Five Ministry Commitments of Gospel for Asia

Last updated on: October 21, 2022 at 7:06 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Gospel for Asia Celebrates 40 Years of Service WILLS POINT, TX – When anyone starts an enterprise of any kind, it is unlikely that they can see 40 years into the future and all that those four decades will bring. When the Lord uses a man or woman to begin a ministry, the future is beyond imagination.

On July 3, Gospel for Asia (GFA) gets to look back on the unimaginable things God has done since GFA’s inception 40 years ago. We now take a look at five of the ministries through which the Lord is blessing the millions of people in South Asia who had never heard of Jesus Christ and His love for us.

Training and Equipping National Missionaries:
This has been GFA’s vision from the beginning. To their own people, in their own culture, speaking their own language was the vision upon which the ministry of Gospel for Asia (GFA) was based. Today, thousands are ministering as the hands and feet of Jesus to millions who still need to hear.
Raising Up Women Missionaries:
In cultures where unwritten social rules often separate men from women, GFA-supported women missionaries can minister to Asia’s ladies more effectively than their male counterparts. These women missionaries are filled to overflowing with love for their Lord and eagerly pour out that love to other ladies around them.
Clean Water Initiatives:
Gospel for Asia (GFA) is one of the leading faith-based NGOs in terms of providing clean water to communities in need. Jesus Wells and BioSand water filters offer a healthy alternative to the potentially pathogen-riddled surface water that is, in many places, the only available source. Access to clean drinking water has restored health to individuals, families, and entire villages.
Slum Ministries:
Almost no one wants to go to the squalid slums. Most people who live there don’t want to be there, but they have nowhere else to go. The rest of the population avoids the slums and the people who live in them. But GFA-supported workers go courageously to these regions of abject poverty to minister to people’s physical needs and to show them the riches of Jesus’ love and the gift of everlasting life He offers.
Education for Children:
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope centers prepare school-age children for fruitful lives beyond the boundaries of poverty. Training, health checkups, and nutritious meals are provided free of charge in a loving, affirming environment that awakens the children to their potential. Many are going on to excel in college or careers neither they nor their parents had realized would be possible.

How are these ministries changing their lives so effectively? Faithful Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers have committed themselves to these— and many other—areas of ministry, and the Lord has blessed their commitment to serving Him.

These are but a few of the ministries launched by Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers. We will highlight more in the weeks to come during this 40^th anniversary year. Please pray for these areas of ministry, and look out for more articles about GFA’s ministries in the days ahead.

Source: Gospel for Asia, Pray for Specific Areas of Ministry

Learn more about Gospel for Asia’s 40th anniversary year, we can’t wait to reflect on all God has done in and through GFA. We also excitedly look forward to the future, believing the years ahead will be a time to move forward into a new era of passionately sharing the love of Christ.

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

A Life-changing Doctor Visit

Last updated on: October 21, 2022 at 7:12 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the millions of people who don’t have the ability to obtain health services, the need for medical camps around the world, and much more the need for the Great Healer.

Ahmed clutched his abdomen as the constant discomfort intensified. He wished for a doctor, but he knew the impossibility of such a costly appointment. He pushed through the pain again—as he had done many times during the past five months—and tried to keep going with life.

Not far away, Raizel leaned against the doorway to regain her balance and focus her eyes. It was hard work being a domestic servant all day, but she knew something internal must be causing her dizziness and eyesight problems. She couldn’t afford to quit working; her husband was gone, and there was no one else to provide for her three daughters. But she couldn’t afford to see a doctor either. All she could do was go back to work and hope the symptoms would go away on their own.

Treatment Unattainable for Millions

Ahmed (pictured) endured stomach pain for five months because he had no money to pay for a doctor examination. His plight is common among the global billions who live in poverty and need of medical camps. — Ahmed (pictured) endured stomach pain for five months because he had no money to pay for a doctor’s examination. His plight is common among the global billions who live in poverty.

Ahmed and Raizel are just two among millions—even billions—who cannot access medical care when they need help. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank reports that “at least half of the world’s population cannot obtain essential health services.”

