Gospel for Asia Introduces the Global Clean Water Crisis

April 23, 2018 By Karen Mains

Asian girls carrying water for miles in a global clean water crisis - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Asian girls carry clean drinking water for miles because of the global clean water crisis.

Gospel for Asia (GFA), Wills Point, Texas, Special Report 1/4 on the global clean water crisis.

The “Blue Marble” photo of Earth shot from Apollo 17, the last of NASA’s Apollo missions as the rocket ship was hurtling toward the moon, wasn’t the first satellite image of our planet, but it was the first full image—stunning in color—taken from some 18,000 miles in space, with the sun fully illuminating Earth. The south polar ice cap, despite heavy cloud cover, was clearly captured, and the photo showed almost the entire coastline of Africa, extending from Antarctica to the Mediterranean Sea. Most of us who saw it at that time were stunned with how much water covered our planet.

This one single dramatic image eventually gave the name “Blue Planet” to our Earth, due obviously to the abundant water sources we could see on its surface. The photo was taken on December 17, 1972 and for all of us at that time, caught up in the exploits of the space discovery, it forever altered the comprehension of our planet. Now, when I think of Earth, and when hundreds of millions of others think of Earth, this is the iconic image that comes to mind.

This is an article about the global clean water crisis, about clean water, about water from a tap or from a glass, hopefully free of pathogens that bring disease. This is an article about clay pots and large plantain leaves and cupped dried gourds that hold rainfall hopefully untainted by acid effluvium. This is an article about pole wells drilled beneath polluted soil, and the unintended arsenic poisoning of villagers. This is an article about drying water reservoirs, about waste and sewage and chemicals polluting streams and rivers and major waterways. It is about encroaching urban development laying acres of implacable concrete and miles of roadways over land where rains can now no longer replenish water tables. It is an article about taking responsibility for that Blue Planet spinning alone, and as far as science now knows, unparalleled in our universe. No liquid water has been confirmed as existing on any other planet in our solar system. As yet, not a single drop of water has been detected anywhere in interstellar space. Scientists have determined that only a planet of the right mass, the right chemical composition and the right location can support liquid water; in other words, a planet like ours, the Blue Planet, this Earth.

663 million people have no access to safe drinking water - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — 663 million people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water as of 2015. This is the first time the number has fallen below 700 million.

That information alone should evoke awe when we look again at the ubiquitous reproductions of the Apollo 17 photo (identified by NASA as AS17-148-22727.) This image is perhaps best described in the spare language of Genesis 1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the waters … And God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the firmament and separated the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so.” The Creation account then proceeds with the regular, rhythmical and dynamic pronouncement of the Creator, “And it is good. And it is very good.”

Just imagine: God looking at the actuality of what that splendid photo AS17-148-22727 replicates. Who can refuse to admit to experiencing a similar and deep soul sigh, it is good. It is very good . . .? According to United States Geological Survey (USGS), “The Earth is a watery place. But just how much water exists on, in, and above our planet? About 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 percent of all Earth’s water. Water also exists in the air as water vapor, in rivers and lakes, in icecaps and glaciers, in the ground as soil moisture and in aquifers, and even in you and your dog.”

I’m not sure about water content in the animal species, but data informs me that adult males are about 60 percent water and adult females are about 55 percent water.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” captures the analysis of contemporary oceanographers, “Water, water everywhere.” And unfortunately, due to the stresses of climate change, rising seas, urban sprawl, lack of urban planning, spoiled springs and creeks and raging rivers overwhelming their banks and flooding, the rest of that poetic lament is becoming all too real, “And not a drop to drink.”

A Quarter of Earth’s Major Cities Face Water Stress

At the time of this writing, the world is watching the water distress in Cape Town, South Africa, where the taps are scheduled to run dry due to extended drought that has emptied the water reservoirs. In fact, experts tell us that this coastal paradise city is not alone in its water depletion extremity. Literally millions of people around the world live without sufficient access to water; over 1 billion people lack water supplies, and another 2.7 billion find it scarce for at least one month of the year. A 2014 survey of the world’s 500 largest cities estimates that one in four are in “water stress.” In fact, right now, there are 11 major cities on the Blue Planet that are most likely to run out of drinking water—exactly like Cape Town. Those cities are:

São Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital.
Bangalore, India, where rapid growth as a technological hub outstrips advancements to the city’s plumbing, resulting in half its drinking water lost to waste.
Beijing, China; the country is home to some 20 percent of the world’s population but whose continent has only 7 percent of the world’s fresh water.
Cairo, Egypt, where the major water source, the River Nile, is the increasing destination of untreated agricultural pollutants and residential waste.
Jakarta, Indonesia, where rising sea levels with saline water have resulted in 40 percent of Jakarta to be below sea level.
Moscow, Russia, where 70 percent of the water supply is dependent upon surface water, but pollution, a leftover from the USSR industrial legacy, has contributed to the fact that 35 percent to 60 percent of total drinking water reserves do not meet sanitary standards.
Istanbul, Turkey, which is now technically in water stress. Experts have warned that, if not checked, the situation could worsen to water scarcity by 2030. The city’s reservoir levels declined to less than 30 percent of capacity in 2014.
Mexico City, Mexico, where 1 in 5 residents have tap water only a few hours a week, and another 20 percent have running water just part of the day.
London, England, where the city draws 80 percent of its water from the Thames and the Lea rivers, has a waste rate of 25 percent, and consequently is predicted to have serious shortages by 2040.
Tokyo, Japan, which is now initiating plans to collect rainwater due to its high precipitation—some 750 private and public buildings in the city have water collection and utilization systems.
Miami, Florida, is suffering from an earlier project to drain its swamps, causing the unforeseen problem of the Atlantic Ocean rising as water warms and now contaminating the Biscayne Aquifer—the city’s main source of fresh water—and causing closure of nearby outlying wells due to saline infusion.

