2019-11-25T08:18:40+00:00

Last updated on: November 25, 2019 at 8:18 am   By

Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the worldwide strategies and efforts for malaria prevention, to one day create a world where no one dies of malaria.

Bringing Hope to the World

The fight against malaria has been a multi-faceted one, receiving renewed attention in the late 1990s with the 1998 formation of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, a global network to coordinate efforts among governments, UN agencies, international organizations and affected countries. Following that, the Global Fund, which fights malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis by providing grants to countries addressing those problems, was established in 2001.

Numerous charities have formed in the wake of these actions; one of the largest is Malaria No More. Its inception came at a White House event in 2006 that launched former President Bush’s malaria initiative. Nothing But Nets is the United Nations’ campaign to end malaria and enjoys broad support. Imagine No Malaria was launched by the United Methodist Church and partners with Nothing But Nets. In addition to raising money for nets, Imagine works on malaria prevention and education, including distributing malaria advocacy kits for churches.

Major Christian ministries are also active in anti-malaria work, such as Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International and World Vision. The latter’s Malawi arm announced in mid-February that it would distribute 10.9 million treated mosquito nets by the end of 2018 as part of that African nation’s malaria-control program.

“As World Vision Malawi (WVM), we have never undertaken such a mass campaign, but through close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism, we are going to achieve this,” said Charles Chimombo, WVM’s director of programs.

Among lesser-known, but no less effective, efforts on the ground are those by such ministries as Gospel for Asia (GFA). Based in Wills Point, Texas, for more than 30 years GFA has provided humanitarian assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia.

In addition to such services as feeding and educating thousands of needy children, offering free medical care and training, and drilling clean water wells, the ministry distributed 600,000 mosquito nets in 2016.

Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease (Part 3) - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
On World Malaria Day in 2016, GFA-supported workers distributed 2,000 mosquito nets to needy families in a community in Asia. Mosquito netting is one of the most cost-effective protections from the spread of diseases transmitted by mosquito bites.

“In many cases, simple changes can create a profound difference in everyday health,” said KP Yohannan, founder and director of GFA. “Christ calls upon us to care for the poor, which is why we are there to offer tools like mosquito nets, which can literally make the difference between life and death.”

One case study of a family helped by such gestures involves a couple named Jitan and Shara and their two children. Living in an area where temperatures commonly soar above 100 degrees for weeks left Jitan, a laborer in the fields, a prime target for the mosquitoes breeding in nearby stagnant ponds and water reservoirs.

Strategic Battle on Malaria Prevention - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Shara and her family are now protected from disease with a mosquito net.

In 2015, one of those mosquitoes bit Jitan and injected malaria parasites into his body.

Fortunately, medical treatment (and prayers from Shara and her father) enabled Jitan to recover after three weeks.

Five months later, the GFA-supported pastor at Shara’s church put her name down as one of 150 recipients for an upcoming GFA-supported mosquito net distribution. Not only did the fabric mean safety at night from mosquito bites, but to Shara it also symbolized how God saw even their smallest needs.

“My husband suffered with malaria fever,” she said. “Consequently, he is physically weak. But this mosquito net will be protection for my family now.”

The gift touched Jitan’s heart as well.

“Christians not only pray for people, but they also fulfill the basic needs of people in the community,” he said.

One night, as they crawled under the safety of their net, he told Shara: “Really, the Lord Jesus is fulfilling our basic need.”

Strategic Battle on Malaria Prevention

When the Gates Foundation adopted its “Accelerate to Zero” strategy in late 2013, it established a core set of foundational principles to make progress toward the goal of eradicating malaria, which it defined as removing the parasites that cause malaria, not simply interrupting transmission.

It sees new drug regimens and strategies as key to that goal, saying clinical cures for individuals do not eliminate the parasites responsible for transmission.

The majority of infections occur in asymptomatic people, who are a source of continued transmission. A successful eradication effort will target such infection through community-based efforts.

