Trapped Within the Twin Evils of Poverty and Alcohol

Last updated on: October 29, 2022 at 5:28 am By GFA Staff Writer

The first time Tanul tried alcohol, it must have burned his throat and boiled in his belly. Unpleasant as it was, it would not be the last time he put his lips around the bottle. In fact—like the poverty he was born into—it became his constant companion. By the time Tanul was a teenager, he drank regularly. Like most young men in his rural village, Tanul filled his body with alcohol to erase the shame of poverty from his heart and mind. This destructive habit would follow Tanul as he began to build a life for himself.

When Tanul married, he did not lay aside his drinking. As the burden of caring for a family increased, so did his time with the bottle. Children came, and Tanul was unable to provide adequate food for his family or cover school fees—making a hopeful future for them impossible. Tanul was stuck in a vicious cycle, and the more he drank, the less hire-able he became.

Tanul’s journey is not an isolated incident. It’s a problem all over the world; alcoholism and poverty go hand-in-hand. Though it is not proven that one always leads to the other, there is an ugly, symbiotic relationship. As alcohol consumption increases, employability decreases. While employment dries up, many use drinking to ease the shame, which exacerbates the cycle. Often, the only work left for alcoholics in Asia is manual labor for which they are hired on a day-by-day basis. Because of the difficulty—and sometimes the impossibility—for the poor to rise above these employment options, many turns to alcohol to ease poverty’s sting. The stress of not knowing if you will find work each day inflates the problem.

Abuse Multiplied: Poverty, Alcohol, and…

As Tanul’s family fell apart, another near relation to the twin problems of alcoholism and poverty arrived: domestic violence. Coming home intoxicated and angry, Tanul began abusing his wife and children daily. The little money he earned went to supporting his addiction. This family, plagued by poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence, was living out the well-worn path blazed by many of the world’s extreme poor.

In the village pictured, 80 percent of the rice crop is used to brew homemade alcohol— resulting in a high consumption of alcohol. This leads to frequent occurrences of domestic violence.

Step One on the Road Out of Poverty

Pastor Teja, who has a church in a nearby village, met Tanul’s family one day when he was offering prayer for families in need. The Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor saw the pitiful condition of this family, and his heart was heavy. The family invited him back to pray for them, and a friendship began. Tanul’s family began to attend Pastor Teja’s church. Then members of the church continually prayed for Tanul’s deliverance from alcohol—the thing that bound them to the poverty they lived in. Through their faithful prayers and Pastor Teja’s counseling, Tanul overcame his addiction to alcohol. The Lord completely transformed Tanul’s heart!

For the first time, Tanul’s family experienced freedom—freedom as a gift from God above that trickled down into their hearts and flowed toward each other in love. This freedom from bondage gave them hope for the future. But in the present, they are still stuck in the poverty trap.

This predicament of the extreme poor—not being able to find work that will support a family’s daily needs—is one of the basic issues addressed by world leaders and organizations dedicated to alleviating poverty around the globe. One expert working with the Borgen Project, a non-profit dedicated to fighting global poverty, is convinced the first step^[1] in reducing extreme cyclic poverty is helping the poor create their own businesses. This is the very thing many Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors and missionaries can do with income-producing gifts provided by donors all over the world.

Pastor Teja knew that Tanul needed a way to earn enough income to support his family. He arranged to hold a gift distribution and presented Tanul with a rickshaw—something he never could have afforded on his own. Tanul was overcome with gratitude at God’s provision.

Tanul's whole family has been transformed since the Lord entered their lives. — Tanul’s whole family has been transformed since the Lord entered their lives.

A New Reputation

With his new gift, Tanul loaded vegetables onto his rickshaw and began selling throughout the village—even delivering produce to customers’ homes. God blessed Tanul’s diligence and hard work, enabling him to earn a good income selling vegetables. Setting his own prices and being able to keep all his earnings, Tanul had enough money to send Maahir to school to learn a skilled trade. Maahir completed his education and started working as a carpenter. The two men now adequately support their growing family, including Maahir’s wife and two children.

Self-employment frees those trapped in the cycle of poverty from discrimination, unfair business practices and job insecurity — circumstances to which the poor and uneducated are vulnerable. Gifts like rickshaws, sewing machines and water buffalo are the means to break free from the bondage of poverty and to set thousands of families on a new course of self-sufficiency and hope for future generations.

Income producing gifts, like these goats, help lift impoverished families in Asia out of the trap of poverty.

Join the Global Effort to End Extreme Poverty

The fight against extreme poverty is not finished—736 million people in 2015 were still living on less than $1.90 a day.^[2] Almost half of these people reside^[3] in the countries where Gospel for Asia (GFA) supports national workers. Gospel for Asia (GFA) believes that together, we can make a lasting difference in the lives of those caught in the extreme poverty trap.

Join GFA in providing pastors, missionaries and other national workers with tools to lift those in their communities out of the harsh poverty trap.

^[1] The Borgen Project, Top 10 Facts about Poverty in India

^[2] The World Bank, Decline of Global Extreme Poverty Continues but Has Slowed: World Bank

^[3] Our World in Data, Tree Map of Extreme Poverty Distribution

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Rickshaw Unlocks a New Path

Learn more on Gospel for Asia’s Special Reports on:

Learn more about how generosity can change lives. Gifts like pigs, bicycles and sewing machines break the cycle of poverty and show Christ’s love to impoverished families in Asia. One gift can have a far-reaching impact, touching families and rippling out to transform entire communities.

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7 Reasons Unsponsored Children Need Our Help

Last updated on: January 4, 2023 at 6:47 am By GFA Staff Writer

“The poor do not need our compassion or our pity, they need our help.” — Mother Theresa It is almost impossible for us to understand the magnitude of the needs of the children of South Asia and their families needing the assistance and intervention of Gospel for Asia (GFA) and others. How bad can their life be?

Frankly, their lives are much worse than most of us can even begin to imagine.

Oh, you’ve heard the appeals over and over again from Gospel for Asia (GFA), Save the Children, Compassion International, World Vision, and a seemingly endless number of NGOs who are committed to reaching out to those living in extreme poverty who are considered the lowest of the low in their home countries.

But there are literally millions of precious, innocent children suffering indignities at levels we fail to comprehend. So, let us explain a few reasons these children need our help.

