WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, discussing the despair of Kalyska, her husband’s betrayal, her brother’s thievery, and the hope and peace that God brought through a friend and a Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary.
“Frustrated” didn’t begin to describe how Kalyska felt. Her younger brother had effectively stolen the money she had lent him. Nearly all her savings were now gone. It was a heavy blow to the single mother of two. Kalyska already had difficulty providing for her son and daughter, but this was the final straw. How could she recover?
A Mother’s Struggles
Kalyska, pictured here, is thankful for the love she was shown and the opportunity to provide for her children.
Things hadn’t always been like this. Kalyska had once had a happy home, if not a perfect one. Kalyska’s marriage had started out happy, but three years and two children later, she discovered her husband was seeing another woman. Her husband, confronted with his infidelity, hurled physical and verbal abuse on Kalyska. Then he left.
Kalyska was left alone to take care of their children. Fortunately, with some savings and the small income she now earned through tailoring, Kalyska was able to send her children to school once they were old enough.
But the reality of her situation shattered any semblance of peace. Many individuals, hearing of Kalyska’s plight, offered to help—but all they wanted was to use Kalyska for their own gain. Fear and despair took hold in Kalyska’s heart. She didn’t feel safe; she wasn’t safe.
Then Kalyska’s brother visited. Jobless, he needed a place to stay while he looked for opportunities. Kalyska graciously let him stay at her home. Eventually, he found a job, but it was an international posting, and he needed money to get there. So Kalyska loaned him most of her savings on his promise he would send the money back once he started his job. But no money came; the brother stopped all contact; Kalyska had virtually nothing left for her children.
An Opportunity for Hope, Peace
Not long after her brother absconded with her money, Kalyska was out at her local market. There, she happened to meet a lady named Peleria. A conversation ensued, during which the stressed mother shared all the horrible things she had recently endured. It was all too much—first her husband’s betrayal, then the predators’ threats and finally her brother’s thievery.
Peleria listened to Kalyska bare her heart with patience and compassion. As the talk progressed, Kalyska invited Peleria to her home the next day; they could continue talking then.
At Kalyska’s home, Peleria shared with Kalyska about her sister, Idalis, who happened to be a Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary. Idalis ran a small program teaching women—specifically, single mothers and widows—how to sew, and Kalyska could help Idalis teach and earn a regular income. An opportunity to provide for her children? Kalyska took it.
When Kalyska began working at Idalis’ home, the sisters shared of God’s love. They shared of the comfort He brings to the helpless and the aid He brings to the needy. They also invited Kalyska to the weekly prayer meetings held at Idalis’ home.
When Kalyska sat with her children in the meeting, a feeling washed over her that she hadn’t felt in a long time—peace. And, oddly enough, joy. She wanted more.
The peace she felt at that first meeting is now a permanent staple in Kalyska’s home. After embracing God’s love, Kalyska began attending the local church and became a frequent visitor at Idalis’ home every week for prayer. Instead of living in constant fear and insecurity, Kalyska had found safety and love in the Lord through Peleria and Idalis. Kalyska didn’t need to bear her burdens alone anymore—she had help.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia World stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about the GFA World national missionary workers who carry a burning desire for people to know the love of God. Through their prayers, dedication and sacrificial love, thousands of men and women have found new life in Christ.
Learn more about GFA World programs to bring value, hope and love to women and their families, and break the cycle of poverty by helping through Vocational Training, Sewing Machines and Literacy Training.
WILLS POINT, TX – KP Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia (GFA World), which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, and Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide — reflects on the missionary zeal and sacrifice of Doubting Thomas and how God interweaved his story to South Asia and Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
Doubt.
As believers, it’s not something we want to dwell on.
But we’ve all been there. Myself included.
July 3 is St. Thomas’s Day, commemorating Thomas the Apostle, the disciple who famously doubted that Jesus had risen from the dead.
For centuries, he’s been known as “Doubting Thomas.” But Thomas was actually the first disciple to declare to the risen Christ: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28, NIV).
Here’s where the story of St. Thomas gives me goosebumps. In AD 52, about 20 years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, Thomas journeyed 3,000 miles to India, where he planted seven churches in the South.
One of those churches was in the village of Niranam — one of the 600,000 villages throughout India today. Those first churches were among the earliest expressions of pure, untainted Christianity anywhere in the world. In Niranam, there’s a stone with an ancient Ethiopian script memorializing the spot where St. Thomas established the first church in India.
Why does that give me goosebumps?
Niranam is the village where I was born, 72 years ago.
Of all the villages in India, St. Thomas came to mine! If St. Thomas had not come, had not brought the gospel, and had not established a church in my home village — 3,000 miles from Jerusalem — would I have come to faith in Christ? Would God have planted in my heart the seed that gave birth to Gospel for Asia (GFA World), now one of the largest mission organizations on earth? And would untold millions have had the opportunity to experience the love of Christ as a result?
St. Thomas’s Day — July 3 — also happens to be the anniversary date of the founding of Gospel for Asia (GFA World). Because St. Thomas was obedient to travel all the way to India, the gospel came to the subcontinent, and — nearly 2,000 years later — Gospel for Asia (GFA World) was launched on St. Thomas’s Day in 1979.
Coincidence? I highly doubt it!
I don’t know for sure if God arranged that on purpose. But I believe He did!
We owe much to the courage and faith of St. Thomas, who — according to tradition — was martyred in India after bringing the gospel to my home village. I’m amazed the Holy Trinity — looking down through the centuries — allowed the missionary story of Doubting Thomas to intersect with my own.
Over the years, God has trained me to depend on His often-unseen hand in my life. Like all of us, I’ve had my share of doubts and discouragement. Like Doubting Thomas, I’ve wanted to see “the proof” before I’ve taken the next step of faith. But, looking back on my life, God has always been patient with me — and, even in my own frailty of faith, He’s never let me down.
In my most despairing moments, the victory of the cross of Christ swept away the fear and discouragement as I focused on the One who gave up everything for me — me, K.P. Yohannan, a skinny boy from one of India’s obscure villages.
Feeling Unworthy?
When he arrived in my home village, I wonder if St. Thomas felt the same as me — unworthy, inadequate for the task God called him to? Perhaps you feel that way sometimes, too?
As I reflect this month on the missionary zeal and sacrifice of Doubting Thomas — and the incredible way God interwove his destiny with mine — I’m called back to the pure, untainted, mission-driven faith of those earliest churches the Apostle planted in India nearly two millennia ago.
Centuries later, GFA World’s workers share the same holy, apostolic ministry — sacrificing their personal comfort to share Christ’s love with the untold millions, the poor, the forgotten, the outcasts, the widows, and those disfigured by leprosy.
One of my biggest regrets is that I wish I’d risked more for Jesus in my life. If I could do it over again, I’d take more risks for the gospel. I’d give more. I’d sacrifice more. I’d strive to be more like St. Thomas.
Perhaps God is placing something radical on your heart that He wants you to do for him. Maybe it seems “too risky.” Perhaps there’s that niggling doubt in your mind: “What if I take the plunge — and fail?”
Could I humbly offer you some advice?