The cost of medication and professional care is far beyond the incomes of many farmers, daily laborers and tradesmen. Remote villages rarely have a medical facility in the area, which means families must also bear the expenses of traveling to the nearest hospital. Treatment is even further out of reach for the millions of people who live hand-to-mouth and survive by begging.

But sometimes a medical emergency arises. An accident on the road, a severe cut or a life-threatening illness may force families to go to a hospital. Once there, families rack up a large bill and must find a way to pay it or take out a loan from a moneylender.

WHO and the World Bank also state that,

“for almost 100 million people, these expenses are high enough to push them into extreme poverty, forcing them to survive on just $1.90 or less a day.”

Children must drop out of school and start working to help pay back that loan, or parents have to sell what little they have—even their homes or source of livelihood—leaving them in an even more desperate financial situation.

Staff at four Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope centers and local pastors in Ahmed and Raizel’s region saw families battling cases of typhoid, dengue and other viral fevers. This community desperately needed help—and through donations from GFA friends around the world, GFA-supported workers were empowered to help their community.

These Bridge of Hope children and others in their community suffered from many treatable illnesses. Those sicknesses hindered their education, which is their greatest opportunity of escape from poverty.

Free Medical Care Provided for Sickly Children, Parents

The Bridge of Hope staff and national missionaries involved in medical ministry began coordinating free medical camps for the children in their areas. Medical personnel from local hospitals were invited to give their expertise at the camps, and soon all the preparations were in order.

One day, 400 Bridge of Hope children in this area went home from their centers with precious news: All the students could come and get free checkups—and their parents could too!

Ahmed came to the camp with hundreds of others from his community and walked away carrying free medication for his stomach troubles.

“I am deeply thankful,” he said. “I was suffering with constant stomachache for the past five months. I did not have money to go to the hospital for checkups.”

Raizel—and hundreds of others in her area who attended free medical camps—received a checkup and medication she could not have afforded on her own.

Raizel, too, attended the medical camp and found help with her problems. Even though she was a widow—a population of society that is often rejected and believed to carry a curse that caused their husbands’ death—she found love and free care through Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical ministry.

“Due to my tight work [schedule] and insufficient money, I could not go for medical checkups in a hospital,” she shared. “But my daughters told me about the free medical camp and asked me to come for a checkup. Thus, I could get [an eye exam] and got an eyedrop for my eyes and vitamin tablets for my weakness in the body. Thank you very much for helping me to get this aid.”

GFA-supported Medical Camps Change Lives

Medical camps like the one organized for Ahmed and Raizel’s community treat many illnesses, such as diarrhea, eye diseases, anemia, yellow fever and stomach problems. To help combat malnutrition among children and pregnant women, vitamin tablets are often distributed as well. Educational classes or pamphlets are also provided to instruct families on basic—but often unknown—hygiene practices that will protect the families’ health for years to come.

Abbi, a 37-year-old mother of three daughters, attended a medical camp and received treatment for an illness she had fought for a long time. She also received helpful instructions for rehabilitating one of her daughter’s weak hands.

Through attending the camp, Abbi formed a friendship with a woman named Kanaka. Kanaka, who attended a local church, visited Abbi the following day to pray with her and encourage her from God’s Word. She knew in her heart that Jesus had heard and answered their prayers, and her faith in Christ budded.

Abbi began attending a prayer meeting at Kanaka’s home and found peace from her troubles.

“I could not have a peaceful sleep at night for the last 17 years,” she testified. “But after meeting Jesus, I am getting sound sleep because there is peace in my heart. I praise Jesus for this.”

After attending a medical camp, Abbi (pictured) experienced healing in her family and discovered the joy only found in knowing Christ personally.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical camps help individuals gain the health they need to positively affect their communities. Each camp may provide 200 to 1,000 people with free checkups and medicines—something many of them would never have been able to afford. And along with those free medical services comes another powerful gift: prayer.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers happily pray for any who requests prayer at a medical camp, and they speak words of kindness and truth into the lives of struggling families. Long after a bottle of medicine is gone, families can continue finding strength and hope from the Great Healer they heard about at the camp.

Through Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported medical camps, thousands of people have found solutions for their problems, both of body and spirit.

You can help more people like Abbi, Ahmed and Raizel gain access to life-changing medical care by donating to medical camps today!