1. They are considered outcasts.

Our national missionaries go into the urban slums and remote villages where the most impoverished people live. The cultural climate in South Asia has regarded these people as outcasts for centuries. Those living in abject poverty were the lowest of the low in the old caste system. Hence, we get the term “outcasts.” They were considered outcasts (outside of the castes).^[1]

2. They are counted as having no value.

In any society, outcasts are regarded as having no merit. Therefore, they have no value. Anything that has no value is considered worthless. Things that are worthless are either discarded or disregarded.

3. They must scavenge to survive.

Because their parents are assigned the most menial tasks in agriculture, commerce, and industry, they (the parents) often do not earn enough wages to afford to feed their families. Children like the one in the image at the beginning of this article are often consigned to begging or scavenging just to stay alive.

4. They are made to do the most menial and repulsive tasks.

“The poorest of the poor perform the jobs that no one else wants to do. Some of the more gruesome of these include removing bits of dead carcasses from roads, and where possible, preparing and tanning animal hides to make leather goods. More disturbingly, they are the people who clear both private and public latrines, often by hand and many . . . have died in the sewers from the highly toxic fumes caused by raw sewage.”

That even includes young children.

One seven-year-old boy shared this story:

“I collect the excrement lying near the school. The excrement of dogs and cats are collected by impoverished children and thrown away. There is no toilet in the school so the human excrement lying outside the school compound is cleaned by underprivileged children. Women sit outside the school for defecation in the evening which the teachers of the school ask the children to clean.”

An 11-year-old girl shared,

“I daily do clean and sweep at a . . . house in my village. I am not paid, but to survive I have to do this. In return, I am given leftover food. I go myself to get leftover food because after the death of my father my mother has become mentally unstable. In case a dog or cat dies in my village then if I am called, I go to drag the dead animals and for that, I am paid 5 to 10 rupees. In case I do not have any work, I go for rag picking and from that money I buy vegetables.”

5. Their survival is existentially more important than their education.

Aside from the intense discrimination they endure in primary schools – which causes many to decide to drop out – if they do not eat, they will not live. So, they do what they must to survive.

6. Surviving until tomorrow means another day of the same despair.

Without outside help, unsponsored children will continue to live in these unimaginable conditions.

7. Your financial support can change their lives.

Sponsoring a child through Gospel for Asia will ensure that the child is both educated and fed. In addition, they are given regular health checkups by qualified medical staff.

Your support of poverty-stricken children is enough to radically change their lives from a foreboding destiny to a future of hope. Supported children are enrolled in Bridge of Hope centers where they learn to read and write, do mathematics, and understand the doors of opportunity that these skills can open for them.

They don’t have to pay for an education they cannot afford. They don’t have to scavenge for food or to earn money. They learn personal hygiene that helps them to enjoy a healthy life.

Perhaps most importantly, they are taught by indigenous people who demonstrate the same love that Jesus does for children. That love is filled with compassion, concern, and care that, together, restore the deeply-need sense of dignity that these children – and all children need.

Would you take a few minutes to prayerfully consider how you can sponsor at least one child through GFA? Your help may change a life. It may even save a life.

When you pray, why not do so while reading the stories of one or two of the children who currently stand in need.

That’s all we ask. We trust that you will do what the Lord tells you to do.

Sources:

Supporting Dalit Children, Who are the Dalits?
Thinking Out Loud, Who are the Dalits? What Does it Mean to be One?
International Dalit Solidarity Network, Dalit Children in India

Image Source:

By Steve Evans (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Learn more about how to sponsor and help the children from families stuck in generational abject poverty who need a Bridge of Hope.

To read more on Patheos on the needs of the children of South Asia, go here.

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

For more information about this, click here.

^[1] The caste system was fundamentally based on the belief that those in lower castes could hope to be reincarnated into a higher caste after death. They believed that each time a person died, they would have another reincarnation and, therefore, an opportunity to do better. The cultural belief was that most underprivileged were too low to be eligible for reincarnation.

Leprosy: Misunderstandings & Stigma Keep it Alive (Gospel for Asia #2)

Last updated on: February 15, 2023 at 10:06 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report – Discussing the misunderstandings and social stigma that are kept alive toward leprosy patients, despite the disease being a curable worldwide problem.

Leprosy: Misunderstandings & Stigma Keep it Alive (Gospel for Asia #2) - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Sakshi, who ministered to leprosy patients, once had leprosy herself before Jesus healed her.

Misunderstanding Leprosy: ‘I Deserve This Disease’

Sakshi was rejected by her family when, as a teenager, she found out she had leprosy. Read her story »

“Don’t open my bandage!” the leprosy patient cried out. For years the patient believed it was because of their sin that the destructive disease controlled their body. Now, they thought they must suffer and settle with bearing it alone.

But after the leprosy patient’s exclamation, Sakshi, a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionary, revealed her own hands and feet to the patient, deformity clearly marking what leprosy’s nerve killing illness left behind.

“No, no, this is not some sin,” Sakshi said. “I myself have gone through this.”

This conversation, shared by Gospel for Asia (GFA) in 2017, gives a glimpse into the despair and belief of personal guilt many leprosy patients carry.

Sakshi understood only too well the shame and grief of those she served. Leprosy was detected in her body when she was only a teenager. Dreams of living life as a normal young woman shattered with that diagnosis. Her disease barred her from visiting her neighbors or from making friends, and it even estranged her younger siblings.

“[My brother and sister] used to love me so much, but when I got this sickness, they hated me, and they don’t want to come to me for anything,” Sakshi recalls of her early days as a leprosy patient.

Acceptance and kind words from her community were replaced with rejection and accusations. People said it was her fault she contracted leprosy, and over time, that lie took hold of her heart. Guilt and hopelessness consumed her, and she began wondering why she should endure life.

In her hopelessness, Sakshi tied a noose to hang herself.

Although Sakshi’s story does not end here, many leprosy patients’ stories end on a tragic note of despair. Whether they choose to end their lives or plod through the rest of their days alone and abandoned, the moment they discover leprosy in their body is the moment society defines them by their disease—not by their value as human beings.

Gospel for Asia calls Leprosy Patients ‘Friends’

In 2007, Gospel for Asia-supported workers began ministering among leprosy patients with an aim to change that definition.

“We thought we would name the ministry differently,” says Pastor Tarik, who helped start the leprosy ministry,

“Where they won’t have to remember their sickness or feel the stigma of it. So, while praying and discussing, we thought, ‘Let us call them “friends” because they have been created in the image of God, like us. It is only the sickness that keeps them different, but let us not make that a barrier. Let us accept them as friends.’”