Follow the example of St. Thomas. Cast aside your doubt. Believe that God keeps his promises. Take a risk for the gospel. Live 100 percent for Jesus!
About KP Yohannan
KP Yohannan, founder and director GFA World (Gospel for Asia) and Metropolitan of Believers Eastern Church, has written more than 250 books, including Revolution in World Missions, an international bestseller with more than four million copies in print. He and his wife, Gisela, have two grown children, Daniel and Sarah, who both serve the Lord with their families.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report on the unstoppable compassion force of national missionary workers.
Compassion Sweeps ‘Forgotten Islands’
In what are known as the “forgotten islands” of South Asia, remote outposts dotted along the shoreline of the Indian Ocean, villagers still use oxen as a mode of transportation and wash themselves, their dirty clothes and their dishes in the same stagnant ponds they drink from.
Ritesh and his national missionaries are constantly on the move to show the love of Jesus to the “forgotten islands” in South Asia, to which they sail on boats, walking several miles a day, then riding on bicycles.
No clean water. No schools. No medical clinics. Life seems hopeless—and improvement seems impossible—for many of the “forgotten” people of these islands. But a team of young GFA World national workers was changing all that. Traveling on rickety boats from island to island, these committed young workers brought hope and good news to islanders on the brink of giving up.
“It is not we who have been doing ministry, but it is God who has been doing ministry through us,” said group leader Taj, whose team earned the trust of hundreds of villagers as they prayed for the sick and showed these “hidden” people the love of God.
Their hands-on compassion and care has built strong bonds.
“You are my son,” one elderly widow told a member of the team. “You are my mother,” the young missionary replied.
When Gospel for Asia (GFA World) launched its child sponsorship program on several of the islands, the impact on children who’d never before had the chance to go to school before was staggering, resulting in a new birth of hope and purpose.
But Taj and his team weren’t done yet. “I began to pray that we may have enough resources of water,” Taj said.
Jesus Wells meet practical needs in communities for safe, clean drinking water, and in doing so, convey the love Jesus has for the people in these villages.
The answer to his prayers came: Teams drilled new Jesus Wells, bringing clean water for the first time to thousands of islanders who had only tasted water from filthy ponds, which were contaminated and often caused children to fall sick and even die.
In just two years, the commitment and perseverance of Taj and his team brought new hope and good news to dozens of islands, showering the love of God on everyone they met—including the boat drivers who ferried them from place to place.
Such perseverance is a hallmark of faith-filled national workers who have a deep interest in the well-being and health of their fellow countrymen, propelling them to great lengths to share the wholeness and inner peace they’ve discovered themselves.
As a child, Pastor Marty often dug through garbage to fill his empty stomach. Now he is living in the same slum he grew up in, showing the love of Jesus by meeting practical needs of people who are going through the same struggles he went through.
A Native of the Slums Brings Hope
Marty, an indigenous pastor, has dedicated many years to transforming life for the children in the sprawling South Asia slum he was born in. He recalls digging through the garbage as a boy, desperate to find scraps to relieve his hunger. When his alcoholic father died, Marty, who was still only a boy, became his family’s provider.
Every morning Pastor Marty goes on a neighborhood prayer walk, interacting with residents, praying over the community (shown above) and asking for help in showing the love of Jesus in practical ways. It is only through the power of prayer and tangible help that these communities in South Asia can be transformed.
Having experienced the pain, struggles and addictions that plague children every day in the slums, Marty’s eyes tear up as he describes his heartache for children wallowing in extreme poverty, sifting through the trash without hope—like he once did. That’s why he and his wife, Prina, are so passionate about serving the slum dwellers.
“Most of these children’s parents are my friends. We went to school together,” Marty said. “But most of them dropped out. … They started indulging [in] wrong things. … Some of them are even dead. So I started thinking about their children. Why [don’t] we do something for their children?”
Every morning, Marty goes on a neighborhood “prayer walk.” He prays for each individual by name, and the people in the slum—who embrace him as one of their own—recognize there’s something different about him, something almost heavenly.
“[He] is a great example for us,” says one of his neighbors. “He does what Jesus would have done. Helping the poor and needy and also loving people … He is always willing to help people. … He knows the situation… He understands better than anyone else.”
After serving his neighbors in the slum for 15 years, Marty’s perseverance has turned gray skies into blue. He’s launched two child sponsorship initiatives, turning others’ despair into hope and his own tears into joy.
“Ever since my childhood, the pain and difficult situations and poverty—all those things,” Marty says, “when I look back, [they] were … to make me strong and to trust and [have] faith in [God].”
“Pastor Marty … grew up in [this slum] and now is back serving with his family.” says GFA World’s Yohannan. “Serving here is not easy. … Pastor Marty and many other [national workers] are faithfully serving in the slums.”
Across Asia, thousands upon thousands of national missionaries toil and labor every day, trekking miles on foot—often barefoot in extreme heat or cold—to bring hope and good news to their own people who struggle to see any purpose in their lives or reason to go on living.
With a heavy-duty bicycle like this one, two women missionaries can visit many more ladies than they could on foot, travelling from one village to another, meeting practical needs for personal help, hope and encouragement.
Inspired by Jesus’ love for the poor, these workers press on. Even in the face of hunger, disease, dangerous journeys and other hardships, they refuse to give up.
To reach the remotest villages that are too far to reach by walking, national workers turn to pedal power.
In 2020, amidst the pandemic, hundreds of trained workers on bicycles—a compassion crew on wheels—ventured to remote villages across Asia. Working in conjunction with local authorities within pandemic restrictions, with the heart of Christ they provided help for people in desperate need.
Before the pandemic took hold, bicycles were already helping workers to make the most of their time. Rainer saw how he could help even more people, and he prayed for two years for a bicycle so he could encourage and help a cluster of villages nine miles from his home. Months passed with no sign of a bicycle, but Rainer refused to give up hope. Eventually, he got news that he would receive a bicycle, which was provided through generous donations of people in the West. Rainer cried tears of joy. Today, he rides to 10 villages too far away to visit on foot. His bicycle has even become the local “ambulance,” transporting sick villagers to the nearest clinic. In short, Rainer and his bicycle have been a blessing beyond all expectations.
Because of a bicycle Gospel for Asia (GFA) national worker Rainer has been able to travel to various communities and their churches to show the love of Christ by encouraging the believers, meeting practical needs within the villages for food, clean drinking water and health care, and to support other national workers present in those neighborhoods.
National & Non-National: A Beautiful Partnership
Rainer’s story is a wonderful example of how missions-minded people all around the world can link their lives with the lives of national workers on the frontlines, bringing hope into places they could never go. By supporting and sponsoring a national missionary—perhaps by purchasing a bicycle for them, providing monthly financial support, or committing to pray for them—a beautiful partnership is formed, blessing everyone involved.
The unstoppable, never-give-up attitude of national workers like Rainer is a soul-searching challenge to all who desire to bring hope and love to their neighbors in their own communities, wherever they live—a challenge presented in Yohannan’s new book, aptly titled Never Give Up.
“A day will come when all your family, friends, responsibilities, possessions, degrees, popularity, all of it will be gone,” Yohannan writes. “It’s just going to be you and Christ and nothing else. Let the decisions you make today be ones that will reflect well in the light of that moment.”