Studying this list makes one point crystal clear: Even if I (or you) may not be personally affected by water emergencies in the areas where we individually live, modern urbanized cities across the entire Blue Planet are now under water duress. They serve as the early warning systems that demand global attention! Attention! Attention! In addition, problems that were ignored 20 years ago are in need of urgent correction now, as are other situations that now need corrections in order to prevent water disasters in the near future.

The World Health Organization has made clean water a priority. According to the WHO Drinking Water Fact Sheet, “In 2010, The UN General Assembly explicitly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. Everyone has the right to sufficient, continuous, safe, acceptable, physically accessible, and affordable water for personal and domestic use.”

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) releases a yearly grade for infrastructure for the United States as well as a grade for each state. They gave the United States a grade of D+ for the year 2017. According to their report, this assessment for roads, bridges, airports, water systems, etc. is determined by measures like capacity, funding, operation and maintenance, and public safety.

These are the analytics that need to be explained in any discussions of America’s infrastructure hazards, and they are the modes for diagnosing our failing and crumbling public systems, upon which we are all dependent. Consequently, because of its looming water emergency, the thriving city of Cape Town has become the poster city for what, if the necessary correctives are not applied, will be water-scarcity crises duplicated in other large cities worldwide. Even now, that crisis is a reality for millions living in a world where the alarming estimate is that by 2025 half the world’s populations will be living in water-stressed areas.

“We are now limited to using 13 gallons of water per person per day. That’s enough for a 90-second shower, a half-gallon of drinking water, a sink full to hand-wash dishes or laundry, one cooked meal, two hand washings, two teeth brushings and one toilet flush.”

TIME Magazine’s reportage as to the causes of Cape Town’s severe water depletion point to several realities, which are also relevant to other urban centers. Climatologists at the University of Cape Town recognize that man-made climate change is a contributing factor in continuing drought patterns and warn that a drier future with increasingly unpredictable rain supplies is likely. It is generally agreed that the current water crisis is a result of what writers Mikhael Subotzky and Johnny Miller report is “a combination of poor planning, three years of drought and spectacularly bad crisis management. The city’s outdated infrastructure has long struggled to keep up with the burgeoning population. As dam levels began to decline amid the first two years of drought, the default response by city leadership was a series of vague exhortations to be ‘water aware.’”

Cape Town, South Africa faces a global clean water crisis - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Cape Town, South Africa (population 433,688), where the taps are scheduled to run dry due to extended drought that has emptied the water reservoirs.

In February 2018, Cape Town’s mayor’s office announced more stringent water restrictions: “We are now limited to using 13 gallons of water per person per day. That’s enough for a 90-second shower, a half-gallon of drinking water, a sink full to hand-wash dishes or laundry, one cooked meal, two hand washings, two teeth brushing and one toilet flush.” The warning in the TIME article is this: “What is happening to us in Cape Town might not be an outlier. It could happen to you too.”

This material originally appeared in Gospel for Asia’s special report “The Global Clean Water Crisis: Finding Solutions to Humanity’s Need for Pure, Safe Water.”

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Gospel for Asia’s Children’s Ministry Is a Bridge of Hope to Kids in Asia

March 22, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

Bridge of Hope - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Children attending any GFA Bridge of Hope program learn to read and write, gain positive study habits, are provided with a healthy meal, receive medical care as needed, are shown God’s loving-kindness, and develop the HOPE that their education will one day help them shake off the weight of poverty.

One of our Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors said something both sad and ironic several years ago: “Nobody cares about the children of this village.”

While, in his eyes, his statement seemed to be true, the irony is that it was not entirely so. The mere fact that he said it indicated that he cared. In fact, he admitted, “I have a great burden for this village.” The reason he cared is that he knew that Jesus cares.

The village of which he spoke is home to 2,000 impoverished families whose daily need is survival. Their entire life is consumed with laboring to feed themselves and their families. Their fight for survival means their children are forced to work in laborious and tedious tasks to generate adequate resources.

Many of these families live in one-room huts, often made with only sticks and plastic. They have no nearby sources of clean water. They lack proper sanitation facilities. What food they are able to acquire does not always provide adequate nutrition. And there doesn’t seem to be a way out.

A recent report from the McKinsey Global Institute found that there is a substantial difference in poverty levels beyond what we comprehend. There is a poverty level at which people can “achieve a decent standard of living,” but these villagers and their children live below that level in the realm of “bare subsistence” where hope and a way out appear non-existent.

Food, clothing and medical care are honorable and necessary charitable acts that demonstrate the love of Christ. They are gifts and services that sustain life. However, they do not, in and of themselves, create a bridge to a better life.