And so, Reaching Friends Ministry began. What started in 2007 as a handful of men and women pursuing opportunities to care for outcasts of society has since expanded to minster to patients in 44 leprosy colonies. Each colony is home to as many as 5,000 patients. Through this ministry, thousands of hurting hearts have found a glimmer of love and hope to cling to.

Let us call them “friends” because they have been created in the image of God, like us.

Sakshi’s testimony proves the impact of even one kind word in the midst of isolation. Although Sakshi planned to end her life, today her story continues. On that pivotal day, her father saved her from suicide and spoke words of life into her weary soul. He told Sakshi she was a precious child and urged her to strengthen her heart through the pain and hardship.

After the conversation with her father, Sakshi gave up trying to end her own life, but she still felt alone and worried.

Sakshi's feet still bear the marks of leprosy, though she is now cured. — Sakshi’s feet still bear the marks of leprosy,
though she is now cured.

After the conversation with her father, Sakshi gave up trying to end her own life, but she still felt alone and worried. Leprosy still disfigured her limbs and even threatened to remove one of her legs to amputation.

But then she met some Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported missionaries who prayed for her and shared with her about the Great Healer. She joined them in faith and asked Jesus to heal her body. God moved on her behalf; she was miraculously healed of leprosy!

Like Sakshi, many leprosy patients are discovering that physical healing—through both prayer and medical treatment—is possible. Now, it is time for communities around the globe to be healed of the negative mindset toward those with leprosy.

Changing the Mindset Toward Leprosy

Over the passing of time, leprosy has drawn increased attention around the globe. The last Sunday in January has been observed as World Leprosy Day for more than 60 years. But while most countries have been freed from the grip of leprosy as a result of leprosy elimination programs, other areas are still high in battle against the disease.

Brazil, India and Indonesia account for more than 80 percent of new cases detected globally, and areas of Africa also detect leprosy in high numbers. The transmission of leprosy is slowly decreasing, but more must be done, especially regarding the elimination of stigma.

These efforts have strong obstacles to overcome. The UN notes,

“Historically held fears and assumptions about leprosy continue to promote the pervasive exclusion of persons affected by leprosy from mainstream efforts to include them in society and development.”

The transmission of leprosy is slowly decreasing, but more must be done, especially regarding the elimination of stigma.

In 2016, The World Health Organization launched their new Global Leprosy Strategy. Included among the increased effort to detect and care for new patients is a high emphasis on the removal of stigma and discrimination toward those with leprosy.

Gospel for Asia wholeheartedly desires to see the plight of leprosy patients improve, and its work in Asia is helping make strides in both the emotional and physical healing of those affected by leprosy.

Sisters of Compassion are specially trained to minister to the hurting, rejected and downtrodden of society - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Sisters of Compassion are specially trained to minister to the hurting, rejected and downtrodden of society—ministering to both their physical and spiritual needs in the name of Christ.

While you’ve been reading this article, national workers, including around 500 specially trained women called Sisters of Compassion, are helping care for leprosy patients throughout the Indian Subcontinent as part of Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported leprosy ministry.

Sakshi herself became one of those faithful workers. After she experienced God’s healing, she dedicated her life to serving Him and enrolled in a training course. Her passion for ministry among leprosy patients soon placed her alongside other Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers serving in a leprosy colony. Through Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Reaching Friends Ministry, she became part of bringing hope to others still trapped in the desperation she felt when she held the rope in her hand.

“Nobody is there to comfort [the leprosy patients] and to give any kind of encouragement,” Sakshi explained.

“Nobody wants to love them, hug them or to come near to them to dress them. … They have so many inner pains in their heart, because they also are human beings. They also need love, care and encouragement from other people.”

Sakshi shared about her love for the leprosy patients she serves - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — “I will become their daughter, I will become their grandchildren, and I will help them and encourage them and I will love them.” —Sakshi shared about her love for the leprosy patients she serves

She and other servants of God serve these precious patients in practical ways, such as by cleaning wounds, doing housework, cooking meals and helping with personal hygiene. Through every sweep of a broom and touch of their loving, helpful hands, these workers convey how much God values His creation—even those abandoned by their own families.

“By seeing [the leprosy patients], I am thinking that I will fill the gap,” Sakshi said.

“I will give that love, which they are not getting from their grandchildren and daughters… I will become their daughter, I will become their grandchildren, and I will help them and encourage them, and I will love them.”

Through love like Sakshi’s, many leprosy patients are finding new hope and lasting joy that helps carry them through their troubles.

KP Yohannan, founder and director of Gospel for Asia, wrote about his experience of witnessing leprosy ministry take place.

Sisters of Compassion to clean the wounds of leprosy patients - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Gospel for Asia founder KP Yohannan worked alongside Sisters of Compassion to clean the wounds of leprosy patients during a recent trip in November 2017.

“I recently got to visit one of the many leprosy colonies where Sisters of Compassion are working,” he writes.

“As I joined these Sisters of Compassion in giving out medicine and bandaging wounds, I was once again amazed by how these precious sisters embrace those afflicted by leprosy, serving them so faithfully in the name of Jesus. These leprosy patients, some without fingers or nose or ears, have faced so much rejection in their lives. But now they are finding hope, knowing that someone cares about them.”

These workers, like Sakshi, are diligently bestowing love, medical care, assistance and dignity to those suffering with Hansen’s Disease. Some specialize in making customized shoes for leprosy patients, carefully measuring each individual’s feet to accommodate the sores or disfigurement the person has experienced. Other workers make warm meals for those who cannot cook—or even eat—by themselves; clean homes; wash and comb the tangled hair for those who can no longer perform even these most basic functions for themselves.

GFA-supported workers minister in whatever way is needed - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — GFA-supported workers minister in whatever way is needed—here, a Sister of Compassion cleans a leprosy patient’s wounds, and a man makes custom shoes for leprosy patients.

Workers serving at a GFA-supported leprosy hospital offer tender care for patients afflicted with Hansen’s Disease. Beyond addressing the physical needs of medication, procedures and bandages, this hospital gives its patients emotional support, acceptance, respect and genuine concern for their holistic well-being.

Hospital staff members routinely visit neighboring leprosy colonies to examine patients and determine who should go to the hospital for medication or treatment. They also host events to increase awareness of basic health and hygiene practices, as well as speak words of truth and life to those who feel overcome by their sorrowful plight.

