2022-10-21T19:25:21+00:00

Prina was a living a double-portion of a nightmare… After contracting leprosy, her husband was murdered in a land dispute, leaving Prina a quarantined widow. As the physical symptoms of Prina’s leprosy spread, so did the news of her disease among her relatives and other villagers. People, including her family, kept their distance and stopped interacting with her out of fear of contracting the disease. Although leprosy is one of the least infectious diseases, the lack of education about it in communities like Prina’s leads to fear and shunning—adding emotional distress to those already suffering.

Prina was banished to one room of her son’s house, where no one dared to enter. The only interaction she had with her family was when someone came to her door to deliver her daily meal.

Prina was a living a double-portion of a nightmare... After contracting leprosy, her husband was murdered in a land dispute, leaving Prina a quarantined widow. As the physical symptoms of Prina's leprosy spread, so did the news of her disease among her relatives and other villagers.

Hope Visits

One day, while Prina lay outside, she met Soma, the wife of a local Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor who had a church in the village.

When Soma and some women from the local Women’s Fellowship saw Prina, they stopped to offer prayer and comfort. Soma’s heart went out to this mother who had been abandoned to the shame of leprosy. Soma tried to talk to Prina, but fear and disgust mingled in Prina’s eyes, and she refused to engage with Soma and the other ladies.

Being a devoted follower of her religion, Prina despised Christians, just as the villagers despised her. Compounding her aversion was fear of even more ostracization by the villagers if she talked with Christians.

As the ladies silently prayed for Prina and made a move to leave, something in Prina shifted.

“No one likes me because I am a leprosy patient,” mourned Prina.

“Even my own relatives and children hate me—they don’t come near to me. For whom should I live now? I do not want to live and want to end my life.”

Soma felt Prina’s desperate anguish as the hurting woman shared her experience of rejection. The pastor’s wife encouraged Prina from the Word of God.

“If no one loves you, there is one God, who loves you more than anyone, and He wants to heal you from your disease. Do you want to know who that person is? That is our Lord Jesus.”

Hope dawned in Prina’s heart. She wanted to know more about this Lord Jesus who loved her. The desire for love and acceptance opened doors to Prina’s heart that were previously fastened shut. Soma shared more with Prina and invited her to join them for worship services.

Pursuing the God of Healing

Prina shyly stepped through the threshold of the house of worship. Although she rarely went in public for fear of insults and abuse, the hope that had sprouted from Soma’s encouraging words gave Prina the boldness she needed to enter the building.

The women at the church showered love on Prina. After service, the congregation gathered around her to pray for healing. Later that week, at a Women’s Fellowship gathering, Prina once again experienced acceptance and fervent prayers for healing.

Prina felt so much joy, and her faith in the Lord began to increase. Slowly, Prina noticed changes, not only in her heart and mind but in her body as well. The pain in her extremities began to subside. Gradually, the marks of her disease faded. After a few months of steadfast prayer, the Lord touched Prina’s body and brought complete healing. She was filled with joy, and praises flowed from her heart to her lips.

Prina felt so much joy, and her faith in the Lord began to increase. Slowly, Prina noticed changes, not only in her heart and mind but in her body as well. The pain in her extremities began to subside. Gradually, the marks of her disease faded. After a few months of steadfast prayer, the Lord touched Prina's body and brought complete healing. She was filled with joy, and praises flowed from her heart to her lips.

Prina’s family was shocked at the miracle in her life. They did not know that Jesus had such power and soon joined her at church to praise the God who does the impossible. Mother, son and the entire household are now actively engaged in the local church.

“I am so thankful to Sister Soma who came and visited me when I was alone and prayed for me,” Prina says.

“I am extremely thankful to God, who has healed me from this dangerous disease. I had no hope for my life, but God made the impossible possible. I will follow Him the remaining days of my life. Thank you, God.”

Prina’s house was completely transformed. No longer a place of seclusion and pain, her home is filled with love and joy, rooted in God’s goodness. Her healing has astonished the entire village, which witnessed her transformation.

Loving Those Affected with Leprosy Disease All Across Asia

All across Asia, many who have been shunned because of leprosy—like Prina—have experienced the love of Jesus through Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers. These servants of God accept the despised and rejected with open arms.

“What an opportunity we have to serve these people,” expresses Dr. Daniel Johnson, the coordinator for Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical ministry on the field.

“The ones who are unwelcome, out of sight and thought to be cursed—we have a chance to welcome them, bring them to the light and bless them, all because of the love of Christ.”

Join GFA in ministering with loving hands to those rejected because of the marks of leprosy. Together, we can bring hope and belonging to the outcast and forgotten.


Source: Gospel for Asia Features, The Curse of Leprosy Cured

Learn more about the GFA-supported leprosy ministry, or the Reaching Friends Ministry, helping remind people affected by leprosy that they have dignity and are valued by God.

Read more in Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Leprosy—Misunderstandings and Stigma Keep it Alive – Although It’s a Curable Worldwide Problem.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

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2022-11-05T16:25:55+00:00

Rita traveled more than seven miles to attend the medical camp, which she heard about through Pastor Ganesh’s flyers. She had suffered numbness in her hands and legs for more than a month, forcing her to abandon her work in the fields. Even household chores such as cleaning and cooking became impossible. Desperate to see a doctor, Rita made a difficult journey.