Food can make a destitute person less hungry, but they are still impoverished. Clothing can help provide a sense of dignity, but it does not change a person’s circumstances. Medical care can prevent disease, but it cannot break the bondage of abject poverty.

Creating a Bridge of Hope

This village is an example of how Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope (BOH) centers make a difference.

Bridge of Hope centers provide an educational experience for school-age children in which they learn the practical skills that can be the bridge to a better life. Each school day, students practice reading, writing and math in an environment of Christian love where staff members guide them to the hope for a better tomorrow by teaching them life skills that will become their bridge out of the generational curse into which they were born.

Education is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. Each evening when a child goes home from a Bridge of Hope center, they return to the same existential scenario. But each evening they go with a little more hope for the future.

The centers offer each child with daily, nutritious meals to give them the energy they need to learn and grow. Regular medical checkups are also part of the program. BOH centers even provide the students’ school supplies.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) has helped touched the lives of more than 75,000 children through Bridge of Hope centers. What these children have learned and are learning gives them a bridge they can cross to pass over “the hurdles of tragedy and poverty and press on to a future bright with promises.”

The program helps the children with their education so they can one day get a good job and afford sufficient food, decent clothing, medical supplies and other necessities of life for themselves and for their families. Beyond this, Bridge of Hope provides the children with opportunities to pursue and excel in their God-given skills and interests.

Bridge of Hope staff members become the hands and feet of Christ to the students and their families, serving them with genuine love, compassion and respect. Staff members maintain relationships with the parents and children and offer them counsel, encouragement and, ultimately, give them hope.

What does a child receive at the Bridge of Hope centers?

Education. This includes tuition, books and uniforms. But even more significant is that they will get tutoring in reading and writing, which means a future of hope is guaranteed.

Nutrition. During the school day, each child receives a healthy, balanced meal.

Medical care. The Bridge of Hope leaders who care for children also monitor their health and provide care as needed. Extra attention is given in areas where malaria or tuberculosis is prevalent. In addition to periodic checkups and medical treatment, children also learn basic habits of good hygiene, such as washing hands, trimming fingernails and bathing regularly.

Development of social skills and self-confidence. From the earliest ages in kindergarten, children are given opportunities to play games and practice basic rules of courtesy.

Hope Becomes Real on the Other Side of the Bridge

While the short-term focus is on helping the children now, the long-term perspective is to enable them to become all they possibly can be as a useful servant to their community, and to one day be a blessing to many others throughout Asia.

Bridge of Hope centers are not limited to remote villages. Many are located in the slum areas of major Asian cities, where roaming through and living on top of trash heaps is a way of life and their only hope for tomorrow.

Paul encouraged Timothy to share what he had taught him with others who would then be able to show many more (2 Timothy 2:2). Following that model, the character development and social impact at work in Bridge of Hope centers is being passed on to many others throughout the community.

Bridge of Hope is not just a name for a project. It is a ministry that actually produces a product. That product is the potential for a hopeful future for children who are trapped by circumstances they did not create, in a situation they cannot escape and who would, otherwise, have no hope.

Parents and grandparents recognize the changes in their children and grandchildren, causing them not only rejoice in their hope for the future but also to realize the love of Christ in their own lives.

Even local leaders praise the work of Bridge of Hope centers for their impact on the community at large. One leader said, “I am really happy to see a social network coming up to this level of taking care of the future of children.”

The father of one of the children at the same center said, “This only can be possible through Christians. The love of Christians is great. My children are going to become well-prepared for their future. I am overwhelmed with their concern for us.”

To learn more about Bridge of Hope read “What Bridge of Hope Gives Children.”

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Meeting Pressing Physical Needs Opens the Door for Deeper Healing as Well

February 27, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

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

You know that awkward moment when you’re stopped at a red light, and you can feel the presence right outside your window. You study the road in front of you, trying, unconvincingly, to look casual and nonchalant. Before, when you slowed down for this stop light, you saw the panhandler standing at the corner. You knew you were going to end up idling right next to him. You quickly think to yourself, What do I do? Do you smile and look away? Do you give him money? What are the chances it won’t go straight to the liquor store till? His sign says he has a family. Does he really? Will they see a cent of any money you give him? What about if you give him a gospel tract? Isn’t that really his greatest need: Jesus?

I have often wrestled through these questions and settled on one of the actions above, but never with complete satisfaction that it was the best way to help or exactly what Jesus would have done.

Usually, when Jesus was approached by the needy, disabled or downcast, He met their immediate physical needs, often through healing. But He also fed people, just because they were hungry. In fact, He told us that when we meet the immediate physical needs of people in front of us, we are ministering to Him directly.

“Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” —Matthew 25:34–40

Our field partners in Asia see the same kind of desperate needs that we read about in the gospels. People affected by leprosy. People without access or means for medical treatment. Families too poor to send their kids to school or even feed them. There are so many natural disasters in rural Asian countries that don’t have the infrastructure to respond.

Compassion Services workers - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Relief packets, distributed by Gospel for Asia-supported Compassion Services workers, being helicoptered into remote locations in Nepal following the catastrophic earthquakes in 2015.

Gospel for Asia-supported Compassion Services teams are there to meet people’s real-time, immediate needs. Things like medical checkups and flood relief. These are vehicles for people to experience the real love and compassion of Jesus. Jesus sees their need. He sees their plight. He is not deaf to their cries, they reach His throne in heaven.