Leprosy: Misunderstandings and Stigma Keep it Alive: Part 1 | Part 3

This Special Report article originally appeared on gfa.org

To read more on the experience of leprosy patients on Patheos, go here.

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5 Distinctives of Gospel for Asia You Should Know

Last updated on: February 15, 2023 at 10:11 am By GFA Staff Writer

Every part of God’s creation is distinct. Every person, every animal, every tree is unique and different than all others of their kind. The same can be said of every church, every business and every organization. Something about each is distinctively different. Often, it is not one thing that makes something distinct and different. It may be a combination of distinctives that makes that entity unique in its own right. Gospel for Asia (GFA) cites five Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives that describe its function as a faith-based organization (FBO).

1) Focusing on the “Least of These”

Like so many faith-based organizations (FBOs), Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives focuses its mission on ministering to people Jesus referred to as “the least of these”—the approximately 3 billion people who are disadvantaged, disabled, uneducated and often disenfranchised and ostracized. Gospel for Asia (GFA) ministers to the physical needs of slum dwellers and people living in abject poverty in remote villages throughout Asia.

Meeting the physical needs of these people is a way to demonstrate the incomparable love of Jesus Christ and to share the good news of what He has done for us.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) expresses God’s love and care by providing food, clean water, sanitation, education, vocational training, health care and disaster relief so people may discover a life of hope beyond their experience of despair.

2) Supporting National Missionaries

“Change happens at the personal, family and community level when people with true servant hearts labor unselfishly to bring real hope and change and encouragement.”

Gospel for Asia was founded 40 years ago by Dr. KP Yohannan, a native of Southern India who had come to the United States to further his education in theology, and his wife, Gisela. Yet, Dr. Yohannan was unable to shed his passion for his own people. But he could not do it by himself.

Dr. Yohannan also understood that there was a revolution happening in world missions as developing countries began to look upon Western missionaries as persona non grata.

His passion and his prophetic insight contributed to creating Gospel for Asia (GFA) as a means for supporting, training and equipping national missionaries who would live and work among their native people.

Many FBOs today ascribe to the practice of supporting national missionaries. Not that these faithful servants are without resistance—that is a product of unbelief. However, they have an enormous advantage when it comes to knowing the language, the culture, the customs and the perspective of their fellow countrymen.

3) Developing Better Communities for Children and Families

Gospel for Asia is about loving the Lord and loving others to see communities changed, both for this life and eternity.

The Lord transforms communities where GFA-supported national missionaries serve the least of these in places where no one else is serving.

Leaders of groups that advocate for the marginalized on a global level are slowly beginning to realize that true change does not happen by making broad declarations and setting global goals. Change happens at the personal, family and community level when people with true servant hearts labor unselfishly to bring real hope and change and encouragement.

Our Bridge of Hope program embodies these Gospel for Asia (GFA) distinctives.

4) Tremendous Impact by God’s Grace

“When we are willing to come and die to self, the Lord is able to abundantly bless us beyond all we are able to ask or think. That is exactly what He has done through Gospel for Asia for 40 years.”

Everyone at Gospel for Asia understands that the Lord does not impact people’s lives by might and power, but it is by His grace. His grace empowers national missionaries to have life-changing impacts as they minister in His name to meet the needs of the least of these.

The Lord proves daily that He is faithful to supply the needs of local workers on the field as they demonstrate His loving kindness by being, as it were, His hands and feet.

5) Loving the Lord and Dying to Yourself

Whether on the Gospel for Asia (GFA) campus in Wills Point, Texas, or in Asia, the godly men and women engaged in the Lord’s work commit themselves to maintain a Christ-centered lifestyle described by Jesus in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

When we are willing to come and die to self, the Lord is able to abundantly bless us beyond all we are able to ask or think.

That is exactly what He has done through Gospel for Asia (GFA) for 40 years. We trust He will continue to do so regardless of trial or tribulation, sunshine or scandal, communion or criticism.

Our mission 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 such as education, health and practical gifts, or through the spiritual transformation of peaceful hearts, restored relationships and mended lives.

Source: Gospel for Asia, GFA Distinctives

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For Victims of Slavery and Child Trafficking There is Hope

Last updated on: March 2, 2023 at 10:40 am By GFA Staff Writer

Proverbs 22:6 tells us to “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” This message is a sincere promise that guides the hands and hearts of parents around the world. Children are a blessing and an enormous responsibility. They are also little sponges that quickly soak up knowledge and experience to apply in their lives. A child will not forget their upbringing; God promised it. But when children—the most innocent people on Earth—are abused, neglected or pulled into a life of slavery, that “training” also stays with them for life and will shape the person they will become.

Human trafficking is not just someone else’s problem; it’s everyone’s problem. It takes place in developing countries and in cities and small towns in the Western world every day. There are numerous reasons given, but they primarily distill one thing: Profits for their owners.

Make no mistake, human trafficking is a slightly more palatable term pasted over an age-old, ugly word: slavery. Some children are stolen away from their parents. Some are taken from the streets. And some are given away or sold by the very people who should care for them most.

The life of a child enduring slavery bears no resemblance to a child safe in the loving care of their parents or guardians. It’s filled with physical abuse, psychological abuse, sexual abuse, hunger, disease and forced labor. But in all of this darkness, there is light.

Gospel for Asia supports many selfless workers who care for and help protect children rescued from a life of slavery and abuse. Every child who enters the safety of a loving, caring environment has an opportunity to dilute the effects of the past and build a future of hope.

Slavery Isn’t a Problem Relegated to History

In America, the word “slavery” brings to mind a horrifying low point in history with no redeeming qualities. The mere idea of “selling” and “owning” another human being is beyond comprehension for most of us today.

But slavery is not a historical problem.

Right now—today—many children around the world live the realities of slavery without any hope for rescue.

The United Nations calls human trafficking a “global, multi-billion-dollar enterprise, affecting nearly every country in the world.” In that quote lies the reason why, in the 21st Century, children are still at risk. There is money to be made in human trafficking, and the amount of money is non-trivial.

“Children are, by definition, vulnerable. They rely on the adults around them to care for and protect them. Who will intervene when those adults not only let them down, but plot against them for personal gain?”