“Let me ask you, when was the last time you actively went out of your way to show the love of Christ to someone, and then to talk to them about His love for them?”
“Do you sense a growing ache for those who do not know the love of Christ?”
“Do you feel a deeper burden to care for the suffering and needy… widows and orphans as He did?”
“The choice not to give up is mine. It is also yours.”
As we ponder how to personally convey God’s love in word and deed to those within our spheres of influence, we can also partner with a national missionary who is dedicated to being an unstoppable force for compassion in areas of the world we could never reach on our own. Our prayers and financial support of their commitment to bring practical help and hope to people desperately in need is one way we can never give up in the effort to share good news to a world in need of Christ’s love.
If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to help national workers show Jesus’ love by meeting practical needs, then make a generous one time or monthly gift to support a national missionary in Asia or Africa.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia on the Lord’s work in 2020 through GFA and the partnerships worldwide while following Him in His work in 16 nations, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report on the unstoppable compassion force of national missionary workers.
These Sisters of Compassion are praying for this poor widow who lost her husband to a tiger attack. They often find practical ways to assist people who are desperate for help, hope and encouragement, showing the love of Christ throughout the process.
Looking ‘Inside’ for Lasting Solutions
With more than 450,000 copies in print, When Helping Hurts is a paradigm-forming contemporary classic on the subject of poverty alleviation. Photo by Moody Publishers
Instead of looking to the West, many humanitarian and missions groups are looking “inside,” turning their attention to the vast pool of dedicated and talented workers within the nations in which they serve. They’re convinced that national workers are the key to lasting transformation.
“God has blessed many of these indigenous workers with amazing talents and strong passions,” they write. “They often minister long term in environments that would be a deep challenge for even the most impassioned outsider. Furthermore, these indigenous workers’ understanding of local cultures and languages makes them far more effective than the outsiders could typically be, either in the short or long term.”
“Moreover, these indigenous workers usually do this work at salaries that are far below mainstream North American standards,” they said. Corbett and Fikkert continue to discuss how one highly respected organization equips and manages national workers across Africa at a total annual cost of $1,540—a total that, according to the authors, includes the worker’s salary, bicycle, backpack, shirt and bedroll.
These are facts that the Church in the West needs to accept, they say: “The North American Church needs to more deeply appreciate the fact that Christians at home and abroad are ministering within their own nations, people groups, and communities at a large and growing rate, particularly in the [developing world]”.
The ‘T’ Word: ‘Transforming’ Communities
Often the area church leaders visit their churches in Nepal to encourage and teach the believers and assist them with practical ways to show the love of Jesus to their communities, like providing health care, clean water, food or medical assistance.
“Transformation” is a buzzword widely used in humanitarian, community development and missions circles, and it means different things to different people. Generally, it refers to a rebirth of a community, a revival of health, wellness, vitality, prosperity and hope. For faith-based organizations, everything is wrapped in God’s love. It’s the goal of all workers who follow Jesus—foreign and native—to bring transformation.
But what does transformation really look like?
Global CHE Network builds what it calls “transformational” movements within thousands of villages and communities across more than 130 countries by equipping and training national workers to spread health, good news and the love of God.
The organization tells the following story. In a small town in the Philippines, the jail sits empty, and the local attorney had to relocate because he didn’t have any clients to defend. The streets are spotless with barely a scrap of litter in sight, and the town sign reads: “Welcome to Bingawan, a Christian Community.”
It wasn’t always like this in Bingawan. The town used to have its share of trouble, crime and vice. But when the local people—impacted by Christ’s love and a revival of hope—decided to make changes in their own lives, the entire town underwent a profound transformation. Gambling joints closed, crime plummeted and the guards at the local jail found themselves staring at empty cells, according to Global CHE workers.
This Asian missionary’s goal is to show the love of Christ with every family in his community, by meeting practical needs each person has for help, hope and encouragement.
Other humanitarian agencies also tap into the strengths and connectivity of national workers, putting already-established local networks into action in the pursuit of lasting transformation.
Care Groups are formed with 10-15 community members who build trust, share information, support one another, and then pass on what they’ve learned to others in their village with the end goal of helping their entire community. This approach has reached over 1.4 billion homes in 28 countries bringing awareness, health, and open doors for the hope of Christ. Photo by World Relief
One inspired approach, known as the Care Group Model, has revolutionized the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of impoverished villagers in Asia and Africa.
Launched by World Relief, the Care Group Model tackles community problems at the grassroots level and operates in the heart of the community by training groups of local volunteers to confront the most serious health threats.
These volunteers, which are nearly all women, each share their newfound knowledge with 10–15 of their neighbors, spreading lifesaving know-how in the most effective way: mother to mother.
In one area, surveys revealed Care Groups:
Reduced the number of malnourished children by 45 percent.
Improved access to trained birth attendants, saving lives.
Increased the number of household latrines.
Significantly expanded the use of bed nets to prevent malaria.
The proven impact of the Care Group model, which is sustained and fully operated by national workers, is phenomenal. Across regions containing hundreds of villages, the local volunteers achieve “saturation coverage,” meaning every household is reached.
Thoeun, a local health educator in Cambodia, says if a child fell sick, villagers often suspected supernatural causes and looked to supernatural remedies. Growing up in the culture, Thoeun understands the way the villagers think. But the Care Group introduced her to a new way of thinking about health—and showed her the love of God. The combination of education, care and good news changed her life, she says, and since then she’s encouraged hundreds of others.
“The local people wonder why we’re so positive and friendly. … They ask us why,” Thoeun says, explaining it opens the door to tell them about God’s love.
While different faith-based and humanitarian groups have made a big impact on communities by recognizing the strengths, commitment and drive of local workers, perhaps no agency has done more than Gospel for Asia (GFA World). Its national missionaries have transformed lives in more than 12,000 parishes across Asia, in nations such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
When GFA World’s K.P. Yohannan launched his best-selling book Revolution in World Missions in the mid-1980s, its groundbreaking message sent shockwaves through churches, missions agencies and humanitarian organizations that were used to operating according to the traditional norms of Western missions endeavors.
From the villages of India to the shores of North America missionary statesman KP Yohannan’s passion is contagious!
Yohannan’s vision helped turn the traditional Western “missions sending model” upside down, instead advocating for people in the West to support and train national workers already in place. Yohannan claimed local workers were better suited to do the work of transforming communities across Asia. They already lived at the same level as the local people: working alongside them, living among them in the villages and slums, dressing the same, speaking the same language, eating the same food, drinking from the same well.
Jager is one such worker. Trained and supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Jager ventured to villages in a difficult area of South Asia, determined to show people the love of God. Jager and his wife lived in a one-room mud house, like the local people, and cooked their food on an open fire.
National workers, Yohannan reasoned, understood the local culture and customs, were more easily accepted and could go where outsiders were not able or permitted to travel.
In effect, Yohannan’s dream is to see thousands of community-transforming national workers across Africa and Asia, equipped with the training and resources to break extreme poverty and offer hope to those in despair, all in the name of Christ.
Many national workers live in one room homes like this one which can double up as a location for fellowship and thanksgiving where a local pastor can encourage the villagers in the Lord.