Compassion Services is where heaven touches earth. Washing a leprosy patient’s wounds gives physical representation to the spiritual reality of God’s cleansing forgiveness. Rebuilding the home of a family who lost everything in an earthquake speaks of an eternal home that cannot be destroyed.

When we reach out to the immediate physical needs of those around us in the name of Jesus, He ministers to them through us. We become the very hands and feet of Jesus on earth.

old woman who received a blanket - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — This is Rayna, a 125-year-old woman who received a blanket.

In a tiny farming village in Asia, two Sisters of Compassion met 125-year-old, Rayna, a poor widow who has lived her whole life in this village. The sisters made weekly visits to Rayna to hear her stories culled from 125 years of love and heartache and to pray for her. They noticed the torn and smelly blanket she used for warmth and realized she and her family couldn’t even afford a new blanket, because they used all their income on daily survival. There was no money left for improving their lives. The sisters were able to provide a new, warm blanket for Rayna through a gift distribution.

“During night time, I feel cold because there were no warm clothes in my house, and I struggled a lot,” Rayna said. “I could not afford to buy a blanket to protect me. But thank you very much for giving this blanket.”

Gospel for Asia partners work right in the middle of some of the most difficult plights of human need. Our partners work in 44 leprosy colonies in Asia, where leprosy still has a life-long stigma. As people affected with leprosy are often cast out of society, they gather in groups or “colonies” for safety. Our partners are busy ministering to these outcasts by cleansing their wounds, getting them medical attention, and providing livelihoods, such as goats, through GFA’s Christmas Gift Catalog so they have a sustainable means of living. We even have an onsite cobbler at one of the colonies to provide custom shoes for those with feet too disfigured to wear normal shoes.

Our field partners also work in slums spread across Asia, providing toilets and blankets to those who do not have access to these items of basic human need. We host medical camps in slums, leper colonies and poor rural areas that have no access to any sort of health care. Often in these areas, people’s only resource for medical care are traditional practices that spread more disease than cure.

After the decimating series of earthquakes in Nepal in 2015, coordinated relief efforts came from many Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported partners in Indian states. Supplies of clothing, food and medicine were assembled to meet immediate needs. Building supplies were collected to help with reconstruction. Even school supplies were provided for thousands of children that lost everything. In times of crisis, when warning is impossible, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Compassion Services are poised to respond immediately and remain for the long haul.

Jesus made time for the needy around Him. Even when He was busy, on His way somewhere, a desperate woman who reached out to Him was not turned away, but healed (Mark 5:21-34). Men would cry out to Him from the side of the road, and Jesus paused to listen and minister to their physical needs (Matthew 20:29-34). Often this led to spiritual transformation as well.

By touching people’s lives by meeting immediate physical needs, the door is open for deeper healing as well.

Bottled water and a gospel tract - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Bottled water and a gospel tract for those standing in 100-degree weather.

You remember the panhandler at the intersection? This is my someone-asking-for-help-while-I’m-busy-on-my-way-somewhere moment. How will I respond? Once I had kids and knew that these four little people were watching my life, I determined to come up with a way to reach out to panhandlers. I was done looking the other way and feeling embarrassed, not knowing what to do. So I put together a plastic bin that sits in my van, right between the two front seats filled with bottles of water. Each water bottle has a gospel tract rubber-banded around the outside. Tucked into the gospel tract is $1. My kids and I pray over the gospel tracts and write a warm note of encouragement before we wrap them around the water bottles. Now that we live in Texas, bottled water is perfect. When we lived in Washington State, it was cans of soup.

There are so many ways that Jesus continues to minister to the needs of people around the world. And He does it through the small and big acts we carry out every day. When we, as the Body of Christ, show up in a recently flooded village where all the crudely constructed homes have been washed away, Jesus is there. When we give a bottled water to someone standing on a street corner in 100-degree weather, Jesus is there. We are the literal hands and feet of Jesus reaching out in our local communities and across the globe, meeting people’s immediate physical and spiritual needs. Being the conduit for heaven to touch earth.

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Can Cleanliness Lead to Godliness?

January 13, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

Is Cleanliness Next to Godliness?

That’s a good question. It may not be in Scripture, as many people believe, but it does have an element of truth. John Wesley is generally cited as the originator of the phrase in his sermon, “Cleanliness Is, Indeed, Next to Godliness.” It is certain that he was not the creator of the concept. Similar statements have been recorded in ancient literature.

While the Bible may not specifically say that cleanliness is next to godliness, it does, however, associate the two. Those stricken with leprosy in Biblical times were required by ritual law to announce that they were unclean should they appear in public.

Jesus described the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, saying that they were more concerned about outwardly cleanliness than internal cleanliness where they were “full of extortion and self-indulgence” (Matthew 23:25, 26).

Job described himself as “pure, without transgression” (Job 33:9).

The Psalmist similarly used cleanliness to describe his need for a return to righteousness: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10).

Both Paul and John used cleanliness to describe holiness and righteousness. Paul urged the Corinthian church to cleanse themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). John reminds believers that when we confess our sins, the Lord “is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

There seems to be a direct connection between cleanliness and godliness, at least in comparative terms.