Men, women and children are all affected by human trafficking. With men, the result is usually forced labor, physical abuse and virtual imprisonment. Seeking work, men—many of them refugees—may enter a situation believed to be employment but in reality is slavery. The brutality inflicted on men in forced labor is almost beyond imagination.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, migrant workers held captive in the Thai fishing industry face excessive work hours, forced amphetamine use, little or no safety protections, no rights, little pay, severe abuse and even torture or death for workers who complain or try to escape. Bodies found floating in waters go unidentified, and the deaths are rarely investigated by authorities.

Women and children, however, make up a greater portion of those living in slavery. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime explains that more than 70 percent of victims are women and children.

Children may be sold or given by parents or guardians into slavery, either as payment for a debt or in the hopes of a better life for the child. A widow with no property, no rights, no source of income and several children to feed may send a child to live with a relative. But the same child may then live a life of abuse and neglect.

Certain predatory orphanages are also emerging as a shocking perpetrator. In Nepal, for example, a veritable fortune has been given to aid orphaned children who, in reality, are only orphaned on paper. And while these orphanages are charged with caring for children, real life is not the same.

Meals and care are withheld from these paper-orphaned children. Many are at risk of sexual abuse by the very people who operate the profit-seeking orphanages. A hungry, sickly, abused and frightened child garner more sympathy and more donations for the orphanage’s coffers.

Children are, by definition, vulnerable. They rely on the adults around them to care for and protect them. Who will intervene when those adults not only let them down, but plot against them for personal gain?

Children May Suffer Long-term Effects of Slavery

Any abuse can have lasting effects on a child. Moreover, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) asserts that all types of child abuse and neglect can spill over into other areas of the child’s life.

As an example of the chain reaction, physical abuse that injures the brain can lead to psychological, cognitive and emotional problems. Those problems may lead to depression and high-risk behaviors.

Not every abused child will have the same experience throughout life. The DHHS report goes on to explain that several factors can affect the outcome. For example, the relationship of the abuser to the child, the frequency and intensity of abuse, the type of abuse and the age of the child when the abuse happened work in concert to shape the child’s future. But any type of abuse lays the groundwork for a lifetime of pain and suffering.

“Proverbs 22:6 tells us that the life experiences of a child will form who they become. Although abused children have terrible life experiences, there is still space in the garden and time to sow the seeds of God’s love and compassion.”

Even when the abuse is stopped, children have ongoing needs. For some, love and support will help them heal, both physically and emotionally. For others, the scars are deeper. The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Brief No. 7, shows that within three years of maltreatment, a “chronic health condition” is diagnosed in nearly 30 percent of children.

Some of the possible physical and psychological outcomes include:

Abusive head trauma leading to impaired brain development, spinal injury and death
Impaired language and cognitive development
General poor health
Isolation and fear
Inability to trust
Anxiety, depression and other psychiatric issues
Poor academic achievement
Antisocial behaviors
High-risk behaviors
Abusive behavior later in life

Action, Dedication and Prayer Can Save Little Lives

What would you do if you saw a little child in harm’s way? If you’re like most people, you’d try in some way to help. For scores of children around the world, even in America, there is no one to step in. Maybe no one cares. Oftentimes, no one notices. A lost or abandoned child is easy to victimize, and it happens more often than you think. A child given away or sold has suffered the ultimate betrayal.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) is dedicated to supporting those who help these little ones. The result can be transformative. Boys and girls who have lived a life of fear, hunger, hard labor and abuse can shed the past and just be children.

“Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Proverbs 22:6 tells us that the life experiences of a child will form who they become. Although abused children have terrible life experiences, there is still space in the garden and time to sow the seeds of God’s love and compassion.

GFA’s field partners take care of abandoned and orphaned children, where they can learn to live in safety—and learn to trust again. GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers also help at-risk children in many ways.

Bridge of Hope workers offer nutritious meals, tutoring, medical care, school books, uniforms, special programs and an environment that’s conducive to learning. Where a child may have no one at home to help with schoolwork and no meal to count on, Bridge of Hope helps them succeed in their studies, which helps them succeed in life.

Bridge of Hope also helps prevent child trafficking before it happens. When parents have more options and a helping hand, fewer girls may be turned over to the abusive practice of child marriage. Fewer boys and girls may be sent into bonded labor or to live with abusive relatives. With a caring, watchful Bridge of Hope staff, children are less likely to vanish unnoticed into the hands of human traffickers.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) helps devoted missionaries and workers do the jobs that God has called them to do. Your support can save a child from the abuse of slavery and give them a real chance at life.

To read more on Patheos on the global problem of slavery, go here.

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Every Christian’s Most Essential Gifts

Last updated on: November 5, 2018 at 6:58 am By GFA Staff Writer

Wills Point, Texas – GFA (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the most essential gifts the Lord God has given Christians everywhere for use in His service.

“We could read every book ever written on prayer, but that won’t make us people of prayer. We learn to pray by doing it.” —Dr. KP Yohannan, “Learning to Pray”

The Bible is very clear in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 that the Lord has given all believers gifts to use in His service. The gifts He gives us are chosen by Him to equip us for sharing the His love with people who need to know of His love and sacrifice and for building up the body of believers.

What an honor and privilege to know that the Lord God has given you and I individually selected gifts for use in His service!

Without a doubt, however, He has given each of us at least three gifts that are more important and far greater than all those listed in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. These gifts are given to every believer. They are essential to our relationship with the Lord and to our effective service.

Because these are essential gifts, the extent to which we embrace them often determines the extent to which the Lord is able to use us to bring glory to Him.

For that reason, they are the most essential gifts to be embraced by Christians everywhere, including those serving as indigenous missionaries like those supported by Gospel for Asia.

Christian’s Essential Gifts #1 — Prayer

Several years ago, GFA World, GFA’s ministry magazine, published a series of articles about the remarkable things that have been happening through the ministry of Pastor Kantilal.

I could not help but be captivated by the obvious key to the Lord’s effective use of this humble pastor. It is repeated over and over again.

He and a fellow Bible college student knew only one thing to do . . . pray.

Through his prayers, the Lord healed her.

Kantilal had recently started seeking the Lord earnestly through prayer.

After spending 10 days in prayer . . . the Lord used [them] to heal, deliver and redeem person after person.

He leads the young men . . . in going out, praying for people, and ministering to them. When they return . . . they pray for the people they met.

The work God is doing through Kantilal and the men he’s leading is unexplainable. The men are men of prayer.