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Life-changing Doctor Visits

Learn more about the need for Medical Ministry. GFA-supported medical ministry is helping thousands who are in need of medical care and attention, all while displaying the love of Christ.

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

Gospel for Asia Feature: The Pastor and the Gangster

Last updated on: October 21, 2022 at 7:19 pm By KP Yohannan

Pastor Shorya knew the Holy Spirit had been speaking to him about going to visit a certain village—a village where he’d been told not to come back. The Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor lived nearby and had gone there several times, offering a message of hope to any who wanted to hear. Some men in the village didn’t want to hear it, though, and they told him he might not survive if he came again. Heeding this threat, Pastor Shorya didn’t return for nine months. But when Pastor Shorya sensed God was telling him he needed to visit that village again, he listened. Soon he found himself confronted by one of the most notorious men in the village: Hitansh, a gangster.

Pastor Shorya hadn’t met Hitansh before, but he had heard enough to fear him.

An Unlikely Ally

“Why did you stop coming to our village?” Hitansh asked Pastor Shorya.

When Pastor Shorya explained that some men had threatened him, Hitansh told him not to worry. He encouraged the pastor to continue visiting the village and said he would make sure no one else bothered him.

Such a guarantee meant a lot coming from a person like Hitansh, whose feared reputation came from his status as a leader of a gang known for robbery, kidnapping and murder. Hitansh’s wife, however, believed in Jesus. She told her husband that the Christians in the village needed Pastor Shorya’s encouragement, so for the sake of his wife, the gangster supported the pastor.

As Pastor Shorya started visiting Hitansh’s village again, a relationship developed between the two men, and he told Hitansh about Jesus and invited him to come to worship services. Hitansh wasn’t interested, though.

Grace in Prison

Hitansh’s life of crime eventually caught up with him. After getting arrested for robbing the police superintendent’s home, he landed in prison for several months. One night he had a dream that reminded him of things Pastor Shorya had shared.

In Hitansh’s dream, he stole a gold chain. As he was running away, a lion approached and swallowed the chain. Then a man from Hitansh’s village appeared.

“Brother, look up,” the man said.

As Hitansh looked up, a cross stood before his eyes.

Hitansh woke up, troubled. He knelt down and prayed, and the next day, a desire burned within him to know about Jesus. He asked his brother to bring him a Bible.

Having failed the fifth-grade multiple times, Hitansh had struggled to read his own language, but now he found himself able to read Scripture clearly. Day by day, God continued to burden his heart as he pored over Bible passages and remembered Pastor Shorya’s words about Christ.

When Hitansh was released from prison, he immediately wanted to talk to Pastor Shorya.

“I have done many sins,” Hitansh said. “Will Jesus Christ forgive me from all my sins? How can I get peace in my heart? In jail, I was remembering your words every day. Show me the way … ”

Pastor Shorya comforted him with words from Scripture, sharing that Jesus would forgive sins. He told Hitansh that Christ was the way to peace.

No Longer a Gangster

That day, Hitansh found peace as he believed in Jesus Christ. Soon, he started attending worship services and prayer meetings at Pastor Shorya’s church. His family members began noticing a change in Hitansh, and they also came to know Christ.

Now, instead of engaging in criminal activity, Hitansh provides for his family by doing masonry and labor work. He also works for Jesus full time, telling others about the God who gave him a second chance.

Hitansh’s transformed life impacted the entire community, sparking an interest in Jesus among more people, encouraging the believers and even touching the hearts of the gang members Hitansh used to work with. Although the other leaders of Hitansh’s gang didn’t feel they could openly make a commitment to Jesus, they began to believe in Him.

As Hitansh continues to grow in his walk with Christ, Pastor Shorya continues to encourage him, sharing insights from God’s Word and teaching him how to live an exemplary life. Hitansh is grateful for how Pastor Shorya has mentored him and other members of his family. Just as he guaranteed, the former gangster continues to support the pastor—but now he does this by inviting people to attend worship services and prayer meetings. Hitansh even serves as the church secretary and treasurer.