Emerging resistance to current drugs and insecticides is a threat to progress, which must guide the use of current tools and development of new ones. And since malaria is biologically and ecologically different throughout the world, strategies must be developed and implemented on a local or regional level.

Nearly five years later, how is the fight proceeding? WHO’s latest malaria report shows some bright spots, such as 44 countries reporting less than 10,000 malaria cases in 2016, compared to 37 nations in 2010.

A malaria researcher sorts mosquitoes - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
A malaria researcher sorts mosquitoes. (Photo by Malaria Consortium on Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

There is also better access to tools for malaria prevention, such as insecticide-treated bednets, and the testing of suspected cases in the public health sector has increased in most regions. Except for the eastern Mediterranean region, where mortality rates have remained unchanged, all regions reported declines in mortality between 2010–2016.

Yet, despite an unprecedented period of success, Dr. Noor says the corresponding slowdowns in mortality decline in some regions, coverage gaps and lack of medical care have slowed progress.

“Identifying what is behind this trend is difficult to pinpoint,” he says. “In any given country, there may be a multitude of reasons as to why the burden of malaria is increasing. Factors impacting progress could range from insufficient funding and gaps in malaria prevention intervention to climate-related variations.”

In its latest report on malaria, WHO set global targets for 2030 to achieve its vision of a world free of the disease. The three pillars of its plan:

  1. Ensure universal access to malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment
  2. Accelerate efforts toward elimination
  3. Transform malaria surveillance into a core intervention.

Accompanying each target are preceding milestones in 2020 and 2025. The four include:

  1. Reduce malaria mortality rates globally compared with 2015 by at least 90 percent.
  2. Reduce malaria case incidence globally compared with 2015 by at least 90 percent.
  3. Eliminate malaria from countries in which malaria was transmitted in 2015—at least 35 countries.
  4. Preventing re-establishment of malaria in all countries that are malaria free.
Dr. Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the World Health Organization - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Dr. Margaret Chan, former Director-General of the World Health Organization (2006-2017). (Photo credit WHO/Pierre Albouy)

Director General Dr. Margaret Chan said a major “scale-up” of malaria responses would not only help countries reach 2030’s targets but would also contribute to poverty reduction and other development goals.

“Recent progress on malaria has shown us that, with adequate investments and the right mix of strategies, we can indeed make remarkable strides against this complicated enemy,” she said.

“We will need strong political commitment to see this through, and expanded financing. We should act with resolve, and remain focused on our shared goal to create a world in which no one dies of malaria.“

Few would argue with those words.

Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease: Part 1 | Part 2

This article originally appeared on gfa.org

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

Last updated on: June 15, 2021 at 5:43 pm   By

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.

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

Last updated on: December 9, 2019 at 8:07 am   By

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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2019-11-05T09:45:10+00:00

Last updated on: November 5, 2019 at 9:45 am   By

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.

Children's Ministry - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

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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2018-06-28T21:33:41+00:00

Last updated on: June 28, 2018 at 9:33 pm   By

How Love Responds to Leprosy - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

“While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.’

“Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ He said. ‘Be clean!’ And immediately the leprosy left him. ” —Luke 5:12–13 (NIV)

Some things about love and leprosy seem to be diametrically opposed. For several millennia, people with leprosy have been regarded as “unclean,” even in the Levitical law of the Old Testament (see Leviticus 13).

Our natural response to anything characterized as unclean is to avoid it. Even more so, we naturally avoid that which is unsightly to our own eyes, whether it has been labeled “unclean” or not.

If we are willing to be excruciatingly honest with ourselves, we must confess that association with disease, especially if it is disfiguring, is something that we naturally want to avoid and that we may go out of our way to avoid.

This is undoubtedly the case with Jesus’ encounter with the leper described by Dr. Luke.

Why do you suppose that Luke included this account in his record of the Jesus’ ministry?