Kantilal explained that the miraculous numbers of people who have come to know the Lord through Jesus Christ is not possible, humanly speaking. “I know it’s all because of prayers,” he said.

Prayer is the reason so many wonderful things happen through the ministry of national missionaries like Kantilal. It is not Kantilal. It is because the Lord is listening to the conversations He has with Kantilal.

Christian’s Essential Gifts #2 — Presence

Prayer works because of God’s presence in us. The Holy Spirit dwells in every believer to seal us for the day of redemption, to comfort and encourage us, and to direct our paths.

Moses understood the need to have the presence of the Lord with Him because the task was too great for a man. When God appeared to him in the burning bush, Moses said, “Who am I that I should go?” The Lord responded, “I will certainly be with you” (see Exodus 3:11–12).

Moses had a similar conversation on the other side of the Red Sea recorded in Exodus 33. As Moses faced another difficult task, the Lord told him “My presence will go with you.” Moses replied that he was not willing to go anywhere without the Lord’s presence.

Anything that is possible, even the impossible, is possible for Christians because of the Lord’s presence—if we submit ourselves to Christ and walk where His Spirit leads us.

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told His disciples that all power had been given to Him in the earth and in heaven and that He would be with us. Mighty things happen when we let the Lord work through us.

The Apostle Paul assured the Galatians that Christ lives in those of us who are crucified with Christ (see Galatians 2:20).

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that Jesus has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (see Hebrews 13:5).

Christian’s Essential Gifts #3— Power

The power of God and the working of His good pleasure is seen in us when we clearly recognize that it is “not I, but Christ” and live accordingly.

Those national missionaries who embrace the Lord’s presence and who pray without ceasing for the Lord’s direction and plead for God to make Himself known to the people around them are able to share stories of “the incredible work God is doing through them [that] cannot be accounted for by any human reasoning.” Kantilal expressed it this way:

“When I see the people coming to the Lord like this . . . when I see people being healed and delivered, all glory goes to God. It is not I who did it, and it is not that I deserve to be used by God, but it is all for God’s glory and for God’s name.”

Now we must ask ourselves why we do not experience the same power in our own lives.

We have the same calling as our GFA-supported national missionaries: to share God’s love with the people around us. We have the same presence of God in us. We have the same opportunity to talk to the Lord God at length about the souls of others and all the other issues of life.

The question is, “Do we?” The follow-up question is, “If we do not, why don’t we?”

Let us not be numbered among those professing believers in the world who evidence little or no power in their lives simply because we do not embrace the presence of the Lord and the precious gift of being able to speak directly to the Living God who answers our prayers.

Would you make today one of renewed commitment to pray and to walk in His presence? If you would, we would love to hear from you so that we might pray with you and encourage you to live the incomparable life the Lord has prepared for you.

We encourage you to download a free PDF copy of K.P. Yohannan’s book, Learning to Pray.

Dear friend, as I share with you these guidelines on prayer, I know that they will do nothing for you or the kingdom of God unless you start to enter warfare and begin praying.

You will see victories won that you never even dreamed were possible.

May the Lord bring you to a place in your life where your prayers will help change the course of a lost world.

— Dr. KP Yohannan

Read more posts on Patheos on the essential gifts of Prayer, Presence, and Power.

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

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Sources:

GFA World, Kantilal: Man of Prayer
Goodreads, K.P. Yohannan quotes

A Successful Search for God

Last updated on: September 23, 2018 at 9:21 pm By GFA Staff Writer

A Successful Search for God - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — A GFA-supported missionary

Jayin held a position of high respect in his community and was well on his journey to self-realization and ultimate reality. But Jayin was searching for something more. He was searching for God.

His role in the village was to share his spiritual understanding and enlightenment with those who came under his tuteledge in the hope that their experience will transcend his own. Jayin’s dilemma was that he had been unable to find the living God in his studies, his traditions or his rituals.

Realizing that all that he had learned and practiced had done nothing to bring him to the true God he was seeking, he became frustrated. It disturbed him deeply that he conducted and taught all of the physical rites and metaphysical ruminations to his students. If he couldn’t find God in them, how could they?

As he continued to struggle, he spiraled into depression and nearly lost his mind tilting at the windmills on his increasingly quixotic quest. He became so mentally and emotionally disturbed that his wife deserted him.

However, the living God had a plan for Jayin. Jayin’s parents loved their son and prayed that Jesus would reveal Himself to their son and deliver him from his confusion.

They arranged for a GFA-supported pastor to visit Jayin. As the pastor shared the good news about Jesus and His love for us, Jayin realized that this is the God he had been seeking. He understood that Jesus died for our sins, but that He rose from the dead and is alive, and that He is the only Way to God the Father.

Jayin came to the realization that he was a sinner in need of the living God who is the Light of the World. He gladly received the Word and committed himself to serve the Lord.

The love of Jesus began to fill the emptiness he had long felt in his soul. Eventually, he followed God’s call to enroll in a Bible College.

Today, he is a pastor to his own people. His heart is to share the love of Christ with people who have not heard.

Please pray for the Lord to bring much fruit through Jayin’s labors.

Pray, too, that he will stay close to Jesus and know Him as a constant Friend.

Pray for our GFA-supported national missionaries.

To read more posts on Patheos on GFA-Supported National Missionaries, go here.

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day

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Touched by Tony: A Mission Support Team Story

Last updated on: November 25, 2019 at 11:11 am By GFA Staff Writer

Touched by Tony: A Mission Support Team Story - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Tony and Kelly are partner-supported members of the GFA Mission Support Team.

I remember the first time I met Tony. It was late at night, and I had just arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. I was standing at the arrivals curb waiting for someone I had never met to give me a ride to the GFA campus in Wills Point. (I could almost hear my mother’s voice telling me to never accept a ride from a stranger—especially in the dark of night.) Fortunately, the first and only person to offer me a ride was the one GFA had asked to take me to Wills Point.

Turns out that Tony is a member of the GFA Mission Support Team. The drive to GFA provided plenty of time to get to know him. You see, I had thought that Wills Point was a Dallas suburb. But it’s not. I don’t even know for sure how long the ride was or how far we traveled. I’m not saying that the GFA campus is at the end of the world, but in the daytime, you can just about see it from there. I’m almost positive that I saw a sign on the highway that said, “End of the World – 5 miles.”