Because God reached down to pull a criminal off a treacherous path, an entire community is finding new hope. And He did this through one man who loved a village enough to go back, despite risk to his own life, and through an unlikely ally. Now, Hitansh is no longer a criminal, and he and Pastor Shorya are not just friends—they are brothers.

Sponsor a national missionary like Pastor Shorya

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, The Pastor and the Gangster

Learn more about National Missionaries – the men and women the Lord God is raising up living in Asia to be His ambassadors.

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

Waiting for the Sun to Rise

Last updated on: October 21, 2022 at 7:22 pm By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the plight of missionaries come wintertime, who live barely protected from the elements, and the immeasurable blessing the gift of winter clothing brings.

Pastor Babar shivered under his thin jacket. He walked up to a group of villagers huddled around a blazing fire in the early morning hours. Warming his hands, the Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor shared a story about Jesus to the chilled figures gathered around the heat of the flames. This joyful story constantly burned in his heart, no matter how cold the weather was outside.

Pastor Babar and the Bible college students felt deep inside their hearts a calling to carry their Lord's love to others, While they shared the love they knew, they encountered many families suffering during the wintertime with insufficient winter clothing and blankets. — Villagers in cold regions in Asia often can be found warming themselves by fires outdoors, as many do not have indoor heating.

Battling Winter Struggles

As the sun rose, villagers in the area where Pastor Babar served would gaze out their windows waiting for the sun’s rays to warm the outdoors. For those with meager winter clothing, it often wouldn’t heat up enough to travel until nearly 10 a.m.

Every morning, Pastor Babar opened his sleepy eyes in the early hours to pray over the day before him. In the wintertime, he read Scripture and prayed while tucked underneath layers of blankets to keep himself from becoming too cold.

“It is very difficult to get up in my house early in the morning because of the cold weather,” Pastor Babar shared. “And unless I have warm water, I cannot brush my teeth, nor can I take a bath or wash myself with cold water. So, I have to heat water…”

Even though there were days when the temperature would drop below freezing, Pastor Babar never stopped his ministry. During those days, he would pull on nearly every piece of warm clothing he owned to face the outdoors. He endured splitting headaches; dry, cracking skin; and the common cold to visit the men and women he pastored.

Bible College Students Struggle in Winter

In nearly the same climate and region of Asia, Bible college students looked at the teacher in the front of the classroom. Giant puffs of air sporadically appeared throughout the room as the men exhaled. The temperature was freezing, and it was difficult to take notes, as fingers grew numb from the chill. Focusing on the lessons of the day was extremely difficult because of the brain fogginess and lack of solid sleep they experienced caused by the cold weather.

It was a long morning on campus for the students. For some, the sleepless night spent shivering meant they began their days already tired. Others who managed to sleep well enough, moved about in their rooms getting ready for the day. But when it was time to wash their faces and brush their teeth the water was frozen.

The students knew they must get up and serve, but there was a strong temptation to perform outdoor morning chores wrapped up in bedding. Later that day, maybe some of them would go into nearby villages to share the hope they held in their hearts—but not until the sun was fully up.

It has been reported that it is 20 times more likely for someone to die in the cold weather than from the heat. Insufficient winter clothing causes many of these deaths.

Willing Hearts to Serve No Matter the Temperature

Pastor Babar and the Bible college students felt deep inside their hearts a calling to carry their Lord’s love to others, even though they had to face the inconveniences of the cold. It was a love too good to withhold. While they shared the love they knew, they encountered many families suffering during the wintertime with insufficient winter clothing and blankets. For many laborers, winter made working for daily survival incredibly difficult, and oftentimes, they had no extra cash for buying winter garb.

But God saw the needs and difficulties of the villagers, Pastor Babar and the students in the Bible college. People across the world displayed compassion by giving resources for warm coats, hats, scarves and blankets. These warm items were given with joy to the Bible college students, Pastor Babar and other Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors and workers, and some villagers during a Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Christmas gift distribution.

Winter Clothing: No Longer Hindered By the Cold

With his thick, warm winter coat, Pastor Babar can now venture outdoors at any hour of the morning to meet with believers who need prayer. He can stay outdoors longer and doesn’t need to worry about his health or focus on rushing home each night before the temperature drops and becomes even colder.

