilding
Fast forward one year: Displaced victims of the Nepal earthquakes returned to their villages and schools. Compassion Services teams switched from food rations to household items and school supplies. Simple items like mugs, buckets and salt brought relief and hope. Villagers who did not have the means to replace what the earthquake stole rejoiced at gifts of warm blankets and coats.
In 2013, the receding flood waters from Cyclone Phailin revealed the full impact of the storm. Homes and farms that were completely washed away left hundreds of thousands of people like Kalei without permanent shelter or a means to support themselves. National workers surveyed the damage and committed to the long-term rebuilding needed in decimated villages.
Christmas gift distribution programs provided survivors with sewing machines, carpentry tools and livestock—the means to build a new source of income. Plans developed to rebuild more than 1,000 homes—houses made of brick and cement and able to weather future storms.
Kalei stood at the door of her newly constructed brick-and-cement home with tears in her eyes.
“We were not able to build a house [for ourselves, especially one] made of bricks and cement,” Kalei said. “We are so thankful to our God for his mercy and to our church for their help.”
In August 2018, floodwaters deluged the South Indian state of Kerala. Across the state, roads became rivers, and hundreds of thousands of people were stranded on rooftops, searching for higher ground.
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers—filling the ranks of Compassion Services teams—cruised flooded streets in boats, rescuing those surrounded by rising waters. In the boat, team members gave bottled water and food to passengers and took them to emergency shelters.
“Because we have brothers and sisters living and serving in Kerala, we will be with these flood survivors for the long haul,” said Dr. K.P Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA).
Offering hope and help in the name of Jesus during great suffering is the heart of Gospel for Asia-supported ministry. Compassion Services teams are present in the tragic moments following catastrophe with the love of Christ to help survivors journey into joy.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Dr. Leroy Pennell recently celebrated 40 years of pastoring Heritage Baptist Church in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Someone asked him, “How can a man pastor the same church for 40 years?”
He replied with only three words: “Never, never quit.”
What did it take to get started? A calling and vision from the Lord to share the love of Jesus with millions of people halfway around the globe with.
What did it take for Gospel for Asia (GFA) to arrive at its 40th anniversary? It took 14,600 days of commitment to the call, 14,600 days of never quitting—all through the grace of God.
In 1952, John W. Peterson, the most prolific composer of Christian music at the time, wrote “It’s Not an Easy Road,” a song that describes 40 years of ministry.”
It’s not an easy road we are traveling to heaven,
For many are the thorns on the way.
It’s not an easy road, but the Savior is with us,
His presence gives us joy every day.
It’s not an easy road; there are trials and troubles,
And many are the dangers we meet.
But Jesus guards and keeps so that nothing can harm us.
And smooths the rugged path for our feet.
No, no, it’s not an easy road. But Jesus walks beside me and brightens the journey, And lightens every heavy load.
Dr. Yohannan was attempting to fulfill the Lord’s expectations when he and fellow believers mobilized Gospel for Asia (GFA) on July 3, 1979. Jesus was quite clear when He told potential disciples that “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We cannot begin to imagine what the Lord has planned for the next 40 years as we continue to share the love of Christ in word and deed with people in Asia.
There would be no looking back. During the past 40 years, there have been days filled with difficulties, seasons of stress, and periods of predicaments. But, trusting the Lord who called us, we chose not to quit.
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries have served the Lord in places where no one had ever heard of Jesus, often because there was no one willing to go to the misery of the slums or leprosy colonies or the widows’ islands. No one was willing to trek to remote tribal villages where people lived, often in unreachable locations and in extreme poverty.
As Gospel for Asia (GFA) staff and the Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers in Asia have refused to quit, tens of thousands have come to faith in Jesus Christ through national missionaries and pastors, compassion services, Bridge of Hope centers for school-age children, women’s ministries, Jesus Wells, and literacy classes, which transforms villages, and empowers men, women, and children to lead productive lives.
We could never have imagined what Gospel for Asia (GFA) would grow to be and how the Lord would use it as a tool to transform so many lives. The thousands of individuals God has brought together with the same passion and purpose of declaring His loving kindness, especially to those who have not yet heard, is a beautiful partnership. Each one is doing their part to serve the Lord – from donors and sponsors in the U.S. and other Western countries to the Mission Support Team serving behind the scenes to the thousands of workers on the field.
We look back only for a moment, out of thanksgiving for all the Lord has done. We commit to keeping our hand on the plow. We cannot begin to imagine what the Lord has planned for the next 40 years as we continue to share the love of Christ in word and deed with people in Asia.