If we must be cleansed from unrighteousness, then unrighteousness must be dirty.

If a leper who has been healed is declared clean, he is free of his disease.

Can Cleanliness Lead to Godliness?

That’s another good question – one which the western world does not always handle well.

We like to eat from clean plates and sleep on clean sheets. We avoid hanging out with people who haven’t bathed or washed their clothes.

The western world has come to take cleanliness for granted, and we withdraw from that which is dirty.

But what if we were to live as millions around the world do—in abject poverty, especially in Asian and African countries?

What if our lives consisted of living in unclean conditions from which there was no relief?

And what if a miracle should happen and someone appeared who could change our circumstances?

What would we do? How would we respond to being able to drink clean water and use private, sanitary toilet facilities—things which we didn’t have the privilege of before?

We would be eternally grateful.

That is why the global ministry of Gospel for Asia is so effective.

The many projects GFA undertakes as ministry efforts are to provide clean water, sanitation, and similar relief. One reason is because of the great need. Another reason is because we serve the Great Provider.

Our mission in life is to be devout followers of Christ and to live lives fully pleasing to Him. God has given us a special love for the people of Asia, and it is our desire to minister to them and help them through ministries like education, providing health information or practical gifts, or through the spiritual transformation of peaceful hearts, restored relationships and mended lives. We do all this in community and in partnership with the global Body of Christ.

The impoverished to whom we minister in Asia are so grateful for the kindness and cleanliness that Gospel for Asia (GFA) offers for their physical needs, they often welcome our ministry to their spiritual needs. They respond to kindness and love expressed by the offer of cleanliness.

Cleanliness may or may not be next to godliness, but at Gospel for Asia (GFA) we know that cleanliness can lead those who think they have no hope to the sure and certain hope we have in Jesus Christ.

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Talking Openly About Open Defecation & Christianity

January 12, 2018 By GFA Staff Writer

“So what does Christianity have to do with the defecation problems of the world?”

That’s a question posed in Gospel for Asia (GFA) special report “Saving Lives at Risk from Open Defecation: Using Outdoor Toilets to Improve Sanitation.”

The report, written by bestselling author and speaker Karen Burton Mains, takes an in-depth—and, at times, personal—view concerning open defecation problems around the world and those specific to Asia.

slums in Asia, lacking facilities like toilets and proper drainage - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — In this part of the slums in Asia, many people live in close proximity to unhygienic surroundings—lacking facilities like toilets and proper drainage.

Here’s an excerpt:

Talking Openly About Open Defecation

Another key dilemma in this discussion—open defecation, hardly a dinner-table topic or a mission committee agenda item—is the fact that accessibility to toilets does not always indicate usage. Changing habits is mostly a matter of changing mindsets in the face of the stranglehold of deeply entrenched beliefs.

Elizabeth Royte, in a comprehensive August 2017 National Geographic Magazine article, reports visiting Parameswaran Iyer, India’s secretary of drinking water and sanitation, in 2016. A hand-numbered sign on his wall tracks progress.

“You see that?” he asks. “One hundred thousand is the number of villages that are ODF today.” (ODF is the acronym for open defecation free).

Royte reports working the internal math: “Just 540,000 to go, I note; three years before Modi’s deadline.”

Other players, including the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (with $40 million dollars in prize money allocated toward innovative approaches to new toilet technologies), hundreds of concerned social entrepreneurs, engineers with altruistic motivations, East Asian water initiatives, and countless faith-based organizations are tackling the seemingly intractable worldwide dilemma of toilets, sanitation systems and sullied water.

What drives all this magnitude of interest, field research, consortiums and consultations on sanitation/water projects, awarding of grants and money prizes? Disease—plain and simple. Both waterborne and airborne. Some 1.5 million people die globally each year from polluted water diseases alone.

Facing the Facts about Toilets

Elizabeth Royte, who is a sanitation expert traveling widely and reporting extensively, summarizes that “Indian PM Modi aims to build more than 100 million new toilets in rural areas alone by 2019.” But she notes that “deep-seated attitudes may present an even bigger barrier to improving sanitation than a lack of pipes and pits.”

That being said, let’s first look at the data regarding the state of toilets and open defecation in Asia. Then let’s examine what development organizations, sanitation technologies and mission groups, namely Gospel for Asia (GFA), are attempting in order to help Asia become ODF.

Starting with a global overview, key facts regarding sanitation highlighted by the World Health Organization are:

Mains, who has traveled extensively, visiting at least 55 countries, also gives some personal and quite humorous examples of experiencing some of the world’s sanitation problems.

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 your door? What if the floor around your 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.

A well-cleaned squat toilet - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — A well-cleaned squat toilet in Asia.

Now, while Modi has emphasized improved sanitation, it’s worthwhile to note that India has been struggling with these issues even before winning independence from Great Britain in 1947. In fact, Gandhi insisted, “Sanitation is more important than temples.” Now, however, due to population growth, a conundrum exists: While the percentage that practice open defecation has dropped substantively, birth rates are creating an environment where more people live in geographic locations where fecal exposure is increasing, not decreasing.

Today, some 157 million urban dwellers—that would be 37 percent of the urban population—lack a safe and private toilet.