On the morning of the medical camp, a brightly colored tent covered the courtyard of Pastor Ganesh’s church. A throng of people gathered under it. Sisters of Compassion patiently checked in fathers, mothers and small children wanting to see the doctors. Pastor Ganesh went from group to group helping volunteers and ministering to the sick.

That day, Dr. Aarpit Nipun and his colleague saw more than 200 patients and gave out free medication to those in need. When it was Rita’s turn to see the doctor, she told him the history of her symptoms. Dr. Nipun asked many questions and prescribed medications for her pain. He counseled her to seek treatment in the hospital if her condition worsens.

Giving careful, thorough examinations, Dr. Nipun (pictured) prescribes medication donated by a hospital. Dr. Nipun was impacted by the poverty and sickness he saw at the remote medical camp and offered to come free of charge to future GFA-supported medical camps in the area.
Giving careful, thorough examinations, Dr. Nipun (pictured) prescribes medication donated by a hospital. Dr. Nipun was impacted by the poverty and sickness he saw at the remote medical camp and offered to come free of charge to future Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical camps in the area.

Because of the medication prescribed to Rita at the medical camp, the pain in her limbs subsided. Rita was soon able to gather water and complete household chores that she had previously been unable to do.

“I feel very different,” Rita says.

“After taking the medicine, I don’t feel that much pain in my body. … We need this kind of medical camp organized in many [rural] villages where people do not have access to hospitals or health care centers. This is such a great help for the villagers.”

Unlike Rita, many other women waiting to see Dr. Nipun was too shy to share their symptoms.

“In rural villages, treating a female patient is very challenging for us because [there is still a] misconception that we should not allow any stranger, especially a male, to examine our bodies,” says Dr. Nipun.

“There were a few patients who had gynecological disorders and abdominal pain … and when I asked them, ‘What is your problem?’ they don’t openly tell us. … It is very difficult to find out their problems.”

Rita is grateful for the free medication she received at the medical camp. Because of the medicine, her pain subsided, and she is able to accomplish daily tasks that had been impossible before.
Rita is grateful for the free medication she received at the medical camp. Because of the medicine, her pain subsided, and she is able to accomplish daily tasks that had been impossible before.

Because of these cultural obstacles to women seeking medical attention, Sisters of Compassion were available to listen to women’s more sensitive symptoms and complaints. They would then relay this information to the doctor on behalf of the patient. This helped many women get their health needs met while retaining their dignity.

At the end of the day, the doctors had seen more than 200 patients—patients whose basic health needs are often neglected. Medical professionals distributed medication, including vitamins for pregnant women and children. Dr. Nipun, touched by the poverty and sickness of the patients, volunteered to serve again.

“It’s my wish that in the future, wherever you happen to conduct a medical camp, and if I am around, I will be more [than] willing to be available and give free service,” Dr. Nipun said. “Thank you very much.”

Pastor Ganesh rejoiced that so many received the medical care they desperately needed. Grateful that God provided for the medical camp, he prayed God would touch many people’s hearts with His love. Pastor Ganesh also prayed people would experience the gift of eternal healing by the Great Physician, of which the free medical camp was a perfect picture.


2021-06-15T17:43:05+00:00

Numerous studies have shown that the simple step of properly handwashing markedly reduces the risk of disease and infection. Unfortunately, many in developing nations around the globe do not know of this life-saving fact.

For this reason, the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) established October 15 as Global Handwashing Day. The theme for 2018 is “Clean hands – a recipe for health.” It particularly applies to this year’s emphasis on making handwashing a part of preparing to make or partake of every meal.

Clean Hands - A Recipe for Health on Global Handwashing Day - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

When the first Global Handwashing Day was introduced in 2008, the campaign focused on reducing child mortality rates by introducing behavioral changes, including handwashing. It was estimated that the simple act of washing one’s hands adequately with soap could reduce childhood mortality from respiratory disease by 25 percent and from diarrheal diseases by 50 percent. In fact, “Research shows that children living in households exposed to handwashing promotion and soap had half the diarrheal rates of children living in control neighborhoods.”

The World Health Organization recognizes World Hand Hygiene Day each May 5.

The need for each of these days is far greater than we might imagine. It is difficult for us to imagine not washing our hands. It’s just what we do. It was only about 150 years ago that washing one’s hands was not so common anywhere in the world.

It was not until 1846 that anyone recognized the value or virtue of washing one’s hands with soap. Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, who held a medical degree with a specialty in midwifery, became concerned about the prevalence of puerperal fever in maternity clinics.

Despite the abundance of incorrect theories of the day, Semmelweis theorized a common link between fetal and maternal childbirth deaths and similar fatal infections in people who had undergone surgery by doctors carrying infectious substances on their hands and surgical instruments.

Semmelweis’ hypothesis-proving experiments, in which his system of hand and instrument washing were used, reduced the puerperal fever mortality rate in his facilities from 12.24 percent to 2.38 percent. Twenty years later, his findings had still not become readily accepted.

Educating people with regard to the dangers of infection caused by dirty hands has dramatically reduced birthing and surgical mortality rates. And washing hands with soap and water has become as much a part of life in developed nations as waking up in the morning. So much so that the occurrence of bacterial disease is minimal in developed countries compared to those that are still emerging.

The task before us now is to educate the people who are living in remote villages and slums who have yet to understand the need for washing one’s hands. Gospel for Asia (GFA), its partners, NGOs, businesses and governments are working together to teach the necessity for handwashing as a matter of good health and hygiene. Together, we can:

  • Teach people to wash their hands with soap at critical times, especially before eating, cooking or feeding others.
  • Model good handwashing behavior and remind them to always wash their hands before eating.
  • Help them to make handwashing part of their family-meal practice.
  • Help them to establish places to wash your hands in the household, in your community, in schools, workplaces and in health facilities.
  • Promote effective handwashing behavior change.