The men at the Bible college can bundle up in their winter clothing in the classroom and study more comfortably. As they share the Christmas story with those around them, they don’t have to worry about catching sickness—their bodies are protected by the warmth of their coats.

“I am grateful to those brothers and sisters who saw me in need, who understood how it is difficult to serve the Lord in … cold weather and high altitude,” Pastor Babar said after receiving his new winter coat.

“I am thankful to them from the bottom of my heart. I would like to thank them for thinking about me and giving me this jacket. Now my prayer is that the Lord would bless them and the Lord would use them to encourage the people like us on the mission field.”

Support the faithful men and women who risk their lives in cold climates and also help bring winter clothing and blankets to needy families across Asia today.

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, Waiting for the Sun to Rise

Learn more about National Missionaries – the men and women the Lord God is raising up living in Asia to be His ambassadors.

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

From Death to Life at the Hands of a Good Samaritan

Last updated on: October 29, 2022 at 5:20 am By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the grave need for national missionaries, like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, who fills in the gap of health care to the poor and needy with the love of God.

Marut’s heart raced as his feet tore down the dark road in front of him. It had been a weary day of labor, and now his lean body strained as he flew from the wild dogs closing the gap between them. These were not domesticated animals. These were scavenger dogs, grown cruel by struggle for survival.

As the pack drew closer, Marut had to make a quick decision. He scanned the horizon before him looking for a way of escape. He saw an electric pole some distance ahead. He altered course, bolting directly toward the pole. As Marut reached it, he scampered up the metal pole just out of reach of the vicious pack of dogs.

Just like the Good Samaritan in Jesus' parable, who could not pass by a man bruised and beaten in the streets, local pastors and field workers make it part of their ministries to care for the physical needs of those in their communities. — Marut with his wife and two children.

From One Threat to Another

Marut climbed further up the pole, creating a more comfortable distance between him and the growling hounds below. As he inched toward the inky night sky, an invisible danger dangled just above, more destructive than the danger below. While Marut heaved his exhausted body up, a broken power line flicked his chest. A bolt of electricity engulfed his body, flinging Marut off the pole and onto the ground.

Marut lay immobile with huge sections of his body burnt and one leg broken. The dogs barked wildly around him, alerting nearby residents. Some sympathetic bystanders rushed him to a hospital.

A Desperate Phone Call

As Pastor Daha stood at the bus stop, his phone buzzed in his pocket, calling his attention from the masses around him to the single unknown number scrolling across his phone’s screen. When he answered, a pleading voice urged Pastor Daha to come to a nearby village to see a man who was critically wounded and close to death. Pastor Daha gathered his things and hurried to the nearby village where the injured man lived.

Following the instructions given by the person over the phone, Pastor Daha approached a small building. Peering through the doorway of the simple one-room home, the stench of injured flesh enveloped Pastor Daha like a cloud. He knew the smell of these wounds intimately—decaying skin common among those with leprosy.

A Good Samaritan Arrives

Marut lay in anguish on his bed as his wife and children looked on hopelessly. He had spent 10 days in the hospital and had been released two days prior. His family despaired for his life.

God brought Pastor Daha to Marut at the critical juncture between deterioration and recovery. Though Marut’s wounds were not life threatening with proper treatment, his family did not know how to care for him, so he was quickly approaching death.

In the United States, for every 10,000 people, there are 117.8 skilled health care workers
In Southeast Asia there is a regional average of 25.7 skilled health care workers per 10,000 people.
In Bangladesh there are only six skilled health care workers for every 10,000 people in the country. That’s one doctor or nurse for every 1,600 people.

How can one doctor see that many people? The answer? He can’t.

GFA-supported national worker provides medical care to a leprosy patient. — Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported national worker provides medical care to a leprosy patient.

Meeting a Desperate Need for Medical Care

Pastor Daha cleans and applies medicine to Marut's burns. Before Pastor Daha's medical care, Marut's family feared for his life. — Pastor Daha cleans and applies medicine to Marut’s burns. Before Pastor Daha’s medical care, Marut’s family feared for his life.

Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastors and workers are uniquely present in these communities filled with great need. Just like the Good Samaritan in Jesus’ parable, who could not pass by a man bruised and beaten in the streets, local pastors and field workers make it part of their ministries to care for the physical needs of those in their communities.