Some 315,000 children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrhea. Underweight impoverished mothers give birth to underweight babies. Worldwide, stunting affects an estimated 165 million children under the age of 5.

And all of the above and much, much more could be cured and eliminated by the installation and use of proper sanitation systems in slums, hamlets, rural villages and large cities across India and Asia.

Eventually, I brought the accumulated exposure of my world travels—some 55 countries in all—and the learning I had gathered through journalism research and the actualities of dragging through camps and slums to the board table of Medical Ambassadors International (MAI), a global faith-based health organization.

The former international field director of MAI, now working to create a coalition of some 250 mission groups and development organizations implementing the MAI teaching methodology, made a statement I thought about for years.

“I never realized,” he said, “that I would eventually measure the impact of the Gospel by how many toilets had been built in a village.”

Want to read more of what Mains discovered about saving lives at risk of open defecation? Gospel for Asia (GFA) website has the complete article. After reading it, let us know what you think or if you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to…defecate in the open.

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“When My Husband Was Falsely Imprisoned for 20 Years, My World Crumbled,” Reports Gospel for Asia

November 9, 2017 By GFA Staff Writer

Do you remember what happened in your life on May 2, 2000? It was a Tuesday. It might not have been a significant day to you, but for Manja, a father of two in Nepal, that day changed his life and his family forever.

That was the day Manja landed in jail under false accusations of murder.

It started when Manja, a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary , joined a group of friends for an afternoon of fishing. Along the river, they discovered a body. They informed the police and filed a report. Everything seemed to be finished—until one month later when Manja was accused of committing the crime.

This is Manja. His Bible was his most treasured possession while in prison.

A Prisoner Missionary

Months of accusations, falsified evidence, betrayal, abuse and drawn out legal proceedings followed. Then the bars closed behind Manja with a sentence of 20 years imprisonment.

“When my husband was arrested and imprisoned for 20 years,” Rati, Manja’s wife shares, “it was as if my whole world had crumbled down.”

Manja and Rati were devastated by the verdict. But in the months and years to follow, they had a choice to make: Would they cling to God’s promises and believe in His goodness, or would they allow anger, bitterness and self-pity to control their hearts?

Both chose to put their faith in God.

Rati strengthened herself in the Lord and stepped up to shoulder the responsibilities of her imprisoned husband, raising their two children and continuing Manja’s ministry—even though she had never been to school in her life and was illiterate.

“I always underestimated myself,” Rati said, “but God encouraged me through many of the leaders, and they said that God could use me to accomplish His purposes.”

Gospel for Asia’s field partners came alongside Rati, helping her and encouraging her in any way they could as she braced herself for 20 years without her husband. She learned to read and even attended Bible college, while her husband, Manja, lived an exemplary life in his prison cell, honoring his Savior through his heart of forgiveness toward those who imprisoned him.

What Happened Inside the Walls

Manja gained strength whenever he knelt and prayed by the toilet, the only place he could be alone. He found opportunities to share God’s love with many inmates. As the new resident of the toughest “neighborhood” in his country, Manja brought something to the prison that no one expected: love.

Even while he faced emotional and physical hardships, Manja relied on his faith, something the other prisoners did not have.

“The inmates questioned me, ‘How could your God let this happen to you while you served Him?’ ” Manja remembers. “I told them that though injustice was served to me here, God knows me and my situation. He definitely has a better tomorrow.”

Prisoners started gravitating toward his unswerving faith.

“Even though we are imprisoned as criminals,” Manja told them, “God hears our prayers.” And God did hear. One of Manja’s fellow inmates asked for prayer for his wife, who was ill. From within their cell, they prayed, and they soon heard that she had been healed.

Slowly, Manja’s time with the Lord became small gatherings of five, then 10, then 15 believers. And as his trustworthy reputation grew, officials gave him responsibilities—and with them, the chance to minister to more of the inmates. His good behavior also shortened his sentence by one month every year.

“I was assigned to count the prisoners in their cells every evening,” he says. “I was in charge of 150 prisoners. With different temperaments and attitudes, there were many prisoners who fought. But I mediated with love, and they never raised a finger against me.”

Manja remained faithful and ministered to the inmates - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Manja remained faithful and ministered to the inmates within his prison. He is pictured here at his release with a young man who found Christ through his prison ministry.

He even had opportunities to work in the prison school and hospital. There, he met hundreds of men who were paying the price for their crimes. The news of Jesus’ love and forgiveness meant that in prison, these men found a pardon that set them freer than if they had been released.

“Even though I was in jail, God worked in me and through me!” Manja rejoices.

He was also well-known as someone who would listen and help with many problems, and this even helped protect his life.

“In 2006, there was a revolt within the prison,” Manja remembers.

While the world read of Nepal’s dethroned king and the new democracy, prisoners decided that their jail terms should be forgiven.

“Revolting prisoners fought each other; they would come at night and smash the heads of other prisoners sleeping next to me,” he recalls.

But God protected His servant, and Manja was never injured.

Prayers from Around the World

Throughout Brother Manja’s journey of arrest and imprisonment, Gospel for Asia staff around the world, supporters and prayer partners faithfully prayed for him and his family.