“Filled to overflowing with the love of God, these national workers are passionate to share that love with everyone they meet,” Yohannan said. “Ultimately, the only true lasting transformation can happen through Christ who brings hope for this life and the life to come.” Yohannan continues, “While we must care for the hungry and suffering, we must not forget to share the authentic message of redemption through Christ. The holy Scriptures tell us in Mark 8:36 ‘What shall it profit a man if gains the whole world and loses his soul.’”.
A criticism sometimes leveled at national workers in developing nations is that they lack quality, formal training. The inference is they’re not up to “Western standards” of education and knowledge. But groups like Gospel for Asia (GFA World) don’t expect national workers to operate on passion and enthusiasm alone. Each worker undergoes extensive, in-depth training and preparation for their role of service.
Following a three-year period of intense training, these courageous national missionaries set off into “uncharted territory” where often no missions or humanitarian agency has gone before, bringing clean drinking water through “Jesus Wells” to the remotest villages, launching child sponsorship programs for children who never dreamed they’d be able to go to school, and fighting poverty with vocational training, sewing machines and fishing nets.
Missionary Pastor Ravid shares his compelling story of how he continued to show God’s love and meet practical needs within his community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to help national workers show Jesus’ love by meeting practical needs, then make a generous one time or monthly gift to support a national missionary in Asia or Africa.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia on the Lord’s work in 2020 through GFA and the partnerships worldwide while following Him in His work in 16 nations, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to assist the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report on the unstoppable compassion force of national missionary workers.
To help a village on top of a Himalayan mountain, this Gospel for Asia (GFA) national worker rode a bus for hours, then hiked uphill for three hours more, to show the love of Jesus by meeting their practical needs.
A young Asian woman wearing a white robe and head covering cradles an elderly woman’s feet that are horribly deformed by leprosy and gently washes them in a bowl of water.
The old woman can scarcely believe someone is touching her, caring for her, loving her. Most people would recoil from this woman and avoid the leprosy colony where she lives. The colony is a place of disease, disfigurement and disability. Its residents are used to being treated as outcasts by others and viewed as cursed. They are used to their deformed bodies being seen as objects of ugliness.
Geeta (pictured), a Sister of Compassion, works in a leprosy colony where 30 families live. Many of the residents are unable to work, so the Sisters visit regularly to encourage them, clean their wounds, cut their hair and trim their nails, give them baths, wash their clothes, clean their houses and cook for those who are unable to do so themselves.
But to the young woman dressed in white, these feet are beautiful.
She and her companions, known as Sisters of Compassion, come here regularly to clean wounds, cut hair and trim nails. They see beauty amid the truncated limbs and deeply scarred bodies that few are willing to look upon, let alone touch.
As locals and neighbors, the Sisters fully understand the culture and customs into which they pour their compassion. They appreciate and respect the historical and religious traditions, speak the local language and know the nuances of the dialect. And they’re specially trained in leprosy wound care and family counseling.
To all this, they add the unspoken language of Christ’s love.
“We do all this because of the love of God,” says Geeta, one of the Sisters trained to care for people with leprosy.
No one else could have the impact these women are having on their own people, often their own neighbors. Their roots of love go deep, and their branches of compassion reach into places where no one else goes.
While their long white robes, known as saris, might appear like unusual attire to Western eyes, the significance in South Asia is huge. The Sisters’ simple handspun uniform mirrors the traditional sari once worn by the lowliest of servants in Asia. It says to the old woman whose body has been disfigured with leprosy: “I am here to serve you. I see your worth.”
People like Mungeli Das (above) receive help from the Sisters of Compassion. Says Geeta: “If we didn’t help them, no one would have served them or taken care of them … they would die without any hope. Whether it’s a literacy class or cleaning their wounds, we do all of this because of the love of God.”
Mungeli Das, who contracted leprosy as a little girl more than 50 years ago, was treated for five years, then cured. Because of the deformity left by the disease, the leprosy colony has been her home for decades. She clings to the help and hope that the Sisters of Compassion bring her. The Sisters follow the example of Jesus who, according to the gospels, touched and healed those, like Mungeli, with leprosy.
“Before the Sisters came, there was no one to help trim our hair, cut our nails or help us clean our houses and encourage us,” Mungeli says. “The Sisters help us by cleaning our wounds, and they make us happy and encouraged [us] all the time.”
In places where outsiders, foreigners and foreign mission workers are prohibited or restricted, national workers and national missionaries have much more opportunity to serve. These women and men are welcomed and considered trustworthy counselors and friends of the community.
Outsiders may come and go. But national missionaries, such as GFA World’s Sisters of Compassion, stand the test of time.
“Each woman who serves as a Sister of Compassion is full of sacrificial love, just like Jesus,” explains Gospel for Asia (GFA World). “They do the most unglamorous things, such as bathing someone … or feeding people who’ve been affected by leprosy [and] no longer have any fingers [to] feed themselves.”
Teaching practical skills to help struggling women make a living is just one of the many things Sisters of Compassion do as they serve their communities. In all they do, these national missionaries demonstrate the love of Jesus for the poor and impoverished.
Unsung Heroes of the Frontline
CT Studd was a foreign missionary to China, India, Sudan and the Congo who said: “Nothing in this world would last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come.”
While Western workers often venture to far-flung places and do amazing things, it’s the unsung heroes of the frontline—the local, indigenous people—who consistently make the greatest impact and bring true transformation to their own communities.
In the past, missions trailblazers like William Carey from England in the 1700s, and C.T. Studd in the late 1850s and early 1900s, paved the way for swarms of foreign missionaries and humanitarian workers, mostly from Western countries.
But the tide has changed.
National workers are the “new pioneers” of the 21st century, and they’re proving to be an unstoppable compassion force.
Beauty of Local Mission Workers
On a worldwide scale, according to the Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC), there were 430,000 foreign mission workers overseas in 2021, compared with 13.2 million national workers (local citizens).
John Allen Chau was an American missionary killed by the Sentinelese, a self-isolated people, after illegally travelling to North Sentinel Island in an effort to preach to them.
That means national mission workers—those serving within their own culture and nation—now outnumber foreign workers by more than 30 to 1.
The CSGC predicts the number of national mission workers globally will explode to 17 million by 2050, while the number of foreign workers will increase to 600,000.
To be sure, Western Christians are still drawn to overseas missions in large numbers. But the exporting of expatriates to distant foreign fields can come at a high cost, potentially hindering progress.
In extreme cases, the quest of well-meaning foreigners with a zeal to exercise their faith and do good can end in tragedy, as in the headline-making case of a U.S. mission worker in 2018.
While attempting to make contact with the “unreached” indigenous people of North Sentinel Island, an isolated island in the Bay of Bengal, it’s believed David Allen Chau was speared to death. As of the date this article was published, his body had not been recovered.
Chau’s death was tragic and highlights the very real dangers facing non-nationals in remote areas. But it’s not only the safety of foreigners that’s an issue. It’s also the cost in dollars of sending Western workers and keeping them in their overseas assignment.