To God be the glory; great things He has done! We look forward to the road ahead.
Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.
Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia Special Report (GFA) – Discussing the troubling problem of the lack of toilets – basic sanitation, and open defecation for millions throughout the world.
What If You Didn’t Have a Toilet?
So I remind myself of toilet scenarios I do know about, then extrapolate some personal situations out to extreme what-ifs. Our home, in which we have lived for 38 years, has its own septic system. During that time, when we had extreme storms, the power would go out. This meant that no water could be pumped from our underground well, and this electric outage disabled our showers, our faucets and our toilets.
I used to store plastic bottles of water so when things went black we could brush our teeth, get dressed by candlelight (since there are no windows in any of our bathrooms), and—get this—flush our toilets. If the power did not come back on for a couple days, the frozen food thawed and an excess of detritus threatened to overflow the toilet basin.
A well-cleaned squat toilet in Asia.
So I extrapolate—what if this happened all the time? What if sewer lines broke, became clogged and backed up regularly? What if I lived in poverty and there were no plumbers and no money and no electric company to call to fix our difficulties? What if I had to stand in line to use a communal latrine where flies buzzed, the floor was filthy, someone had evacuated due to acute diarrhea, and no one wanted to clean the mess? Now we’re getting closer.
In the refugee camps of the world, my travel companions and I held ridiculous discussions as to who had invented squat toilets—men or women? Someone shot a photo of me holding a rickety latrine toilet door upright while a woman co-worker trusted me to guard her privacy while she did her business inside. I am laughing, howling with laughter really, at a ridiculous situation, but this is, for most of the world, not a laughing matter.
Extrapolate. What if there was no female friend to hold the door? What if the floor around the squat toilet inside was filthy and you had to pull up your sari and rest the top half of the door against your forehead to keep it from falling? What if you believed that the little structures, dark and dank and scary inside, were really inhabited by demons?
Smelling an overflowing latrine from 20 feet away might persuade even a Westerner to think similarly, even if only metaphorically. In truth, I don’t like the few outhouses I’ve been forced to use in the States, nor many of the spooky national park public facilities, and I certainly avoid, if I can help it, those portable potties hauled in on trucks for public events or construction work sites.
When Your Septic Tank Problems Bring Embarrassment
My last attempt at toilet empathy. About 10 years after we had moved into our home in West Chicago, Illinois, our neighbor across the back yard knocked on the door and apologized for needing to complain about the standing, stinking water that was seeping into his property.
“I think you may be having trouble with your septic system,” he reported, embarrassed to have to point this out.
I called two septic companies. One told me I needed to have the whole septic field replaced; it would cost us $10,000. The other service man diagnosed another problem, but his estimate was about the same as the first. Then I went to the DuPage County Health Department and asked what septic firms they would recommend. I called Black Gold, whose reps complained about the septic map drawn by the original company that laid our field that was now leaking.
“Would the health department let us get away with a layout like this?” he asked his partner. They both obviously thought the field plan had been rendered by some septic idiot. Sure enough, after spending about 45 minutes prodding our three-quarters-of-an-acre lot with long poles, I was informed: “Lady, you don’t need no new septic field. The lines of what’s there ain’t connected to the tank.” His fee was $3,000. I made a garden out of the areas that were torn up by their repairs.
Vile, brown liquid that some in Asia count on as their water source.
So what if I lived somewhere that permanently seeped smelly, vile, germ-ridden, brown liquid? What if the river at the back of the land was a running sewer, and my grandchildren couldn’t romp and splash in it? (As one writer vividly describes: “In stagnant reaches, methane bubbles up through the grey-green water, and the stench of rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide—wafts into homes.”) What if the fields were filled not only with animal feces but the excreta of some 300 neighbors?
You come up with your own empathy-building stories.
Communities Band Together to Improve Sanitation
A family in front of a GFA-provided local sanitation facility.
Prime Minister Modi and his teams are sold on community-led initiatives, and so should they be. Change works best when a whole population is committed to seeing it happen.
Elizabeth Royte wrote: “The Indian government is rewarding certified ODF villages by moving them to the front of the line for road or drinking-water improvements. It has launched an advertising campaign that exalts Swachh Bharat mascots, like the 106-year-old woman in Chhattisgarh state who sold seven goats to build two toilets. It has enlisted cricket and Bollywood stars to exhort people to use the new latrines.”
Community development often works best when it is exactly that: an idea that grows out of the mind of some visionary who lives within the locality that has a need, a visionary who is not only capable of strategic thinking but also feels empathy and who is moved by compassion by the people nearby—his or her neighbors. And when a whole community becomes involved in “cleaning up its act,” there are few powers on earth that can withstand such initiative.