One staff member from Gospel for Asia U.S. office recalls, “One thing I’ll never forget about those years is the incredible number of faithful believers, from all corners of the nation, that would ask me how [Manja] was doing. Even during periods where his situation wasn’t prominent in our news, so many individuals continued to consistently pray and even fast for him and his family.”

Manja and Rati later testified of the effect of those global prayers.

“While I was in prison,” Manja shared, “guests used to visit me once in a while. Our Metropolitan, Dr. KP Yohannan, Auntie Gisela [K.P.’s wife] . . . they came to visit me and hug me and tell me that I am not alone, there are believers in several places, several countries that are praying for me. … Because of their prayers, my family and me, we were safe in God’s hands. … Because of their prayer, I was able to live a life of sincerity and faithfulness in the prison.”

Rati said, “It was only because of prayers of Christians around the world that I was able to do ministry and helped my children grow in a godly manner.”

Overwhelming joy and thankfulness to God - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Overwhelming joy and thankfulness to God was exhibited by Manja’s family upon his release. His son was only 5 years old and his daughter was 2 years old when he was arrested.

Freedom

At last, hopeful news came. A number of prisoners’ sentences were being reduced by half, and Manja would soon be free. After nine years behind bars, Manja walked out of the prison a free man.

Almost in disbelief, Rati laid traditional flower garlands around her husband’s neck to honor him and welcome him home. Manja embraced his son, who had grown taller than him. At home, everyone celebrated, catching up on more than nine years apart. His daughter, 2 years old when he was jailed, made tea for her daddy.

After all that happened, Manja looked forward to continuing his ministry on both sides of the prison door. He wanted to make sure the believers still in confinement weren’t left alone.

“Had I lost hope, my life would have been ruined,” he explained. “I did not allow anything to quench the fire of hope.”

Nearly a decade has passed since Manja was released, and he continues to share the hope he has in Christ that sustained him through years of injustice. During Nepal’s devastating earthquakes in 2015 , he and other Gospel for Asia-supported workers actively provided relief supplies and prayed for survivors. His story is not finished yet.

Keep Praying

I chose to share Brother Manja’s story with you today because it is a major testimony of answered prayer in Gospel for Asia history. His story shows the determination of those who are following Christ and serving in Asia. It shows the power of love and united prayer.

On the day Manja was arrested, I would have been at a Gospel for Asia Tuesday night prayer meeting with other Gospel for Asia staff and their families. It was probably a good day for me—it was even my birthday—but that day was a day of grief for his family. Yet God was with both of us. He can rejoice with those who rejoice while also comforting those who mourn.

I remember praying for Manja later and other imprisoned missionaries. I remember the shock of hearing, after already praying so much for his release, that Manja’s trial had finally taken place and he had a 20-year sentence. We kept praying. It seemed he would be released, and then our hopes were dashed. Again and again. For years. Then suddenly we heard he was free! All those years of prayer were answered. It honestly felt strange to no longer need to pray for his release, it had been part of my life for so long.

November 5 and 12 are considered the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). Let’s keep praying for those who are persecuted, those who are imprisoned—your prayers do make a difference.

Whatever you are praying for right now, the answer may be years in arriving, but know that God hears you today, and He will answer.

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Handwashing Is Inexpensive Disease Prevention Says Gospel for Asia

October 14, 2017 By GFA Staff Writer

Do you know what is the single most effective method in cutting down the contraction and spreading of diseases? You do this every day. Hopefully more than once a day. It’s the simple, life-saving method of washing your hands!

And you know what’s right around the corner? Global Handwashing Day . Oct. 15 is the day to raise awareness of how tremendously important washing hands is to saving lives.

Many of us probably grew up in homes where our parents taught us to wash our hands before we ate or after playing outside. Maybe as kids we didn’t know exactly why we had to wash our hands, but it was still a lesson engrained in us, right?

In some parts of Asia, many children don’t grow up with this common knowledge, because it isn’t so common.

Global Handwashing Day program - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Children in a Believers Church Sunday School class participate in a Global Handwashing Day program on October 15, 2016.

A report from Global Handwashing Partnership stated that “in rural areas [of India], 54 percent of caregivers washed their hands after using the toilet, 13 percent before preparing food, 27 percent before feeding a child, 85 percent after contact with a child’s feces.”

That means many men, women and children across the rural areas of Asia are eating meals cooked by hands that aren’t washed properly with soap. Think about that for a second.

Inexpensive Disease Prevention

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , “About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world. Handwashing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.”

These ailments are often contracted by the germs and bacteria living on people’s hands. Teaching people at a young age about the importance of washing hands with soap can also save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention, cutting deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter .

Taking Part in Global Awareness

Gospel for Asia-supported workers are aware of the need for this vital information, so every year for Global Hand-washing Day, they conduct events throughout Asia to teach the importance of washing hands and how it can help prevent many fatal illnesses.

They put together practical workshops and demonstrate to children and adults alike how to wash their hands properly. They show educational videos on the importance of washing hands and give away soap.

GFA-supported worker - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — GFA-supported worker teaches how to properly wash your hands at an awareness event in 2016.

At one event held last year at a Bible college, a student said, “I am glad that I got this information on how to wash hands in the right manner. Most people in the villages do not care and bother about this. I know many people from my village, too, who are ignorant on this issue.”

Another student said, “I honestly never had the idea before, but this program is really eye opening for me. How I wish this program can be carried out in remote villages too.”