Counting the Cost of Foreign Workers vs National Workers
Missions Fest International, an annual global missions conference, spotlighted the financial cost of “sending” a Western mission worker compared with the cost of supporting a national worker in a provocative article on its website titled “Should We Stop Sending Missionaries?”
Author Julian Lukins, pictured in Kampala, Uganda, with archdeacon Stephen Kaziro of the Church of Uganda who oversees dozens of village churches, including several that also act as local health clinics in the rural Namutumba district.
While stating there’s still a great need and important role for foreign workers in many parts of the world, the article points out it typically costs more than $50,000 a year to support a Western family in a developing nation such as Africa and Asia—an annual sum that could help support more than 50 national workers, the article says. For example, based on my personal experience in Uganda, an American family of four living in Africa might pay $1,000 a month for expat health insurance coverage that includes emergency medical evacuation. Because of security issues, they might have to live in a secure compound at high rent and pay hundreds of dollars every month for guards 24/7. Legal paperwork and visas can cost hundreds, even thousands, of dollars every year.
Run the numbers and it’s perhaps no surprise, then, that national workers—willing and able to live far simpler and free of immigration restrictions—are increasingly seen as a wise investment.
More than 140 organizations “are now built on the premise of gathering and sending money [to support national workers], not people,” the article says.
In a village where not one person could read or write, this missionary is showing the love of God by teaching children how to read.
While short-term overseas missions trips still play a huge role in the West, the merit and value of supporting local, native workers over the long haul has become widely embraced as the most effective approach in the quest for the “holy grail” of missions: to bring long-term, total transformation to impoverished communities.
Certainly, over the past couple of decades, it’s become a trend in Western nations for people, especially young people in their 20s, to travel to places in Africa, Asia or South America to volunteer in orphanages, children’s homes and the like.
Photos of young Westerners cuddling babies and surrounded by excited children in Africa and Asia have flooded social media and reinforced the so-called “white savior” label, often unfairly attached to compassionate individuals from the U.S., Canada, U.K. and other wealthy countries who simply want to make a difference in the world.
But now, it seems, this missions phenomenon—undoubtedly impacted further by COVID-19 travel restrictions—could be in decline.
An article in The Atlantic put it like this: “Among the new generation of Western Christian missionaries, the so-called ‘white savior complex’—a term for the mentality of relatively rich Westerners who set off to ‘save’ people of color in poorer countries but sometimes do more harm than good—is slowly fading.”
If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to help national workers show Jesus’ love by meeting practical needs, then make a generous one time or monthly gift to support a national missionary in Asia or Africa.
GFA World (Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.
Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia on the Lord’s work in 2020 through GFA and the partnerships worldwide while following Him in His work in 16 nations, including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal.
WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, reveals in a new report: National missionaries — those working in their own countries — are the “new pioneers” of the 21st century, and they’re proving to be an “unstoppable compassion force,” a new report reveals.“More and more, local missionaries are driving ministry projects in their own countries and transforming their own communities,” said K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan), founder of global mission organization Gospel for Asia (GFA World).According to GFA World’s new report, National Workers: Unstoppable Compassion Force, (www.gfa.org/press/workers) there’s a natural progression toward “indigenous” workers who understand their own culture, language, and neighbors far better than foreign missionaries.
In 2021, there were 430,000 foreign “expat” mission workers overseas, compared with 13.2 million national missionaries serving on their home soil, the report says.
National workers also serve in their own countries at far less expense — and with fewer restrictions — than expat Western workers who often incur costs associated with emergency medical insurance, security, and immigration, as well as safety restrictions on movement, says Gospel for Asia (GFA World).
It can cost between $50,000-$120,000 a year to support an American family in a developing nation — an annual sum that could help support 50 national workers.
“National workers live at the same level as the local people,” Yohannan said, “working alongside them, living among them in the villages and slums, dressing the same, speaking the same language, eating the same food, drinking from the same well.”
Today, 80% of the world’s countries are either completely closed or severely restricted to foreigners doing any form of religious work — Afghanistan being one example.
GFA World’s national workers run projects in more than 12,000 parishes — or local churches — across Asia. And the organization is expanding into Africa as well.
In South Asia, mission worker Rainer prayed for two years for a bicycle so he could encourage and help a cluster of villages nine miles from his home. Now his bicycle has become the local “ambulance,” transporting sick villagers to the nearest clinic.
GFA World’s Sisters of Compassion — teams of specialized women missionaries who serve in leprosy colonies — are uniquely trained in care and counseling. Geeta and her local co-workers clean the wounds of leprosy patients and wash their deformed feet.
“We do all this because of the love of God,” Geeta said.
About Gospel for Asia – now GFA World
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national missionaries bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. GFA World has launched programs in Africa, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://gfanews.org/news/.
Learn more about GFA World Compassion Services – comprised of four areas of ministry: slum ministry, leprosy ministry, medical ministry and disaster relief. Through these ministries, GFA missionary workers are relieving the burdened, rescuing the endangered and revealing God’s compassion to the people of Asia.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Sadhri, a widow, the social discrimination, the emptiness and grief, and the heaven sent renewed life through Gospel for Asia Workers.
The day 23-year-old Sadhri buried her husband, she was blindsided by the news that her father-in-law was also dead. In a culture where a woman’s social standing is contingent on the men of the family, Sadhri, unmoored from the security of a husband and his father, feared the future that lay before her and her baby girl.
Before the dual tragedy, Sadhri’s family—her husband, their baby and Sadhri’s father-in-law—lived and worked at a tea garden in an area renowned as the largest producer of tea globally.
The days were long as Sadhri waded waist-deep through a sea of green, nimble fingers gliding over plant tops, plucking young leaves and buds and dropping them into the basket slung from her head. The chatter of other women floated over Sadhri, who preferred to keep her thoughts to herself.
Death Haunts the Tea Garden
Before that fateful day, Sadhri’s father-in-law had become ill and visited a doctor. He retreated home with medication to recover.
While he was still ill, Sadhri’s husband developed a mild fever. Death came so quickly they didn’t even have time to see a doctor. Then her father-in-law succumbed to his illness a day after his son.
After losing her husband and father-in-law, Sadhri (not pictured) feared the abuse and hardships faced by many widows in her community. Her future and the future of her baby girl were now shrouded by a darkness that tormented the young widow.
Sadhri turned from her husband’s funeral pyre. Shocked and alone, she carried her little girl back to the empty house.
Neighbors visited Sadhri, concerned at the suddenness of her losses, and offered words of sympathy. A believer and his wife from a local Gospel for Asia (GFA) supported church offered comfort from God’s Word and invited her to church. The young widow, unmoved by the love and attention, seemed paralyzed by her loss.
Sitting in emptiness and grief, morbid thoughts swirled through Sadhri’s head. Would everyone blame her for her husband’s death? What about her father-in-law’s? How would she take care of her daughter by herself? What future was there now for this child being raised by a widow? The whirlpool of thoughts pulled her deeper and deeper into depression. She could not bring herself to share her burdens, so she bottled them up. The only thing tethering her to this life was caring for her baby girl.