Watch this short video (3:47) featuring Dr. Daniel Johnson to learn more about how some of our field partners teach proper handwashing.

This video is shown in thousands of rural villages and urban slums every year to prevent unnecessary disease and infection and improve the health and well-being of the poor and downtrodden.


Learn more about how you can help support the GFA-supported Medical Ministry.

Click here, to read more posts on Patheos on Gospel for Asia’s Medical Ministry.

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2021-04-15T18:54:33+00:00

ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing why women are targets of abuse and discrimination, and why there is violence against the girl child.

 

Geeta, a mother of two, lived in the slums and struggled to put food on the table every day with the meager 20 rupees her husband gave her. That amount equaled less than 50 cents at the time.

Why Are Women Targets of Abuse & Discrimination - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Geeta is one of many women in Asia who have experienced domestic abuse at the hands of her husband.

In the evening, Geeta’s husband would come home drunk, having spent most of his earnings on alcohol. When she did not meet his expectations for dinner, he’d bring out whatever stick, rod or bat he could find and beat her in his drunken anger.

What Geeta endured at the hands of her husband is the story countless women across Asia can share. The circumstances may be different, but the reality is the same. Throughout the centuries, women have silently suffered violence at the hands of their husbands who were supposed to love them, at the hands of their close and distant relatives who were supposed to care for them, and at the hands of strangers who were never supposed to have their hands on them in the first place.

Countless women across Asia have suffered in silence - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Countless women across Asia have suffered in silence. This gender-based violence can take many forms, from female infanticide and domestic violence to trafficking and honor killings.

Violence against women stretches from country to country and takes on many forms. It is estimated that 1 in 3 women—globally—have or will experience abuse in their lifetime.

In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly defined violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
In 1999, it again reiterated this and established November 25 as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The World Bank released a report in 2014 titled “Violence against Women and Girls: Lessons from South Asia,” which categorized the various types of abuse and discrimination women endure throughout the stages of their lives. Female infanticide, child marriage, dowry violence, domestic violence between spouses and family members, sexual harassment, trafficking and honor killings are only some of the violence reviewed.

Violence against women in South Asia is particularly high. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that the prevalence of violence against women in this region is at 37.7 percent, compared to “23.2% in high-income countries and 24.6% in the Western Pacific region.”

Gospel for Asia (GFA) field partners see the effects of this violence firsthand as they minister to battered women, abused daughters and neglected widows.

In 2014, Gospel for Asia released a documentary film called “Veil of Tears,” profiling the gender-based violence that millions of women across Asia endure. It introduced us to Maloti, whose in-laws tried to kill her because she was of a lower caste than they; and Suhkwinder, who wanted to commit suicide because of the constant verbal abuse from her in-laws for not giving birth to a son.

These women, including Geeta, reveal the degrees at which a woman’s dignity is at stake—even snatched away.

Maloti experienced discrimination - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Maloti experienced discrimination when her in-laws attempted to poison her because she was from a lower caste.

But why are women targets of abuse and discrimination? Why does it seem almost like a requirement for women to silently endure the violence done against them?

Gospel for Asia would like to suggest it begins when people no longer see others as made in the image of God, as “knit from the same cloth,” as fellow human beings and citizens with equal rights and values.

Throughout the countries that make up Asia, women have been regarded as inferior to men. Historical traditions and customs permeate and perpetuate the worldview that females are less than men and should be treated as such. This perception taints the way people look at women and girls. What’s tragic is that this discrimination starts at conception.

But why are women targets of such abuse and discrimination? - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Violence Against the Girl Child

Dr. Daniel, director of Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical ministry in Asia

Dr. Daniel, director of Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical ministry in Asia, looked at the newborn bundled in her mother’s lap and knew this baby girl was in danger. She was emaciated. Her eyes sunk in their sockets. She struggled for breath, “as if someone had a stranglehold on her neck,” he said.
She wasn’t going to last long if they didn’t rush her to the hospital. He urged them to go, hurry, take her to the hospital. There wasn’t much he could do at this small medical camp in this rural village. Yet, even if she did make it to the hospital, Dr. Daniel wondered if it was just too late for this precious child.

A little later, he saw the mother again still holding her gravely ill newborn. She and her husband hadn’t gone to the hospital. He couldn’t comprehend why they still lingered; then the truth came out: They didn’t want to save their daughter. To them she was “a burden, another mouth to feed, an expensive dowry payment for a future husband.”

It’s widely known that Asia has a highly disproportionate ratio of men to women. The reason? Son preference.

Sukwinder was targets of abuse by her husband and in-laws because she was only bearing girl babies - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Sukwinder was rejected by her husband and in-laws because she was only bearing girl babies, and was even pressured to abort her children. This drove her to attempt suicide. The irony is they were persecuting her because of a biological process that, from a medical perspective, she had no control of. The father is the one who contributes the genetic data the determines the sex of a baby.

According to World Bank’s report, “Some degree of son preference is evident in most societies. But son preference so strong as to cause daughter aversion and consequent sex differences in child mortality in excess of what is biologically expected occurs only in a few parts of the world, of which South Asia is a prominent example.”