And Gospel for Asia-supported workers are doing just that! There are villages across Asia that now have critically important information about handwashing.

Larisa, mother of a Bridge of Hope child and attendee of a Global Handwashing Day event, said, “Before we use to wash our hands with only water, but through this program we came to know the importance of washing hands with soap. Now and then we wash our hands neatly with soap and prevent the diseases which comes through uncleanness of our hands.”

Priya, 12, attended another event and said, “I was not aware that the germs and dirt in our hands causes lots of diseases that can lead to death, but today I have learned how important it is to wash hands properly.”

Practical Measures to Save Lives

As more awareness and knowledge spreads about handwashing, we’re hopeful that the number of disease and deaths caused by communicable diseases will be significantly diminished in the years to come. It’s not just a matter of making sure people stay healthy; for us, it’s a matter of taking every measure to protect the precious lives God has created.

If something as simple as showing people how to wash their hands can prevent a premature death and help give others a more abundant life, then GFA-supported workers will go from village to village to share that information.

When we take steps to practically help people, even with seemingly small things like passing on information about how to wash your hands, it can make a lasting difference in their lives—and show them how precious they are to their Creator.

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Gospel for Asia Identifies With Refugees & Migrants on the International Day of Peace

September 20, 2017 By Dr. David R. Mains

Gospel for Asia, Wills Point, TX, USA

The majority of Americans living in the U.S. today have never experienced firsthand the massive destructive power of modern-day warfare. Many of us who haven’t served in the military don’t know what it’s like to be shot at or to have to scramble to find a place of safety when enemy artillery is unleashed or bombs start falling. Fortunately for us, the recent wars in which our nation has been involved in have been fought in places far away from our homeland.

Therefore, even though peace is something we value as a people, the word probably doesn’t have the same emotional feel that it has for those who have experienced the peace in their homeland being shattered by armed conflict.

September 21, is International Day of Peace, as declared each year by the 193 member-states of the United Nations. The unique emphasis in 2017 is to show special support for refugees and migrants.

Refugees are persons who have fled their homes and homelands to seek peace and refuge elsewhere. Last year the International Rescue Committee estimated there were more than 65 million such people worldwide who have been displaced by military conflicts, and that doesn’t count the additional 30 million or so who have looked for new countries because of famine and climate issues.

Migrants are individuals who move from place to place always seeking essentials and work of some kind. Today there are massive movements of human beings like this searching for a better life in locations that appear to provide more positive opportunities. Though their homeland may not be at war, the possibilities of knowing a better standard of living and a brighter future are quite limited for such people. Restated, that elusive, sought-after place of peace all too often remains next to impossible to find.

Scripture is a different matter. The prospect of finding peace is found throughout many parts of the Bible. Often such passages refer to an individual’s inner peace. An example of this would be where Jesus comforts His disciples with these words, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you. … Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).

Just as often, however, one finds passages referring to societal peace. An Old Testament example would be Leviticus 26:6, where the Lord informs Israel what the nation will experience if it follows His decrees: “I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid.”

In a more restricted sense, New Testament believers are instructed by the Apostle Paul to pray for their governmental leaders so Christians “may live quiet and peaceable life” (1 Timothy 2:2). He sees this as an advantage in regards to the spreading the message of Jesus Christ. It is similar to Peter’s comment in his first epistle where he writes in chapter 3, verses 10 and 11, “He who would love life and see good days, … let him seek peace and pursue it.”

In a well-known Old Testament prophetic passage about Jesus, Isaiah refers to our Lord as “the Prince of Peace.” Mature believers know the world will never know lasting peace until the return and reign of Christ. Nevertheless, the followers of Jesus should still seek to presently promote peace in all their relationships. This includes not only the freedom from war, but also from any public disorder or disturbances. A Christ follower should be peaceable and not quarrelsome. More specifically, a peacemaker is an individual who seeks to help settle disputes, disagreements, quarrels and such. After all, didn’t our revered leader say that “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9).

Gospel for Asia takes these words of Jesus quite seriously. Those who visit our U.S. campus often comment on the love and prayer they see demonstrated by our staff. Anyone fortunate enough to travel with us to countries throughout Asia are routinely impressed by the concern shown for the poor and powerless. It is no secret that Asia has many individuals who struggle just to make ends meet. Hopefully, we are known to be a people who reach out in love to such underprivileged individuals. We sincerely want to play a part in making our beloved homeland a nation marked by compassion for all, and especially for those who, for whatever reason, have been marginalized.

The believers on the field are regularly reminded of this command Jesus gave: to love others, even as He Himself did. Those who know the sacred Scriptures well are aware of how, time and again, in His day, Jesus reached out to those who had no other such champion.

All this is to write that we identify strongly with this year’s International Day of Peace and with its 2017 emphasis on the plight of refugees and migrants. It is an understanding that, like the United Nations’ website states, “…ultimately the day is about bringing people together and reminding them of their common humanity.” (To see one of the ways our field partners in the Believers Church are reaching out to help migrants on this day, go here.)

Let us add that we also believe that human beings are not just a product of time and chance, but of an infinite God’s creative genius. Therefore, they are of great value and should all be treated with dignity and respect. And those of us who bow before Christ gladly join hands with all who espouse such values.

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