“In many countries, a woman’s social status is inextricably linked to her husband’s, so that when her husband dies, a woman no longer has a place in society,”
The mental strain Sadhri bore is common in societies where cultural norms cast widows in the role of perpetrator, blaming them for their husband’s death, rather than the role of devastated survivor. Even though many countries have passed legislation to protect widows, centuries of tradition are notoriously difficult to uproot, crushing widows under their burden.
“In many countries, a woman’s social status is inextricably linked to her husband’s, so that when her husband dies, a woman no longer has a place in society,” explained the UN in their 2018 report on International Widows Day.
With the sudden death of the two men Sadhri depended upon, she spiraled into mental shock. Sadhri started to notice strange occurrences. Things in the house seemed to move on their own. Her 2-year-old daughter had nightmares of her father beckoning her to join him.
At times, Sadhri felt like her husband was in the room with them. Sometimes it would be her father-in-law. Were they coming back to haunt her? Did they blame her for their deaths?
The mental strain led to physical sickness. Sadhri could no longer stay in her home alone; she moved to her mother’s.
Companionship and income are two of the greatest needs of widows who are cast off by their families. Sadhri (not pictured) found both in Bela, a missionary who rented a room in Sadhri’s house on the tea plantation.
Two Needs, One Solution – a Widow and a Gospel for Asia Worker
Sadhri traveled to the tea gardens from her mother’s house for several months, shuddering each time she passed her empty home. It would be so much easier to live at the gardens, but she could not bring herself to live there alone.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Ekanpreet would sometimes see Sadhri at the tea gardens and share a word of encouragement. He prayed for Sadhri, seemingly weighed down by an invisible burden that absorbed all her energy just to carry.
One day, someone contacted Pastor Ekanpreet about a Gospel for Asia (GFA) woman missionary worker serving nearby looking for a room to rent. Could this be the Lord’s provision for the grieving widow? Maybe she could move back home if she didn’t have to be alone. The extra income would also be a huge help for Sadhri.
A New Kind of Family
Sadhri and her daughter moved back home, making room for their new housemate, Bela.
The two women fell into a daily routine, Sadhri leaving for the tea gardens while Bela went out to minister. In the evenings, they shared a meal and Bela opened her Bible for devotions.
Sadhri listened politely at first, but as the words began to pierce her heart, she leaned in with great intensity. In bed, the words stayed with her, calming her thoughts and filling her dreams. The house no longer seemed haunted and Sadhri’s grief began to ease.
Friendship deepened between the women and brought solace to Sadhri’s lonely heart.
Sadhri continued working in the gardens, quietly picking tea leaves, but now her mind was filled with encouragement and hope. A smile played at her mouth as she dwelt on the goodness of God and His mercy.
Gospel for Asia (GFA) supported workers (missionaries, pastors, Women’s Fellowship leaders and Sisters of Compassion) specifically reach out to abandoned widows, offering encouragement and care for their practical needs. Many widows end up joining local churches, where they experience love and belonging.
The words shared by Bela returned to her again and again: God is our Father, Savior and best friend; nothing is impossible in Jesus Christ; the only thing is to believe in Him completely. The words washed over Sadhri and revived her hope in the future.
Life Renewed
Pastor Ekanpreet visited the women and rejoiced in their close bond. He prayed for the women and taught them from God’s Word. Sadhri started attending Pastor Ekanpreet’s church and found a community eager to embrace her with love.
Many a widow throughout Asia have found a new family in Gospel for Asia (GFA) supported churches – Pastors, national workers, women missionaries and Women’s Fellowships reach out to these vulnerable women, knowing the discrimination and poverty that threaten them. Gospel for Asia (GFA) supported workers have many tools to combat the struggles common to widows, tools such as vocational training to replace the income lost by their husband’s death, gifts of clothing and household essentials that may have been confiscated by relatives, and income producing gifts such as goats and pigs.
Pastors, missionaries and local believers also embrace widows who have been cast out of their families, offering love and connection to women who have lost more than just financial security.
They are ambassadors of God’s love and bridges into His family.
Sadhri no longer feels alone in the world. She is strengthened to live a full life and has regained hope for her daughter’s future. The threat of poverty has been dismantled, and the curse of widowhood has retreated in the face of a loving community. Sadhri has picked up the pieces of her life and sees a way forward for her and her daughter.
Like the woman pictured here, Sadhri could smile again after she found a new hope in Jesus. Life no longer seemed uncertain and scary. She knows God will take care of her and her daughter.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are GFA stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Sundar, blind at birth, obscure and impoverished, the sufferings his family experienced, and the calling and life of a Gospel for Asia Missionary in the grace and love of God.
O
ne chilly Tuesday, a blind baby boy was born into an impoverished, illiterate family in a remote village tucked into the foothills of the Himalayas. The parents loved their little boy and named him Sundar.
The small family had love, but little else. Debalal, Sundar’s father, had partial paralysis but was still able to work as a day laborer collecting wood to sell. To help make ends meet, Sundar’s mother also worked. Much of their income went to medical treatments for Sundar, but the little boy’s world remained shrouded in darkness.
Sundar grew up in this small mud-wall hut with no expectations but to live and die in obscurity.
Neighbors looked on Sundar’s family with dismay, counting the family’s poverty, the father’s lameness and the son’s blindness as hardships too difficult to endure.
“Sundar will never receive sight. He is a burden for you,” they said. “Take him and throw him into the river instead of facing so many problems in life.”
“Take him and throw him into the river instead of facing so many problems in life.”
Debalal and his wife ignored the ill advice and continued to care for their son. But young Sundar began to believe what he had heard his neighbors say about him, especially when he saw his parents’ sorrow.
A little brother soon joined Sundar. The family of four eked out what life they could, faithfully worshiping their traditional deities.
Struggling through life, the family could not foresee the joy waiting just ahead.
7-year-old Sundar Experiences a Miracle, Family Transforms
One day, after Debalal spoke to Gospel for Asia (GFA) pastor Tuhinsurra, 7-year-old Sundar listened intently as his father told him about a Man who could make his eyes better. Excitement, fear and incredulity wrestled in the boy’s heart.
Desperate to provide his son with healing, Debalal brought his family to church. After each service, warm, gentle hands crowned Sundar’s head as Pastor Tuhinsurra asked a Man named Jesus to bring light to Sundar’s eyes.
Soon, God answered their prayers, and Sundar saw the face of his loving parents for the first time.
When the pastor of this church shared Jesus with Debalal, Sundar’s father, it brought an unknown happiness and healing to the entire family.
After this miracle, the entire family began worshiping Jesus at the local church. Sundar’s father shared the testimony of his son to their neighbors, who began asking him to pray for their needs. Four years later, God also healed Debalal from his lameness. He became a church deacon, and the poor, illiterate man once considered cursed became a pillar of godliness in the community.
Sundar’s family reveled in unfettered happiness. God had done so much for them. A newfound hope kindled in Debalal’s heart—a hope that his sons would surpass him in every way.
Father Martyred When Praying for Sick Man
Sundar’s father, Debalal
Since Pastor Tuhinsurra lived in another village and oversaw multiple congregations in surrounding towns, Debalal did a lot of the day-to-day work of answering calls for prayer and visiting believers for encouragement. Everyone knew they could call Debalal to help them and he would, often with his wife and sons accompanying him.