Because Luke was a doctor? That doesn’t seem likely. Because Matthew and Mark recorded the event (see Matthews 8 and Mark 1)?

Because it was a miracle? When we consider that Jesus healed many people of many diseases and that John said that Jesus did so many more wonders (in just three years!) that it would have been impossible to record them, this, too, seems unlikely. There must be something more.

The leper’s healing demonstrates the power of God revealed in His Son. But Jesus did two other things that even the leper didn’t expect.

He reached out, and He touched him. Jesus could have—actually, He did—healed the leper by willing it to be so. But even before he revealed His power, Jesus showed His love by doing what no one else would even think to do by reaching out and touching him.

The Apostle Paul explained that love “does not dishonor others” (I Corinthians 13:5 NIV). Matthew, Mark and Luke included this critical act because Jesus demonstrated His love as love should be demonstrated. He did not ignore the leper or his disease. He expressed compassion flowing from the same love that would take Him to the Cross for all of us.

There is no record of how old the man was or of how long he had had leprosy. All that we can know for sure is that he had become an outcast because of his disease. People avoided him, but Jesus reached out and touched Him.

Gospel for Asia supports ministry in a part of the world where leprosy remains a curse and people with leprosy are treated as outcasts. Our mission is to share the love of God to all people. If we are to share it, we must first demonstrate it. Just like Jesus did.

Dr. KP Yohannan visits a leper colony and extends Christ's love - Gospel for Asia
Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan visits a leper colony and extends Christ’s love to those who have been rejected by their loved ones.

In a recent post, Gospel for Asia (GFA) Founder K.P. Yohannan shared how GFA-supported workers have been caring for people stricken with leprosy across Asia by providing medical and personal care in 44 leper colonies. The story of one of his recent trips to a leper colony includes a photo of brother K.P. reaching out and touching two men in that colony—just as his Lord, Jesus, would have.

Describing the people in the leper colonies as “vulnerable and forgotten,” Dr. Yohannan explained how 500 Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Sisters of Compassion minister to leprosy patients by cleaning their wounds, holding their hand, praying for them, and helping to provide food, blankets and other daily needs, including hygiene awareness and education for both adults and children.

January 28, 2018, was World Leprosy Awareness Day. But those who are afflicted with leprosy still have to endure the stigma of the disease on January 29, January 30 and every day that follows.

And every day that follows, they desperately need the love that natural and cultural aversion to their disease can deprive them.

We can’t all go to where these precious people are, but we can pray for those ministering to them, such as the Sisters of Compassion and the Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors who selflessly share the love of Christ with a group of people who have come to believe that they are unloved and unlovable.

Read more about the loneliness of leprosy.

Read more about how you can bring love and life to people suffering from leprosy.

Read more about how GFA is helping leprosy patients.

Read about K.P. Yohannan’s recent visit to a leper colony.

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2019-12-06T14:04:34+00:00

Last updated on: December 6, 2019 at 2:04 pm   By

The Pain of Leprosy Is Loneliness- KP Yohannan - Gospel for AsiaIf the greatest misunderstanding about leprosy is believing that it is a highly contagious disease, the second is misunderstanding its pain.

In fact, leprosy is highly treatable and curable, and nerve damage can be entirely avoided. Early treatment, in other words, limits leprosy to a minor skin disease. Even in people with advanced stages of leprosy, the likelihood of others contracting the condition is minimal at best.

As to the matter of pain, the nature of the leprosy bacteria is that it seeks primarily the cooler parts of the human body: the skin and the extremities. Once there, it can cause unsightly discolored lesions and nerve damage. The nerve damage compounds the damage by making the injuries, bruises, cuts and sores imperceptible to the victim. That unrecognized damage leads to more sores and, often, the eventual loss of fingers and toes.

Like many other diseases, the longer the disease is untreated, the greater the internal pain. But that is not the worst pain someone infected with leprosy a bears.