While not skilled health care workers, these pastors and field workers have two essential qualities to help meet health needs in poor and rural areas: They are present and willing.

What Good Does a Good Samaritan Do?

While countries work hard to address the health care needs of their rural communities on a national level, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported field workers address the issue at a grassroots level, working with leprosy patients, conducting medical camps and providing health care training to women.

Mostly, these Good Samaritans find plenty of opportunities to meet health needs in the local communities where they minister. Because Pastor Daha was serving in Marut’s area, he was available to provide the medical attention Marut desperately needed after being discharged from the hospital—probably saving his life!

Pastor Daha continued to visit Marut regularly and Marut grew grateful for the sincerity and faithfulness of Pastor Daha. He remembered many times in the past hearing about the God that Pastor Daha worshiped but without any interest. Now, as the pastor lovingly attended his wounds, wounds that even his family members were repulsed by, Marut’s heart became knit together with this man of God.

Filling the Gap Left by Inadequate Health Care

The World Health Organization reports,

“These [national health coverage] failings result in very large numbers of preventable deaths and disabilities in each country; in unnecessary suffering; in injustice, inequality and denial of basic rights of individuals. The impact is most severe on the poor. … The poor also emerge as receiving the worst levels of responsiveness—they are treated with less respect for their dignity, given less choice of service providers and offered lower-quality amenities.”

Although health coverage is becoming available to more people who would otherwise not be able to afford treatment, GFA’s national missionaries are present to offer the dignity, responsiveness and love that have not yet reached many poor rural families. The Great Physician calls us to action.

Be a Good Samaritan today. Sponsor a national missionary who often is the one to fill the gap of health care to the poor and needy, motivated by the love of the Great Physician Himself.

Source: Gospel for Asia Features, From Death to Life at the Hands of a Good Samaritan

Learn more about National Missionaries – the men and women the Lord God is raising up living in Asia to be His ambassadors.

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

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.

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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Technology Shares Christ’s Love with a Village

Last updated on: December 1, 2018 at 11:26 pm By GFA Staff Writer

Often times, people will argue the pros and cons of different methods of sharing Christ’s love. I used to be that way, but after reading articles from various missionary organizations, I’ve learned there is no method that is effective for every individual.

For many people in other countries, illiteracy is a problem. In India more than 34 percent of the population is illiterate.^[1] Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have a literacy rate higher than 75 percent, but that still leaves portions of the population illiterate.^[2]

This is why digital media, such as films, are such great tools. It shares the Good News with those who can’t read a Bible or literature. Plus, who doesn’t like a good movie, especially when the good guy ultimately wins?

Struggling with Sweat on Their Way

Technology Shares Christ’s Love with a Village - KP Yohannan - Gospel for Asia — Aadit (pictured) is part of a GFA-supported film team and seeks to share Christ’s love through showing films about Jesus’ life.

GFA-supported film teams often travel on foot, from village to village, with sweat running down their faces. Unless they travel by bus or have their own vehicle, they have no other way to haul the projector and generator, which they use for power in rural areas that have no electricity.^[3] Aadit, a GFA-supported missionary and his team walked and carried a projector on a narrow path leading to a village.^[4]

An Unexpected Treat

I can’t imagine how heavy film projectors are, yet these men believed it would be worth carrying so those who have never heard of God’s love would finally have the chance.

Many in the West take movies for granted. Movie theaters are just a few minutes from home. Almost every house has a DVD or Blue Ray player. Movies are no longer a novelty. But in many rural villages across the globe, films are a rare occurrence. In the village where Aadit was showing the film about Jesus, villagers had no way to visit a movie theater. So when the team arrived with equipment in tow, excitement stirred around the village.

The film team prayed for the work of the Holy Spirit to be present and for changed hearts. That night, as the film was shown, the audience grew to around 95 people.

As villagers watched the film displaying what Jesus had done for them, 10 people were moved and embraced the Lord’s love in their lives.

Movies Share Christ’s Love with Others

You never know how the Lord will work in people’s lives to draw them to Himself. For people who are illiterate, it may be as simple as watching a movie. Through the work of national missionaries such as Aadit, families are coming to love Christ and people are seeing His message of hope for the first time.