A local man, who was in immense pain due to disfiguring burns on his face, frequently called Sundar’s father to pray for him; it was the only time the man experienced relief.
One night, this man begged Debalal to come to his house to pray for him, even though he had already prayed for him twice that day. Reluctantly, Debalal climbed out of bed.
In the man’s little hut, shrouded by deep night, Sundar’s father knelt to pray. As Debalal closed his eyes, the disfigured man took out a knife and brought it down on the back of Debalal’s exposed neck.
News of Debalal’s death spread throughout the village, and old, familiar taunts swirled around Sundar’s mother and her sons: This family was cursed. Fear began to consume Sundar.
After Sundar’s father was killed while praying for a neighbor, their pastor sat with the family in their grief, offering comfort, counsel and practical help.
Pastor Tuhinsurra, who had worked closely with his father, sat with the family in their grief. The comfort he offered from God’s Word was the comfort he needed too.
As the community reeled in the wake of such violence, neighbors talked of sending Sundar away to work to support his family. How else would the family survive now?
But Pastor Tuhinsurra helped the family pick up the pieces of their lives, and he sensed the Lord had a different plan for Sundar.
“After I knew my father had gone to be with the Lord, there was uncertainty in front of me and I feared,” Sundar recalls. “Now who will take care of us? Who will I call father?”
Crossroads Leads to Spiritual Transformation
His father’s death was a turning point in Sundar’s life. Under the patient loving guidance of Gospel for Asia missionary Pastor Kanish, Sundar found peace in Christ.
Sundar’s pastor encouraged the young man to stay with his ministry leader, Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary pastor Kanish, while Sundar wrestled with his future.
Pastor Kanish and his wife welcomed Sundar into their home and showed him to his room, their eyes shimmering with compassion and concern. Their home was a refuge to help Sundar figure out what to do next and process the death of his father, free from community pressure and taunts.
Sundar’s days took on the structure of the household: mornings filled with family prayers, followed by breakfast and study; afternoons and evenings busy with ministry activities. Kanish guided Sundar, teaching him to trust the Lord.
Despite the miraculous healings in his family and years of listening to his father share God’s Word, Sundar had not yet decided for himself what he would do about the message of God’s love.
His father’s death jarred Sundar out of his indecision, setting a crossroads before him. He knew he must either walk away or put his faith in Jesus. It was time to decide.
“During that time, I did not understand anything, and I was so discouraged,” Sundar remembers.
In hindsight, he recognizes this as a turning point in his life: “Through this incident, my life was changed. There and then I believed in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord.”
Pastor Kanish, who teaches at the nearby Bible college, welcomed Sundar into his home as a son, caring for the fatherless young man. Kanish taught Sundar how to read and write and how to pray and seek the Lord. It was under Kanish’s roof that Sundar committed his life to the Lord.
The three months Sundar stayed with Kanish’s family were vital to his personal and spiritual foundation. Seeing Sundar’s lack of education, Pastor Kanish taught him how to read and write using the Bible. Sundar wrote out the first five books of the Bible and read aloud the book of Proverbs each day. As Sundar grew in his literacy skills, he also absorbed spiritual lessons. He was grateful to have a mentor to help him through the dark valley of his father’s death.
“Pastor Kanish really encouraged me from the Word of God and helped me pray,” Sundar says. “Because of his motivation and encouragement, I have been strong in the Lord and I am growing in the Lord.”
Now empowered by the Holy Spirit, Sundar was like a sponge, soaking up the everything he was taught. Pastor Kanish gave him more and more responsibilities as he saw Sundar rising to every challenge.
“This boy was very keen and very mature in understanding,” Pastor Kanish remembers. “We have our cottage meetings four days a week, so I used to take him … and encouraged him to lead the worship service. … He was very faithful.”
Sundar devoured the Bible during this time, letting the comforting words of God wash over his hurting heart. He found solace, love and purpose in the rich, living words.
Sundar began to focus his prayers on the future.
Called by God to Forgive His Father’s Murderer
God’s forgiveness continued to work in Sundar’s heart. As he thought about the call to extend to others the same forgiveness he had experienced, there was one face that rose from the mist of memory, a face that was scarred and contorted in pain, the face of the man who had delivered his father’s death blow. Sundar knew he had to forgive his father’s murderer.
Relinquishing his desire for vengeance, Sundar prayed for this man and felt a supernatural love dislodge his hate. In this one act of trading self-focused retaliation for others-focused transformation, Sundar took a huge leap in his spiritual journey.
“Please pray for the person, Kumar, who murdered my father,” Sundar urges while sharing his prayer requests with other believers. “Even though he is in jail, I pray that his heart will be changed. Please join with me in prayer that he may receive the Lord.”
As Sundar’s love for Kumar grew, it opened the door of his heart to love anyone. Kumar needed Jesus, just as Sundar had. So did thousands of others in villages scattered across his beloved country. God was calling Sundar to be a missionary, answering the cherished wish of his father’s heart.
Sundar enrolled in Bible college, putting his new literacy skills to work. He also developed a heart to share the Good News with people who did not yet know about Jesus.
Sundar spent the next three years in Bible college. He thought about his father often during this time, about his father’s sacrifice. His father had given everything to Jesus, including his very life.
“During [that time] I read Matthew 5:10: ‘Blessed is the man who is persecuted,’” Sundar recalls. “That greatly encouraged me.”
A passion to see lives transformed by Jesus grew in Sundar as he realized how many men, women, boys and girls had yet to hear about the Savior’s love. Visions of villages tucked into the ripples and folds of the Himalayan foothills, each a replica of his own hometown, deepened Sundar’s determination to serve the Lord as a missionary.
The idea that he, who was born blind, impoverished and obscure, could make a difference in people’s lives seemed incredible. But he would dedicate his life to that very end.
“There are so many people in the world, people are perishing … without Jesus,” Sundar says. “So, my vision is … to preach the [Good News] to those people who have never heard.”
Gospel for Asia Missionary Ministry Grows in Answer to Prayer
Sundar is able to travel to many different villages in the area he serves thanks to the bicycle he has been equipped with.
The area God called Sundar to work in has many villages dotting the hilly terrain, where rivers of melted snow cut gouges into the landscape before winding their way to the plains, where rural inhabitants cultivate the land. Millions of people live in these villages scattered across hundreds of miles.
After graduation, Sundar moved to one of these little villages, more than 100 miles west of his hometown, but in landscape, climate and culture, it could have been the town next door. He met people who looked and talked just like him. They ate the same food as him, and he understood the struggles of their lives.
There was no church in the village; his ministry started from scratch. The years at his father’s side, under Pastor Kanish’s mentorship and in Bible college had all prepared Sundar for this time. The Lord had called him; now it was time to get to work.
This area was ready to receive God’s Word, like a fertile field, tilled and waiting for seed to be planted.
In his first year, Sundar saw the Lord work in amazing ways. Fifteen people came to know the love of Christ because of Sundar’s faithful testimony and prayers, and a prayer fellowship started. Seeing this fruit, Sundar was confident the Lord would grow them into a thriving church.