Back to my story. Tony became my first in-person impression of GFA. He still is. He always will be. From my brief stay at the GFA campus, during which I met many staff members, I learned that Tony is an accurate representation of members of the Mission Support Team. You can read his GFA bio at this link, but the three things I learned about him are far more important than a bio on a website.

He is humble. Those three words will embarrass him if he ever reads them. The first evidence of his humility was his response when I asked him what he does at GFA. I realize that is a common question. I learned many years ago to ask more for personal insight than for information.

The most common response to that question is usually naming a job title—often with a pinch of pride. I still have no more idea what Tony’s job or job title is than what is published in his Mission Support Team bio. He did share some of the various things that he does, including material support and communicating with ministry partners to keep them informed and encouraged. His answer told me less about the specifics of what he does and more about who he is.

He is not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. Somewhere out in that dark night, we stopped to eat at a world-famous restaurant. Actually, we didn’t go in. We used the drive-thru. When Tony paid for our meal, he handed the gentleman a Gospel tract, told him it was about Jesus Christ and asked him to read it. It was so natural, it was as though he had done it hundreds of times before, which he likely has.

What did I learn? Tony is not just a supporter of missions nor is he just a part of the Mission Support Team as a job. He is doing the same ministry as national missionaries on the field.

He is willing to do whatever is asked of him. That ride took a good-sized chunk out of Tony’s evening. Two days later, he returned me to the airport, keeping him from doing whatever was on his agenda to accomplish that day.

In fact, Tony left the car with me when he dropped me at the guest house. I offered to drive him to his home, but he would have none of it. He grabbed his backpack, and off he went. Early two mornings later, he was standing outside the door with his backpack waiting to return me to DFW.

He is a man of prayer. I can tell when someone is accustomed to talking with the Lord. You probably can too. We prayed together on at least three occasions, according to my recollection. Clearly, our conversation was with the Lord, not with each other, nor were those times meant to impress each other. We did it because that’s what we do.

That’s what I know about Tony. I don’t need to know much more than that. He loves the Lord, and he and his family have denied themselves of many of the so-called pleasures of life in deference to serving our Savior on the GFA Mission Support Team.

I was touched by Tony. That’s the reason that, once I submit this story for publication, I am going to begin contributing to Tony and Kelly’s support. We need more men like Tony serving the Lord like Tony does. I want to help to ensure that Tony and Kelly and their boys are able to continue their ministry with the GFA Mission Support Team.

Perhaps it is time you prayed about supporting a team member as well.

To learn more about the GFA Mission Support Team, visit this page on the GFA website.

To read more on Patheos on the GFA Missions Support Team, go here.

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Sponsor Tony and Kelly

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Gendercide: The Ultimate Violence Against Women

Last updated on: April 20, 2021 at 6:42 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing the topic of gendercide.

Whoever dreamed up the idea of gender reveals was onto something fun. Have you seen them on social media? Sometimes, they’re baby shower games or scavenger hunts that bring the participants ever closer to finding out the big secret. Sometimes, they’re clever videos. One of the most bittersweet examples was for a military wife whose husband had been killed in action before meeting his new child. His fellow soldiers made a video of the big reveal with a shower of pink tissue paper and confetti descending as they cheered for the new baby girl.

Gender reveals have surprise endings by nature: something pink or something blue. In America, we tend to cheer for girls and boys, alike. In parts of Asia, the happiness scale dips heavily in favor of boys. Many girls never have confetti, applause or even a chance at life beyond the earliest days of protection in their mother’s tummy.

Selective Abortion Accounts for an Untold Number of Missing Girls

Would you say that you’re undecided about whether or not gendercide is okay? Certainly, the answer is, “No!” How about eugenics? More than one notorious, historical figure has proclaimed that culling people they believed were bad for society was a good thing for all. But there is a direct connection between abortion, gendercide and eugenics. No matter where you stand on the vitriolic issue of abortion, one undeniable truth exists: when a child is aborted because of its gender, that abortion is gendercide.

In many parts of Asia, gendercide is real and it’s not uncommon. Along with improved access to prenatal care comes one of the most common procedures that any pregnant woman undergoes. But the ultrasound that so many mothers and fathers eagerly await can quickly turn into a death sentence if it doesn’t reveal a boy.

It’s difficult to separate the issue of choice from that of violence against women when choice is used to exterminate the life of a girl child specifically because she is female. Even worse, if that’s possible, is the fact that the choice is usually not their own. Heartbroken women are forced into abortions by aggressive and abusive family members. What happens in truth is often much different from what should happen on paper.

Sex Selection Continues After Babies are Born

If you have read this far, you might already be in turmoil. There is more. Gendercide isn’t just practiced during pregnancy. Especially in poorer parts of Asia, it continues after birth. An unwanted girl child isn’t inherently safe just because she managed to make it into the world. Some people have no compunction about terminating the life of a precious little girl even after they have seen her face, held her and heard those first sweet baby sounds.

Unimaginably, some girls approaching school age are killed because they are both female and unwanted. The BBC reported in 2011 that there are millions of missing girls. According to The Atlantic, girls 5 years old and under are killed in abusive homes as an extension of gender selection, violence against women, and general contempt for the lives of females of any age.

Infanticide, which specifically is killing a child after birth, isn’t new, and it isn’t unique to South Asia, but it is likely underreported. Societies the world over have expressed a fondness for boys. The most frequently cited reasoning is to carry on the family name.

The World Bank expands on the terrible, regrettable practice in their report, Violence Against Women and Girls: Lessons From South Asia. They found that infanticide is the “most direct postnatal driver of excess female child mortality” throughout South Asia. Sadly, the mindset that girls are less than boys and that violence against girls is tolerable persists from birth until death, oftentimes an early death.

For girls who survive infanthood, laws forbid violence against women. That sounds like a step in the right direction. But the realities lie elsewhere, not within those pages.

In major cities and small villages across Asia, women and girls are often at a very literal, daily risk of being attacked, raped and killed. The law does little to help, even when it does manage to overcome its apathy toward those who harm women. Sometimes, attackers end the lives of their victims. But sometimes, a girl’s family plays an equally heinous role in her untimely end.

It doesn’t take much search time to find news story after news story of girls who were raped by a man or group of men, and then beaten or killed by her parents or extended family for bringing their so-called shame back to their family’s threshold. In some places and in some families, just being a girl must feel like a crime.