Mothers and fathers want sons. Sons bring honor to the family. Sons carry on the family name. Sons will provide for the family. Daughters, on the other hand, only result in debt. Parents raise them, spend money on their food and maybe their education only so they can become someone else’s “property” after they marry. Then they require a dowry, an obligatory “gift” from the bride’s family to the groom’s family, which is typically determined by the bride’s soon-to-be in-laws and places the bride’s family at their mercy.

They didn’t want to save their daughter. To them she was “a burden, another mouth to feed, an expensive dowry payment for a future husband.”

To avoid the “problem” of having a daughter and the impending burdens they bring, many parents will either abort the girl child or neglect them once they’re born, like that mother at the medical camp had done.

Even before they take their first breath, females are denied the basic human right to live.

The shocking issue of gendercide was revealed in the 2012 documentary called “It’s a Girl.” As stated on the film’s official website: “In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls are missing in the world today because of this so-called ‘gendercide’.”

Think about it: 200 million girls and women who should be living and breathing right now, who could have made a contribution to their societies, who could have…changed the world. Yet they no longer exist, murdered even before they had the chance to live, or neglected without a care.

One nation in Asia (India) took a major step in preventing gendercide. In 1994, the government of India enacted the Preconception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act to address female feticide and sex-selection—prohibiting, in a word, “gendercide”. The authorities took it a step further in 2011 by condemning the “misuse of pre-natal diagnostic techniques for sex determination of fetuses leading to female foeticide.” Clearly put: Ultrasounds became illegal in India, if they were intended to determine the sex of the baby for the purpose of abortion. For one of the world’s most populous nations, these are great steps to prevent discrimination against women.

The Indian government also enacted various other laws that protect women and their rights, including the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, the Dowry Prohibition Act and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, and many more.

Yet Gospel for Asia field partners still see the horrific results of gendercide: hospital dumpsters holding the dead bodies of newborn baby girls. They’ve seen the disregard—even hatred—some have for their daughters and have shared some of those stories with us.

One is the well-known story of Ruth, whose father despised her for being born a girl. Another is about a couple who threw their newborn baby girl in the hospital dumpster because she looked “abnormal.” And yet another is about a daughter who was called the curse of the family.

In each of these cases, these young girls faced discrimination and mistreatment on the sole basis of being female. The only thing they had done wrong is be born with the wrong anatomy.


Watch Ruth’s story of persevering through abuse and discrimination from her father because she was born a girl.

The infant mortality rate among females in South Asia is 38.3 per 5,000 live births. Compare that to 5.5 for the United States and United Kingdom put together. Oxfam International reported once that “One in six deaths of a female infant in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan is due to neglect and discrimination.”

The World Bank affirms this: “Much of the observed excess female child mortality is achieved not by outright infanticide or other physical abuse leading to death, but by more indirect forms of violence in the shape of neglect and discrimination resulting in death.”

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This Special Report has two more blogs coming — Targets of Abuse Part 2 | Targets of Abuse Part 3

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2019-12-09T08:07:37+00:00

When a woman in America is pregnant, she has multitudes of resources available to her. Rows of books at libraries, countless blog posts and magazine articles about the best way to prepare for labor and raise a child, many options for how and where she will deliver her baby, dozens of options for prenatal vitamins and various supplements to boost her health and help her baby develop.

But that’s not the case for many women in Asia.

Many have never been told some of the things we consider basic pregnancy information here, such as taking vitamins, resting extra and decreasing the weight of any loads they carry.

I’m six months pregnant, and I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard “Are you taking it easy?” or “Are you sure you shouldn’t be resting right now?” or “Here, let me carry that for you,” or “Are you taking your prenatal vitamins?”

I’ve thought often of the story Gospel for Asia shared about a mother in Asia who lost her baby because she never learned what pregnancy care should include. It’s tragic to consider the lives that are lost each year because of inadequate care and/or lack of education for pregnant women and their babies in parts of Asia.

Safeguarding Women So Their Babies Can Stay Healthy - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
This woman learned valuable health care information through Gospel for Asia-supported medical ministry, which protected her next pregnancy from miscarriage and enables her to care for her son every day.

However, on the flip side, how exciting it is to think about the lives being saved through simple education programs and initiatives!

Gospel for Asia partners with national workers to safeguard the health of individuals, families and communities in several ways: medical camps, health seminars, mosquito net distributions, clean water initiatives and more. There are so many aspects of life that impact our health. But during these months of my pregnancy, GFA-supported medical ministry to women—especially to expecting mothers—has become even more relatable and exciting to me.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers organize medical camps in hundreds of villages every year, and they attend to the needs of people with a wide variety of ailments. After receiving treatment at a medical camp, women also learn the importance of vitamins, nutrition, rest and medical checkups during pregnancy, which are often totally new pieces of information. In addition, many malnourished children and anemic mothers receive vitamins at medical camps.

Gospel for Asia also supports health seminars for women to learn basic principles of hygiene, childcare, first aid and food safety. Such simple gatherings can make such a powerful change in a family!

Women wait for their turn to see a doctor - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Women wait for their turn to see a doctor at a Gospel for Asia-supported medical camp. Seeing a doctor is a rare opportunity for most of the families in this area.

That mom whom I mentioned earlier, the one who lost her child? She got to attend one of those health seminars, and when she applied the information she learned, her next pregnancy carried full term. She and her husband are now blessed with a little boy!