Now what’s interesting about Gospel for Asia‘s stories surrounding sanitation is that it is the local pastor in the village, who out of concern and knowing that open defecation is a deadly disease-breeding potential, exercises his compassion to love his neighbors by being concerned about the availability of latrines.
This is an excerpt from one of Gospel for Asia (GFA)‘s stories called “Welcome to Their Toilet” that talks about how one community was forced to use the open fields to defecate because they had no other proper place.
The local GFA pastor, Vidur, understood the villagers’ struggle. He himself had been ministering in the area for more than 10 years. Knowing people’s lives were at risk whenever they used the fields as their toilet, he wished there were a way to help them.
Then he found out Gospel for Asia had started a program to promote sanitation in underprivileged areas. Excited about the opportunity to help his community, he asked his leaders to build four toilets in the village.
That’s when Janya and her husband, Lalan, gladly offered some of their land for one toilet.
In January 2013, when the villagers saw a concrete outhouse rise out of the dusty ground, they poured out their gratitude to Pastor Vidur and the church.
“[This] saved the lives of people from illness,” shared one villager.
Even the village leader expressed thanks. “[The church] is always concerned about the need of people and works hard for a brilliant life for the community,” he said.
What an extraordinary example of love in practical action.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself.” —Luke 10:27
For women like this tea estate laborer, having no outdoor toilet facility could mean risking assault as they go out into an open field in the dark.
“It’s not safe to send our people, our children, our wives or our daughters to the tea garden at night to use the toilet,” Iniyavan said.
Iniyavan made only 2,400 rupees a month, which was equivalent to about $37 (USD) a month. He wasn’t able to save enough money to construct a toilet.
Open defecation means there’s the risk of disease as families continually return to communal waste grounds.
GFA-supported Compassion Services teams construct outdoor toilets, also known as sanitation facilities, for people who, like Iniyavan, do not have the means to do so on their own.
“Now, since I have this toilet built in my house, I don’t have to worry. My family and I don’t have to go to the tea garden for toilet, and it is very safe here,” Iniyavan said.
On the Brink of Innovations, Change in Sanitation
Toilet technology is on the edge of remarkable, cost-effective, ecologically friendly frontiers. They’re becoming self-cleaning and solar-powered. A solar-powered toilet that converts waste into charcoal that could then be used as fertilizer.
An indoor toilet that works like a garden composter, spinning the contents and reducing odor and the number of dangerous pathogens. Portable rickshaw toilets. A community bio-digester toilet designed to convert human waste into gases and manure. Once ideas begin flourishing, there is no limit to what can happen.
I’m banking on Prime Minister Modi’s ODF Campaign to be successful. The hardest pull of any new effort is most always at the beginning, but once new ideas start rolling, they gather momentum. Some of the new toilet technologies may become catalysts as well.
In addition, there are hundreds of international organizations working on sanitation solution. They understand that one size does not fit all the variables that make up the particulars in this vast discussion, but added all together, it is a prohibitive association with evidence of remarkable dedication.
“And when a whole community becomes involved in ‘cleaning up its act,’ there are few powers on earth that can withstand such initiative.”
A Canadian doctor, one of those “creative renegades” unhappy with the condition of the world and one whom I have come to admire and love, was appointed as a Provincial Health Officer in the highlands of Papua, New Guinea.
While making an aerial survey, he and his team discovered one village that was distinctly cleaner and healthier. Far below them was the evidence of what turned out to be a pastor with some basic health training who had taught his people those lessons, and the difference could be seen from the air. That one flight changed their lives. They began to search for a more integral way of ministering and soon began using and teaching a community health evangelism methodology, which had been developed in Africa.
Sometimes we get lost in the details on the ground. We need to stand back, take deep breaths and find some way to gather broader assessments—some kind of aerial view. Progress is being made; it’s just a little harder in some places than in others. I’m proud that Gospel for Asia is one of the players. Last year, GFA helped provide 10,512 toilets for needy communities throughout Asia.
Shout Out to Toilets!
Christianity has everything to do with sanitation. We serve a God who is expecting us to help restore the world He created to its original design. That is a world, among many other things, without rampaging diseases. One day, Scripture promises, it will be a world without death and suffering. So in this interim, let’s hear a shout out for all the toilets in the world!
Saving Lives at Risk from Open Defecation: Part 1 | Part 2
![Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan: This girl told Bindhiya, “Thank you, didi [older sister], for this mask.”](https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/792/2020/07/INF-JM-20-PH0052.jpg)
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In