Leprosy, in its various forms and manifestations, has been viewed as an abomination  in every culture in which it exists for more than the millennia. The common fear of contagion and the response to the repulsion of the external damage have typically cut off people with leprosy from society to spend the rest of their lives dealing with the pain and misery of rejection, shame and loneliness.

The unrealistic perception of the otherwise healthy population imposes medically irrational isolation on victims of leprosy. The path to the pain of loneliness looks something like this:

GFA World Leprosy Day Report - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Leprosy: The Path to Pain (GFA)

It is part of the human condition to fear the unknown – and to fear that which is not visually appealing. Leprosy presents both conditions. Therefore, the uniformed response is rejection at the family and communal levels.

The scope of rejection, in fact, goes far beyond, as evidenced by the fact that World Leprosy Day is necessary to raise awareness of the disease. Our human nature, left untransformed, doesn’t even want to think about it.

In some developing nations of Africa and Asia, the misunderstanding of leprosy runs deep. Most, but not all, cases of leprosy appear in the poorest of communities, so victims may already be objects of derision living in slums and already isolated from the community at large. But people with leprosy are rejected by their own equally impoverished families and friends.

“While this ancient disease may be largely forgotten in many parts of the world, it’s an everyday reality for many in Asia,” said Dr. KP Yohannan, Gospel for Asia founder.

Left to fend for themselves, they are relegated to leper colonies where they can be amongst “their own,” often without treatment and without apparent hope. This is the pain of leprosy. Life separated from family and former friends. Life where the other residents bear the same “shameful” marks and disease. Life where all you see is the unsightly and loathsome ravages that others don’t want to see. Life in the pain of despair.

Through national missionaries and aid workers, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported leprosy ministry provides practical relief services to these victims, including food distribution, medical aid, health and hygiene awareness programs, adult education and tuition centers for children.

The ministry also offers Sunday school and fellowship groups to those forced to live in leprosy colonies, giving sufferers the opportunity to hear about Jesus’ unconditional love for them.

During the week surrounding World Leprosy Day, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries demonstrate Christ’s love through special one-day programs. Beyond their routine care for these leprosy patients, they also clean leprosy colonies and individual patient homes. Doctors will also visit the colonies to provide much-needed medical care. In addition, missionary teams will provide patients with gifts, such as blankets, shoes and goats, which can be used for individual or community income-producing opportunities.”

Prayer Point: Pray that people with leprosy will see the unconditional love of Jesus, as demonstrated to them by GFA-supported national workers.

Sources:

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2019-12-06T12:34:39+00:00

Last updated on: December 6, 2019 at 12:34 pm   By

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

World Leprosy Day Report #1

GFA World Leprosy Day Report - What Is Leprosy - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

Leprosy is one of the most misunderstood sicknesses in the world.

Many people in the West think leprosy is a disease in which fingers and limbs fall off, is highly contagious, is incurable, and has been eradicated–if they think about leprosy at all.

We don’t recognize the many facts about leprosy because it rarely appears in highly developed countries. It may surprise many readers that about 200 cases of leprosy are reported every year in the United States. There are currently more than 3,000 cases of leprosy under active medical supervision in the U.S.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and other health care organizations refer to leprosy as Hansen’s disease. Much like a rose, however, leprosy by any other name is still leprosy and still carries with it the deeply imbedded stigma that has been attached to it for millennia.

Leprosy is a “a complex infectious” bacterial disease. The disease can be contagious, but is not highly contagious, and 95 percent of the global population is naturally immune to the causal bacterium, Mycobaterium leprae.

Left untreated, the bacteria can infect a person’s skin, eyes, mucous membranes and peripheral nervous system. However, leprosy can be cured with a multi-drug therapy regimen if discovered in its early stages, avoiding the long-term and most recognized effects of the disease such as open sores, loss of extremities and blindness.