If I was a first-time mom in Asia instead of in Texas, and if my mother and all other women around me knew very little about childbirth and pregnancy, how would I be living? I probably would go along with the common beliefs that vitamins and pills are harmful to my baby, that doctors and shots were scary and that I could still work as hard as I possibly could to help my family earn food for the day.

Maybe I would be fortunate enough to live in one of the hundreds of villages Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers have visited to hold medical camps—but maybe I wouldn’t. I might still be unaware of how I should be changing my lifestyle to protect the gift of life in my womb.

I’m so grateful to be part of helping moms across Asia learn how to protect themselves and their babies. Each life is a gift from God. I hope and pray many more mothers will have the chance to attend a medical camp or seminar to learn the things that will safeguard their children’s lives.

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2023-02-22T08:54:03+00:00

Gospel for Asia (GFA) Report, Wills Point, Texas

On April 29, 2017, deadly tornados struck just a few miles away from Gospel for Asia’s U.S. headquarters in Wills Point, Texas. The GFA campus lost power for three days, but we were deeply grateful to be otherwise untouched by the twisters. However, our neighboring communities were reeling from the devastation. Homes had been torn off their foundations; a car dealership was in shambles—and so were many lives.

Local churches stepped up and organized groups of people to help clear rubble from broken homes and salvage whatever belongings could be found. Gospel for Asia (GFA) staff members quickly partnered with those churches and found ways to help serve the affected communities.

Gospel for Asia staff member helps clean up homes - KP Yohannan
Gospel for Asia staff member helps clean up homes after a tornado devastated a nearby community.

I went with one group of helpers to a neighborhood that would have been sheltered in a beautiful wood just days prior. But now the trees were splintered, and logs and branches sprawled across lawns, cars, pools and bedrooms. The furry of the storm was difficult to fathom.

I talked with tearful home owners who had to start afresh overnight. I walked through pastures and retrieved photographs, clothing, books and even a portion of a social security card.

In a storm, suddenly everything in a person’s life is laid bare and exposed.

It was a sobering experience. Tragedy had struck, but in the midst of it, I heard beautiful stories of God’s protection over the residents of the homes I helped clear away.

One father told me he arrived at a shelter just after his living room door flew through his house, crossing the hallway he had just used. At another site, a family member told me how the house had been lifted off its foundation, and the wife flew out and landed a few hundred feet away—she survived, as did her husband. Both these families were Christ followers, and they testified that God worked miracles in the midst of their storm.

As Daniel Yohannan, vice president of Gospel for Asia, wrote, gratitude works wonders in our hearts, no matter what our circumstances.

Thankfulness - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

There was such love being poured out from stranger to stranger. Prayers were offered, hugs were shared, meals were provided, sweat and labor was spent tearing out soaked drywall and removing glass, stones and trees from roofless homes.

Why were strangers so eager to help? Because of compassion. And for those who belonged to neighboring churches, it was because of Christ’s compassion.

Seeing the teams of believers—people of various backgrounds, skills and ages—all working together to help those who lost everything overnight, I couldn’t help but think about the teams of GFA-supported Compassion Services workers who respond when natural disasters hit.

When the horrific earthquakes in Nepal in 2015 killed more than 8,000 people in four nations, GFA-supported Compassion Services teams mobilized right away to organize relief work, rescue victims and care for the grieving. They stayed to help long after the news of the earthquake left the media.

Compassion Services team provides aid to villagers - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
A Gospel for Asia-supported Compassion Services team provides aid to villagers in Nepal after two earthquakes shook the country.

Like the local churches in Texas who helped their tornado-victim neighbors, these workers in Nepal ministered God’s love and mercy to people in their time of great need.

More recently, episodes of flooding in Assam, India, during 2017 and other severe floods in Sri Lanka prompted Compassion Services teams to rally together to aid their communities. Although many of the relief workers were affected by the flooding as well, they set aside their own needs and worked together to bring food and shelter to many villages.

I love these Compassion Services teams. They are used by God to save lives and bring hope into desperate situations, yet they themselves are simple human beings. They may be local pastors, students in a seminary, Sunday School teachers or Bridge of Hope staff. But when disaster strikes, they become vessels of peace and comfort during a fierce storm.

Disaster relief is one of the four ministries supported through Gospel for Asia’s Compassion Services fund. The other areas of ministry—Leprosy Ministry, Slum Ministry and Medical Ministry—hold a similar purpose: giving those who are in need the chance to experience God’s provision and care.

Learn more about Compassion Services.

Do you have a story you’d like to share of experiencing a natural disaster or helping provide relief and help to those in need? Please share those stories with us in the comments below!

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2025-03-18T20:19:27+00:00

Since 1979, Gospel for Asia (now GFA World) has been committed to serving the “least of these” in Asia, often in places where no one else is serving, so they can experience the love of God for the first time. GFA supports national workers serving as the hands and feet of Christ in four main ways. Sponsoring national missionaries to minister to people’s needs, sponsoring children, investing in community development, and helping families in need of care or during disasters.

Gospel for Asia is about changing communities—both for this life and for eternity. GFA is present in India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Laos, and Thailand, Rwanda and Liberia.

Programs

National missionaries

GFA’s main focus is to train and equip national missionaries who come from different cultures and languages rather than nation-states. This selection provides GFA with people within a single nation-state who are specialized in the particular village that they are ministering to. Some of these missionaries actually belong to these villages which makes it easier for them to share the love of Christ. In 2018 GFA reported that they have over 16,000 missionaries and church planters in 18 Asian nations.