Gendercide Has Far-Reaching Effects

If you wonder how anyone could kill a child, regardless of whether or not they’ve been born, you’re in good company. But beyond the most obvious terror of killing girls and girl babies, the longstanding practice has far-reaching, damaging effects to a society.

According to Institut National d’Etudes Démographiques (INED), the proportion of boys born in Asia “is abnormally high because couples practice sex-selective abortion.” These imbalanced birth rates affect marriages and population growth long into the future.

Although many Asian families treasure their little girls as much as they do boys, girls come at a cost. That cost is the most common reasoning behind gendercide.

A boy will grow up, marry, have children of his own, and will always contribute to the welfare of the family that raised him. For girls, it’s different. Girls are married off. The families that raise them, feed them and clothe them will eventually need a dowry just to watch them leave for their husband’s home. Dowries were largely outlawed decades ago, but the traditional practice is still observed.

Girls are expensive and then they leave. Boys are also expensive, but they’re an investment that has the potential to pay off later. It’s a very sad truth that’s difficult to leave in the past.

INED explains that the girl/boy imbalance in Asia also has a practical problem. It affects the way men find the wives who will join their family and bear the next generation.

With so many girl babies killed, fewer and fewer women are available to marry later. Some men must find wives elsewhere, which accounts for a growing female migration trend. And some men wait until they’re older to find a wife and marry, which, in an ironic twist, can exacerbate the so-called problem of having daughters.

Men play the deciding role in the sex of their children. The older a man is when he fathers a child, the greater his chance of fathering a daughter. According to Psychology Today, the likelihood of older men having fewer sons is well-documented. Two-thirds of girls, they explain, are born to parents over the age of 40. Every year, a man’s chance of having a son decreases by 1 percent. And so the cycle grows as it continues.

Gendercide is violence against women. There are no two ways around it. In families where women of all ages are not uniformly treasured as precious children of God, but sometimes merely tolerated, it shouldn’t be a surprise. Killing a girl child who can run and skip and laugh is bound to be more difficult than aborting a female baby who hasn’t taken her first breath. But both practices have equally disastrous and heartbreaking consequences for the child, her family and society.

For girls who are allowed to live, life may become harder than anyone could ever deserve. Some girls are put to work before they’re old enough to enter school. Again, laws may forbid child labor, but that doesn’t mean it’s uncommon. Many surviving girls are underfed and neglected, with boys getting a better share of food, care and education. Marriage for girls may come at an unusually young age. Then she takes on her role as the extremely hopeful mother of precious boys, and probably also girls whose fates lie in someone else’s hands.

Gender reveal games and parties almost seem like a silly decadence when judged alongside the plight and even terror of abused women and girls in Asia. But they’re not. Every child God creates is precious in his sight, just like the nursery song taught to us in Sunday School. Every baby deserves confetti and a celebration just because they exist. Every girl deserves parents who protect and care about her. Every woman deserves a warm, loving family where she is safe from discrimination and abuse.

Someone must help the women and girls in Asia. Gospel for Asia (GFA) supports the devoted workers who are on the job.

Missionaries, pastors and everyday people reach out to their communities with programs that offer the resources they desperately need. Through kindness and generosity of spirit, they educate whole communities. Through earnest compassion, they share the love of God with women who may never have known any life besides one of pain and abuse.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) supports literacy training, health care education, Bridge of Hope programs for children, and tools that help women earn much-needed income, which helps communities learn to value women, and helps women to understand that they are valuable.

Read more articles on Patheos about gendercide: 1 2 3

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Go Tell It on the Mountains

Last updated on: August 31, 2018 at 7:55 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Go Tell It on the Mountains - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Titus literally has to climb mountains like these to minister to people in churches in this area, as well as villages that have never heard the Good News.

Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing Titus, who literally has to climb mountains on foot to minister to people.

When Jesus told His disciples that His plan was for them to go into all the world, He meant ALL the world (see Matthew 28:19–20). Starting with the first 11 and Paul, followers of Jesus have been going wherever they need to go to share Christ’s love.

Whether that’s to our neighbors or whether it’s to people living across the globe in a far, distant country, they all have one thing in common: They need to hear about Jesus. The Bible says that whoever chooses to believe in and follow Him shall be saved (see Romans 10:13). But that Scripture verse is followed by several questions that must be answered honestly by every Christian. Not the least of these questions is “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?”

Titus is a GFA-supported pastor who wanted to share Jesus’ love with others since he was just a young boy. Both of his parents had become gravely ill when a pastor visiting people in his village came to Titus’ home, shared about Jesus, and prayed that his mother and father would be healed. When the Lord answered that prayer, the entire family responded positively to the Good News.

Titus pastors a thriving church and has already established two other fellowships in the mountains. He literally has to climb mountains to minister to people. Many homes, like those in the photo above, can be visited by foot. The only access to these mountain people is on footpaths, many of which are extremely steep and difficult to climb.

Some of the people in these homes and villages don’t want to be reached. They covet their isolation. They don’t want to be bothered by anyone from the outside. For many, it may provide a feeling of security. Titus knows that he has the real security these people need and that it can be found only in Jesus. He also knows they will never hear about Jesus unless someone goes to them and tells them.

It doesn’t matter to Titus that he will spend a goodly part of his long day climbing the mountainsides and descending into the valleys when no one has heard . Rejection is difficult for any of us, but imagine how we would feel if we had spent hours trekking up a steep mountainside to visit with people and they refuse to welcome us.

Titus understands that some of us sow the Word of God without seeing any fruit. He knows that our responsibility is to go and tell. In God’s infinite wisdom, He guides our footsteps—a good thing to know when climbing steep mountain trails—and His Holy Spirit convinces the hearts of those who will listen.

He may have to climb that mountain—and the next one, and the one after that—many times before those who hear call upon the name of the Lord. And so he goes. Day after day and mile after mile to tell others about the one person they need to know. His name is Jesus.

The fact that the church he pastors and the fellowships he has started are thriving is evidence that, despite his weary body and his worn-out shoes, the Lord is bringing the increase wherever this ordinary man ventures out to introduce people to the Jesus of whom they have never heard.

Please add Titus and those like him to your prayers. Pray that as they makes their difficult treks, God’s grace would be sufficient and that their feet will become even more beautiful as they shares the Lord’s love with others.

As you pray, ask the Lord where He would have you go to minister His Word. It may be next door. You may not have to climb high mountains to get there, but the Lord will consider your feet to be as beautiful as Titus’.

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