Leprosy has a long incubation period, typically three to five years. In some cases, symptoms to those who have contracted the bacteria may not appear for up to two decades. While this makes it difficult to determine when and where the bacteria was contracted, it, nonetheless, provides doctors with a wide window of opportunity to correctly diagnose the disease. On the other hand, it may take doctors longer to diagnose leprosy, particularly in the West. Because of its rarity they are not looking for it during normal diagnosis protocols. The disease is typically correctly diagnosed only after a skin biopsy.

There are three types of leprosy defined by the stage or condition of the disease when discovered. According to WebMD, they are:

  • Tuberculoid. Symptoms are one or a few “flat, pale-colored skin” at which the area is more numb as a result of nerve damage.
  • Lepromatous. Indicators are widespread rashes and bumps, muscle weakness and numbness, and may combine with infections in the nasal area, kidneys and male reproductive organs.
  • Borderline. This is a combination of people with symptoms of both tuberculoid and lepromatous.

The stigma of leprosy, in part, is not of the disease itself, but of the effects it has if left untreated. The disfiguration and loss of extremities commonly associated with leprosy can be avoided by early and consistent treatment to prevent progressive nerve damage. Nerve damage can result in a loss of feeling in infected areas, contributing to a lack of awareness of pain caused by cuts, burns or other injuries.

If there is no nerve damage, leprosy is highly treatable and curable, and nerve damage can be entirely avoided. Early treatment, in other words, limits leprosy to being a minor skin disease.

World Leprosy Day, January 28, 2018, was established to raise awareness of the fact that the disease does still exist and that, in some parts of the world, its nature, its early treatment and its curability continue to go unrecognized. Where it is unrecognized, it is untreated. When it is untreated, contact with leprosy victims is undesirable. Instead of treatment, victims suffer isolation. Instead of understanding, they become unwitting victims of ignorance. Instead of compassion, they experience social rejection.

The question today is which is worse: the disease or the dilemma of forced disengagement from family and friends.

Prayer point: Let us pray together for a greater understanding around the world of the medical facts of leprosy and an eradication of the ignorance that surrounds the disease.

Sources:

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2019-12-05T03:29:53+00:00

Last updated on: December 5, 2019 at 3:29 am   By

Recently, January 2018 was declared as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

Gospel for Asia deals first hand with the scandal of slavery and human trafficking by helping our field partners who minister among the poverty stricken in Asia, where over two-thirds of the worlds human trafficking victims reside.

The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are living in some form of modern slavery. Over 30 million reside in Asia. Five countries are home to 26.5 million men, women and children trapped in the grips of slavery and human trafficking.

Gospel for Asia Addresses the Scandal of Human Trafficking - KP Yohannan

Another source estimates 36 million victims worldwide, with 23.5 million in Asia.

Regardless of the exact number, any number of this magnitude is scandalous.

Many of the tens of thousands to whom Gospel for Asia ministers are victims of this scandal or of its results.

“The United Nations estimates that some 64% of human trafficking in Asia is for forced labor, servitude and slavery, while 26% is for sexual exploitation . . . In Asia, 36% of trafficked victims are children.”

The effects of slavery and human trafficking include destitution, poverty, humiliation, hunger and lack of access to nutrition and education.

The irony of the scandal is that, while millions suffer from its impact, others profit from its perpetuation.

Gospel for Asia understands that we cannot prevent slavery and human trafficking. Neither can we sit idle and do nothing. We, too, believe this is a crime against humanity and that it should be recognized and dealt with as such. That is clearly a governmental responsibility. But rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s does not absolve us from rendering unto Christ what is Christ’s.

Jesus said that while He was in the world, He was the Light of the World. When He has preparing to leave, He told us that we are now that light as we let His love shine through us.

He told us to love one another. He gave us a task to minister to the widows and the GFA Blog - Gospel for Asia Addresses the Scandal of Human Trafficking3fatherless and all those in need. And so, we must go.