Church buildings, Bibles, and gospel literature

Part of GFA’s program for discipleship is the establishment of Christian worship centers in small villages. These centers also provide a visible meeting place for Christians. In major cities, GFA builds large cathedral-type buildings to cater to bigger congregations. Similarly, GFA distributes native-language bibles and evangelical Christian literature to the region.

Radio and television broadcasts

GFA provides biblical content through its radio program, Athmeeya Yathra (Spiritual Journey) and its YouTube channel, Athmeeyayathra Television.

Bible colleges

GFA has established 56 bible colleges in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. These institutions train native missionaries within their own dialects and cultures so that they will be effective ministers. The program includes three years of instruction, including field instruction and experience.

Bridge of Hope

Bridge of Hope is a child sponsorship program for poor families in underserved communities, especially lower-caste families and Dalits. The program offers education, physical and spiritual care, including healthcare training and vocational training for women.

Wells

Jesus Well Gospel for Asia
This is a Jesus Well in a remote village in Asia.

In response to water shortage problems in communities, GFA digs wells for long-term use near churches, bible colleges, or Bridge of Hope centers. These wells are turned over to the local church and are maintained by a local pastor.

Leprosy Ministry

This ministry is also called “Reaching Friends Ministry” to help people suffering from the disease through social and relief work, medical aid, and health and hygiene awareness.

Expansion to Africa

In 2020, GFA started World Child Sponsorship in the slums of Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. It also include training national missionaries, clean water projects, medical ministry, education for the underprivileged, women’s empowerment, and community development projects. In 2025, GFA World extends missionary movement to Liberia, West Africa.

Affiliate Offices

GFA has or had 14 known affiliated LLCs registered in Willis Point, TX as well as national offices in various countries in which they operate mission efforts.

Believers Eastern Church

Believers Eastern Church is administratively based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It was reorganizd in 2015 into 33 dioceses. Its membership includes over 3.5 million people in 10 countries speaking a hundred languages. The Church currently has 30 Bishops, and the current Metropolitan Bishop is Athanasius Yohan I.

GFA Canada

The GFA Canada office is registered with the Canadian government. It was established in 1986 and is located in Ontario. As a charity office, it provides disaster relief among other humanitarian efforts to communities.

History

Dr. K.P. Yohannan founded Gospel for Asia as a Christian NGO in 1978. In the US, the organization is located in Wills Point, TX. In 1981, a branch was established in Kerala, India. Another headquarters was set up in Tiruvalla in 1983. GFA has also established bible colleges, compassion and community development projects, and disaster relief operations. GFA is supported by donations and has been considered to be “one of the most financially powerful mission undertakings in India in the 1980s.

What Others Are Saying About Gospel for Asia

George Verwer shares why he stands with Gospel for Asia
George Verwer shares why he stands with Gospel for Asia

“Gospel for Asia is not a movement but a phenomenon. GFA has become one of the most significant mission organizations of this century.

“I praise God for the great love and commitment of K.P. and Gisela Yohannan for the people of Asia. Millions have received the Word of God because of them and the ministry of Gospel for Asia.”

—George Verwer, founder of Operation Mobilization and world missions advocate


Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Sri Lanka's Youth for Christ
Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Sri Lanka’s Youth for Christ

 

“I am grateful for the training that Gospel for Asia has given to many evangelists who are effectively reaping the ripe harvest fields of Sri Lanka.”

—Ajith Fernando, teaching director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka


Paul Louis Cole, president of Christian Men's Network
Paul Louis Cole, president of Christian Men’s Network

“Dr. K.P. Yohannan is a missionary statesman, a pastor to pastors, a mission leader to mission leaders, and a father to the fatherless. At Christian Men’s Network, we look for deserving men around the world to highlight as role models for our Global Fatherhood Initiative. My introduction to Dr. Yohannan was reading Against the Wind, Finishing Well in a World of Compromise, which stirred me deeply. In a unanimous decision, the CMN board presented Dr. Yohannan with the first annual Reggie White Fatherhood Award, to honor his demonstration for over 40 years of what it means to be a father by providing leadership to compassionate workers of faith and hope to the defeated.”

—Rev. Paul Louis Cole, D.Th., president of Christian Men’s Network


Francis Chan, pastor and author
Francis Chan, pastor and author

“K.P. has been a mentor to me for years. The way that he speaks to God and about Him is different from anyone else I know. His words and actions have led to me loving Jesus more consistently and deeply. He continues to be an example to me. For this, I am eternally grateful.”

-Francis Chan, pastor and author

Read more quotes
25 Christian Leaders affirm Gospel for Asia


Gospel for Asia is also a community inspiring others in the West to be committed to Christ

GFA’s first Core Value is knowing the Lord Jesus more fully and intimately. This value is lived out daily by GFA staff and since its inception; GFA has provided ways for people to live out their commitment to Christ.

GFA School of Discipleship in Texas

GFA School of Discipleship in Texas

GFA created an immersive, authentic discipleship program for youth ages 18 – 27. Daily students are challenged to “die to yourself” while living in a community of believers who love Christ and serve others.

Learn more

Prayer Team

Prayer Team

The foundation of GFA’s ministry is prayer. We know nothing is accomplished without prayer, and therefore, we give it a place of priority. GFA-supported missionaries and GFA staff around the world pray consistently and with great fervor for those who have yet to comprehend the depth of God’s love and grace.