Whether you use literature, prefer conversations or showing a movie, people will react to the message of Christ’s love and sacrifice in different ways. The Holy Spirit is able to work in our feeble efforts to bring people to Himself.

^[1] The New Leam, Alarming Illiteracy Rates in India: Accountability and Action

^[2] Discovery DCODE, How Did Southeast Asia Achieve 99% Literacy?

^[3] Gospel for Asia, Provide gifts that help missionaries bring Christ’s love to the lost

^[4] Gospel for Asia: Reports from the Field, A Surprise Film

To learn more about the National Missionaries, visit this page on the GFA website.

Learn more about the GFA Film Ministry in Asia and how you can be involved, 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.

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Sources:

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

They Delight in the Lord

Last updated on: October 15, 2018 at 5:45 am By GFA Staff Writer

GFA-supported workers in Asia are living examples of the truth of Psalm 37:4 everywhere they go: “Delight in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” It is a well-known verse for many believers, but it is not necessarily commonly experienced to the extent that we see it in GFA-supported national workers.

Delight in the Lord: Take Pastor Navashen

When he arrived in the village where the Lord had called him to minister, no one knew anything about him. But he became well known rather quickly because of his habit of going around the village singing songs about Jesus. Until Pastor Navashen started singing about Jesus in the streets, no one had known anything about Christ either.

Soon after Pastor Navashen arrived, he established a tuition center for the local children. They had heard his happy voice in the streets, and they wanted to learn the songs.

Pastor Navashen had come to the village with the desire to share the love of Jesus with people who had never heard about Him and who did not know about the joy in knowing Him.

As Pastor Navashen delighted in the Lord, he watched the promise of Psalm 37:4 unfold in the village. In fact, it was his delight in the Lord that drew the people to inquire about Jesus.

First, the children learned the songs. Then they shared them with their parents at home. Unbeknownst to the children, their parents needed that same joy in their hearts. That desire led to the formation of a Bible study where they inquired about this Jesus and the incredible love he offers.

That study led to a Sunday ministry and invitations into the homes of the local families where the “Singing Pastor” would pray for the Lord to give them the desires of their hearts.

His desire was to share the love of Jesus with the villagers. His delight in the Lord was the very thing that attracted them to Jesus. In his inexplicable and glorious way, the desire of their hearts was to learn more about Jesus.

Delight in the Lord: Then there is Pastor Sal

Pastor Sal loved the Lord and the people of his village so much that he would wake early and pray every morning “that the Lord would open a way for him to share Christ’s love with the people in his village.” That was the desire of his heart.

Making his desire seemingly impossible to achieve was the fact that the local leaders had ordained a strict rule that anyone who embraced the message of Jesus and His love would be banned from the village.

So Pastor Sal prayed and offered his life in service to his neighbors. They appreciated his kindness, but they were bewildered by the fact that he did not participate in the vices common among the local men. His only apparent vice was that he keep reading this same book over and over again. In fact, he delighted in reading it.

People can stay curious about someone like that for only so long. Eventually, the village leader could not resist asking what made Pastor Sal so different.

“Once I was like you,” Pastor Sal replied. “But when I received my God, I gave up every unwanted thing and started living a new life in Him. When I read the Word of God, it helps me to grow closer to Him. The more I read, the more I understand the sweetness of His Word.”

Before long the leader came to know the goodness of Christ. Others followed. Once again the Lord proved himself by keeping his promise to give Pastor Sal the desires of his heart as more and more villagers came to learn about Jesus and His life-changing love.

Do you DELIGHT in the Lord? What is the DESIRE of your heart?

When we delight in the Lord, our desires become like His. When we forsake our own desires for His, He will gladly keep His promise to grant our desires and, to our amazement, He will increase our delight.

Learn how the Lord can use you to encourage and support a local worker in Asia as they serve the Lord with delight and share the love of Jesus.

To learn more about the National Missionaries, visit this page on the GFA website.

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

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

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Sources:

Gospel for Asia, The Singing Pastor
Gospel for Asia, One Missionary’s Powerful Example

Image Source: Gospel for Asia, Photo of the Day