GFA-supported national missionaries witness first hand and minister to the deepest physical and spiritual needs of tens of thousands throughout Asia, many of whom are victims of the results of slavery and human trafficking.

GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program helps minister to more than 82,000 impoverished children in Asia, rescuing them from the effects of the scandal of slavery and human trafficking.

GFA’s programs to provide compassionate care and our community programs help tens of thousands to have basic necessities, which they would not otherwise have for a healthy life.

You can learn more about how you can help to support Gospel for Asia’s efforts to reduce the effects of the scandal of slavery and human trafficking in Asia by clicking on any of the above links.

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2019-12-05T04:08:46+00:00

Last updated on: December 5, 2019 at 4:08 am   By

Gospel for Asia is in the business of providing answers. Providing answers to questions like:

“Does my life have any value?”

“Does anyone care about whether I live or die?”

“How can I find peace for my restless heart?”

To those questions, our workers can say confidently, “Yes, your life has incredible value; God cares so much about you that He sacrificed Himself in order to make a way for you to live with Him for eternity; the longing in your heart is met through relationship with Christ.”

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers help provide other answers too—like the solution for a family trapped in poverty or for a community battling illnesses due to impure water. Just in the last 10 years, hundreds of thousands of families have received clean water and income-generating gifts, such as livestock or sewing machines, through the ministry’s community development initiatives.

But what answer is there for a pastor who doesn’t have a way to visit all his congregants or neighboring communities for prayer ministry? Or for the farmer who struggles to carry his produce to market, or for the child whose legs ache from the long walk to school?

For these problems, we rejoice in the simplicity of the answer: bicycles!

versatile modes of transportation - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia
Gospel for Asia helps bless families with bicycles, which are extremely versatile modes of transportation in Asia. They are often used to carry loads of produce, water jugs, or multiple family members to jobs, school or worship services!

Imagine trying to do all your daily tasks without owning any form of transportation. Your job options would be severely limited, and you would spend precious time walking from place to place instead of working, caring for your children or studying.

Yaswar’s job was arduous: providing water for the laborers in the tea garden. He owned no form of transportation, so he had to carry heavy water pots on his shoulders. The long walk to the nearest water source wearied the 51-year-old’s body, but if he was ever late in bringing water, his co-workers grumbled and scolded him. Yaswar never said anything back, even though their words greatly discouraged him.

As a believer in Christ, Yaswar spent time with other Christians. He shared his problem with his pastor, Gospel for Asia-supported pastor Kundan.

“I am facing a problem in doing my duty [at the tea garden],” Yaswar told Pastor Kundan. “Because I have to carry water pots on my shoulders and walk for a long distance, I find it so difficult to do this job. I need time, but all the workers are asking me to come on time. Because of this hard work, my whole body is weak and tired. But I have no other option.”

“Don’t worry,” Pastor Kundan said, encouraging Yaswar. “God will do some miracle for you.”

Sometime later, Pastor Kundan organized a Christmas gift distribution program, and he put Yaswar’s name on the list of recipients. Understanding Yaswar’s need, Pastor Kundan gifted Yaswar with a bicycle he could use while he fetched water for his co-workers at the tea garden. Yaswar could finally relieve his weary body by carrying the heavy water pots on his bicycle as he rode the long distance.

“I am very glad,” he said. “Our church has great compassion for the downtrodden community.”

We rejoice over stories like Yaswar’s. What a joy it is to be part of providing the answers to people’s problems! Yaswar—and the thousands of others who have received bicycles over the past 30 years—received a physical answer to his physical problem, as well as a reminder that Christ is the God who sees us in our need and moves on our behalf.

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2019-11-05T09:38:17+00:00

Last updated on: November 5, 2019 at 9:38 am   By

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.

Sanitation or Salvation - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia

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.

Can Cleanliness Lead to Godliness - KP Yohannan - Gospel for AsiaOur 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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