Join us in prayer

Learn more about Gospel for Asia

kp-yohannan

KP Yohannan – Founder of GFA

Dr. KP Yohannan is the founder and director of Gospel for Asia and author of numerous books including Revolution in World Missions.

More about KP

What We Believe

GFA’s Mission and Beliefs

Our mission in life is to be devout followers of Christ and to live lives fully pleasing to Him. Find out more of what we believe and what drives us.

More about GFA’s Mission

regions-where-we-work

Countries We Serve

GFA supports work in more than ten countries around the world including India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Learn More

2025-06-20T16:04:53+00:00

WILLS POINT, TX – Bishop Daniel, President of GFA World, reflects on his father KP Yohannan’s legacy, a life devoted to Christ, inspiring faith and mission.

My father, KP Yohannan, went to be with the Lord one year ago. I remember him every single day since then — wishing he was here and wishing we could continue some of the conversations we started. As I’ve looked back, I’ve come to realize what a tremendous blessing it was for me to witness how he lived out his faith daily.

One of the most impactful things he modeled for me was how to live a life of integrity. He was the same person at home as he was in public. That consistency is rare, yet it’s one of the most powerful ways a parent can love their children. Every day, my father lived out for my sister and me what it meant to genuinely follow God. Growing up in our home, sharing the Gospel wasn’t just a job; it was a way of life.

Father's Day without My Father, KP YohannanI watched how, as he got older, his pursuit of God didn’t fade — it deepened. His heart and passion for those who had not heard about Christ only strengthened. He didn’t grow tired of the mission; he grew more consumed by it. And that passion wasn’t just in the gifts he gave or the words he spoke — it was in the life he lived, day after day.

That genuine life is the greatest gift a father can give his children. It’s something we can carry with us and then pass on to our own children, which they will then pass down to their children. Loving our kids means making faith tangible and practical for them. It means showing them what it looks like to live with a passion for those living and dying without Christ and a deep love for God.

That means in the everyday moments — in the car, over coffee, during our prayers — that we live a simple, faithful life by loving God and loving others. In this way, our lives glorify God.

When I think about my father, as much as I miss him, as much as I wish he were still here sitting next to me, there’s also a peace that carries me forward. The same God who was with him is with me. I now have the privilege of continuing this life of love that my father exemplified.

If there’s one thing I wish people would remember about my father, it’s this: He would often say to everyone he met, “Add 100 years to your life — where are you, and what matters in light of that reality?” It was his way of challenging us to invest our lives in eternal things, knowing that only what we do for Christ will last.

He would also urge us not to waste our time. He would tell us, “Don’t give up so easily.” Especially young people — he would plead with them not to wait to serve God. Simplify your life. Use your time. Use your resources. Pray. Give. Go. There’s a world out there that still needs to hear about Christ.

And then he’d often ask the question: What are you now going to do about it?

I hope, by God’s grace, to lead my own children in the same way my father led me. Not by being perfect — my father wasn’t perfect. But by being able to genuinely say to my children, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”

A year without my father has taught me how much he’s still with me. His voice still echoes. His lessons still guide me. GFA World, the ministry he founded, still moves forward.

With that in mind, I continue walking and asking myself, “What am I going to do about it?”

I want to respond to that question every day of my life. I pray that my own children and all those impacted by my father’s life will do the same as well.

This article was originally published on The Christian Post on June 15, 2025.


About GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia)

GFA World is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping thousands of national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in hundreds of villages and remote communities, and more than 150,000 families provided with the means to break the cycle of poverty through income-generating gifts. More than 40,000 fresh water wells have been drilled since 2007, hundreds of thousands of women are now empowered through literacy training, and Christ-motivated ministry takes place every day throughout 18 nations. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.

About Bishop Daniel Timotheos

Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan is the President of GFA World and is consecrated bishop of the Believers Eastern Church. In his role as president of GFA World, Bishop Daniel serves as a primary link between thousands of Christian workers and missionaries serving throughout Asia and Africa and the rest of the church worldwide.

MEDIA: To arrange an interview with Bishop Daniel, contact: Palmer Holt, 704-662-2569, [email protected]

2025-06-23T21:44:09+00:00

WILLS POINT, TX — Endless scrolling and digital overload are creating a surprising hunger among the smartphone generation known as Gen Z — a deep longing for a real, personal encounter with God, says a global missions leader.

“Young people are craving more than just entertainment and information,” said Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan, president of global mission agency GFA World. “They’re craving to encounter the living God.”

Gen Z ‘Craves Encounter with God’ says Global Missions Leader Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan
GEN Z’S ‘GOD ENCOUNTER’: GFA World’s Set Apart retreat June 2-8 offers young people ages 18-30 the opportunity to swap social media and compulsive texting for a week of “encountering God.”

His comments follow a new study by Barna researchers that revealed young Americans are more likely than older Americans to affirm a “personal commitment to Jesus Christ.” In other research, based on a poll of 2,000 young Americans, two-thirds of Gen Zers said they had prayed to God in the past week, while more than one-third said they had read from the Bible.

Findings suggest many teens and young adults are seeking something deeper than social media likes and followers.

Now Texas-based GFA World is giving them that opportunity.

From June 2-8, the Set Apart retreat at the mission organization’s campus in Wills Point near Dallas offers Gen Zers and Millennials ages 18-30 the opportunity to swap social media and compulsive texting for a week of encountering God — the “encounter they crave,” according to Bishop Daniel.

A Narnia-Like Experience

He likens the retreat to the moment in C.S. Lewis’s “The Chronicles of Narnia” when the children step through the wardrobe to encounter Aslan, a fictional representation of Christ.

Gen Z longs to “walk through the wardrobe” and meet with God personally, he said, “but they don’t know how or haven’t been given the opportunity.”

The retreat will inspire young people to respond to Jesus’ challenge to “deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me” — a radical call, Bishop Daniel says, to embrace “what it means to follow Christ, to live in the light of eternity.”

Seeking A Solid Foundation

Many young people feel empty and are looking for something to anchor their lives on.

A recent report in Premier Christianity noted a growing interest in historic Christian practices and liturgies — dating back to the early church — that “have become more attractive to young adults seeking a solid foundation.”

When young people set aside their phones purposefully for a time of silent prayer and reflection, Bishop Daniel said, the effect on them is profound.

“You have no idea how many young people say that the most impactful thing in their life is just to have the opportunity to encounter the living God,” he said. “As we listen for God’s still small voice, he meets us, but we must give him the space to speak to us.”

Bishop Daniel sees this generation as the future leaders and missionaries of the church — the ones who will carry the message of Christ into the next era.

“They’re going to be the ones to move nations,” he said. “The greatest gift we can give them is the opportunity to encounter God for themselves.”


About GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia)

GFA World is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping thousands of national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in hundreds of villages and remote communities, and more than 150,000 families provided with the means to break the cycle of poverty through income-generating gifts. More than 40,000 fresh water wells have been drilled since 2007, hundreds of thousands of women are now empowered through literacy training, and Christ-motivated ministry takes place every day throughout 18 nations. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.


Learn more about Gospel for Asia: Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | LinkedIn | SourceWatch | Integrity | 5 Distinctives | 6 Remarkable Facts | 10 Milestones | Media Room | Child Sponsorship | Endorsements | 40th Anniversary | International Offices | Missionary and Child Sponsorship | Transforming Communities through God’s Love

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox


Source: GFA World Digital Media Room, Gen Z ‘Craves Encounter with God’ says Global Missions Leader

MEDIA: To arrange an interview with Bishop Daniel, contact: Palmer Holt, 704-662-2569, [email protected]

2025-06-23T21:46:59+00:00

WILLS POINT, TX — After 45 years of groundbreaking ministry in Asia that includes sending out thousands of national missionaries, a U.S.-based mission organization is expanding in Africa. Texas-based GFA World (www.gfa.org) — formerly known as Gospel for Asia — is moving into a new frontier, with the launch of a new missions base in Liberia in addition to projects already underway in Rwanda.

“Africa is bursting with possibilities,” said Bishop Daniel Timotheos Yohannan, the organization’s new president. “Roughly 40 percent of the population of Liberia, for example, is under the age of 15.”

GFA World Extends Missionary Movement to Liberia, West Africa
NEW WAVE OF HOPE ACROSS AFRICA: Texas-based GFA World (www.gfa.org) has launched a new mission base in Liberia, in addition to the construction of a large-scale multi-specialty hospital and training complex in Kigali, Rwanda — a “springboard” for ministry across Africa.

Across Africa, it is estimated at least 32 million children of primary age, mostly girls, do not attend school because their families cannot afford the fees. GFA World’s child sponsorship program seeks to change that, and actively partners with communities.

The organization is also launching projects and missionary training in Liberia.

Training and equipping nationals — or locals — to do missionary work is nothing new to GFA World. In the 1980s, its founder, K.P. Yohannan, launched what was described as a “revolution in world missions,” sending thousands of trained national missionaries on foot and bicycles to “share the love of God” in communities across Asia, bringing hope and healing to places where there was no previous exposure to the Gospel.

‘Never Met a Christian’

Many people in isolated villages have never heard the Gospel message — or even met a Christian — while millions live and die without ever hearing the name of Jesus Christ, the missions organization says.

National missionaries know the local customs, languages, and beliefs, and don’t face travel or visa restrictions that cross-cultural workers have,” said Timotheos Yohannan, adding that local missionaries “can easily connect with their own people.”

Meanwhile, the organization’s ministry base in Kigali, Rwanda, continues to expand. With one of the highest-density populations in Africa, there is only one doctor for every 8,300 people. The organization is constructing a large-scale multi-specialty hospital and medical training complex that is modelled on its state-of-the-art facility in Asia that helps nearly 2,000 patients every day and trains hundreds of medical students.

The Rwanda-based hospital complex will train medical professionals from across Africa, as well as help set up a network of permanent health clinics.

Plans are underway for new projects in Liberia, mirroring the work in Rwanda — including educational opportunities for children, clean water projects known as “Jesus Wells,” and medical camps where the most at risk families can get free healthcare.

“One-third of the world’s communities are still waiting to experience Christ’s love for the first time,” said Timotheos Yohannan. “No one should die without knowing the love of Christ.”


About GFA World (formerly Gospel for Asia)

GFA World is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping thousands of national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Africa and Asia, and sharing the love of God. In a typical year, this includes thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in hundreds of villages and remote communities, and helping more than 150,000 families break the cycle of poverty through income-generating gifts. More than 40,000 freshwater wells have been drilled since 2007, hundreds of thousands of women are now empowered through literacy training, and Christ-motivated ministry takes place every day throughout 18 nations. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit the Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news.

For more details and to arrange an interview, contact: Gregg Wooding @ 972-567-7660 or [email protected]


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