Many other villages nearby also needed to hear the message of God’s love. Sundar prayed God would provide him a bicycle so he could visit more communities and expand his ministry. Within a year, God answered his prayers and the radius of Sundar’s influence stretched many more miles.
“I was really lacking a bicycle for my ministry and other works,” Sundar shares. “I was praying to God for a new bicycle, and God answered my prayers.”
Through the efforts of Sundar and the many other Gospel for Asia missionaries serving in the region, 42 new villages heard the Good News, thousands of tracts were distributed, and hundreds of people experienced Christ’s forgiveness in 2019.
Sundar continues to serve the Lord in the remote foothills of the Himalayas. He pedals to surrounding villages, making sure everyone knows about the Savior who died for them, and he is no longer alone in his work. Sundar is married and has a daughter; the family serves the Lord together. The memories of his father and his mentor inspire and encourage Sundar, spurring him on in ministry.
As Sundar is only a recent graduate, most of his ministry is still before him. But God promises that those who lose their lives for Him shall find life. The boy born blind, obscure and impoverished has found his calling and life in the grace and love of God.
God Calls Workers and Supporters
God is raising up men and women in nations where the greatest concentration of people who have not yet heard the Good News live, and He is calling them to display His love to their own people. These Gospel for Asia national missionary are able to minster in ways that many other cannot. They’ve struggled and lived through common hardships of people in their communities, such as poverty, discrimination and lack of opportunities. Yet they’ve seen God intervene in these struggles, often in miraculous ways, and have discovered alternative paths of joy and freedom. Like Sundar, they’re eager to share the hope they found in Christ with their neighbors.
We can empower their ministries through our prayers, through our giving and through our faith, becoming true partners in the work. No one can serve God alone. Every Gospel for Asia national missionary need brothers and sisters who will pray with them, rejoice with them and provide for them.
Sundar’s supporters will share in the fruit of his ministry.
There are many national missionaries in need of support. Become a partner in their ministries today, and see the fruit in eternity.
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are GFA stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Rasa, her depression, shame and rejection from her own family, and the deliverance that walked into her life, a Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary who shared Christ’s love.
Rasa stood in shame in front of her parents listening to the angry, disappointed words falling from their lips. How could she, their eldest daughter, engage in a secret romance with a village boy and bring disgrace to their family?
Rasa’s parents forbade her to ever leave the house alone again. She had lost their trust—and, it seemed, their love.
Locked Away
Rasa (pictured) lost her family’s approval when her secret relationship with a young man brought shame to them all. They began to hate and mistreat her, driving Rasa to seclusion and desperation.
Rasa’s home life had seemed good. Her family successfully farmed their land and lived a well-to-do lifestyle. She had completed 12 years of studies—something only one in three children accomplish in low- and middle-income countries —and enjoyed modern conveniences in her home, which many in her nation don’t have. But life became grim after her family discovered her undercover relationship. They continually scolded her, and her father even hit her.
Rasa’s parents took their daughter to a temple and performed a ceremony over her to try to break off her attraction to the young man. But Rasa’s young heart still longed for the boy. Hatred toward her built up within her family members, and Rasa withdrew into angry silence. Eventually, they locked her away in her room.
“I was left alone and did not get any love from anyone,” Rasa says.
Shame and rejection whirled within Rasa. One day, she attempted to end her life. Someone managed to save her, but Rasa did not want saving. She wanted relief. So later, she tried again—and was rescued again.
Rasa’s agony continued. Finally, she tried to commit suicide a third time, and again someone saved her. Her life was in shambles, and it seemed there would be no escape.
Hidden Daughter Meets a Friend
Then deliverance walked into Rasa’s house one day when Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary Imani visited Rasa’s family. Sister Imani greeted Rasa’s mother, Kalani, and because Imani was a woman, Kalani welcomed her into the home despite her husband being absent.
Women missionaries like Imani and this woman are able to relate to the personal struggles of the ladies in their communities and develop close friendships. Through the ministry of these women, many ladies and girls like Rasa are discovering how much God loves and values them.
When Imani inquired if everyone in the house was present to hear some important news about Jesus, Kalani replied that one daughter suffered a sickness and was alone in her room. Hearing this, Imani offered to pray for the girl’s healing. Kalani then revealed the sobering situation the family faced and explained why Rasa was confined to her room.
Imani spoke with Rasa’s mother and siblings for a long time and heard about all their problems. She realized the young daughter carried deep hurts and had many problems—she was desperate enough to attempt suicide three times—but Imani believed Jesus could work beautiful healing in Rasa’s life. Confident in Christ’s power, Imani extended a generous offer: If Rasa and her parents consented, Rasa could stay in Imani’s home for a time to receive counseling and guidance.
“Will you go with Sister Imani?” Kalani questioned her daughter, unknowingly speaking words that would forever change the course of Rasa’s life.
Rasa immediately agreed. She did not know what it might be like to live under the care of this new woman, but she wanted anything that would get her out of her current situation. Three days later, Imani returned, and after being granted full permission to counsel Rasa according to God’s wisdom, she brought her new charge home.
Relationship with GFA Missionary Produce Change of Heart
Ministering to the needs of girls and widows was nothing new to Imani. She had been serving in this village for 15 years as a Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary, speaking words of life and teaching women vocational skills such as sewing clothes and making kitchen utensils out of coconut shells. Imani and the troubled girl developed an especially close bond, however. Although Imani had never married or had children, she showed Rasa the love and kindness of a mother.
This woman, like Rasa, considered suicide as the only way out of her grief and pain. But hearing about God’s unconditional love, these women both found new life and unspeakable joy.
Rasa’s relationship with Imani brought hope to the girl’s life, and she gradually walked away from her past problems and decided to pursue a better life. She accompanied Imani in her ministry, meeting many people and even learning to sew clothes. Rasa also participated in daily times of prayer and scripture reading, and through them, she learned about the God whose love is unconditional. Slowly, she started a relationship with Jesus, and she found inner peace and comfort in Him.
At the end of one month, Rasa asked Christ to live in her heart. Thoughts of suicide no longer gripped her—she was free and spotless in Jesus, and shame had lost its hold on her. She was a new creation. Instead of hiding her past, she began sharing her story to testify to others of Christ’s life-changing power.
“Now, I have a loving mother and also a church family to take care of me,” Rasa says of her new friend Imani. “I thank the Lord Jesus for saving me.”
Family Reunion
Two months after Rasa went to live with Imani, she returned home to visit her family. Her parents greeted her with amazement. Their daughter was smiling. They could see love and joy in her countenance. How could this be?
Sister Imani explained to them how Jesus’ unfailing love had transformed Rasa and how her life now serves as a testimony to everyone.
Rasa’s parents wept. Their daughter who needed someone to rescue her from death three times now wore a hopeful, joyous expression; their girl who earlier had brought shame to their family was now a good example to others. Jesus had done amazing things in their daughter’s life.
Rasa’s parents wept. Their daughter who needed someone to rescue her from death three times now wore a hopeful, joyous expression.
Then they remembered how they had mistreated Rasa, and they felt deep remorse over their actions. That day, love within their family was restored.
Although Rasa reconciled with her family, she decided to continue living with Imani instead of moving back home. She wanted to keep learning about the God who received her when her family had rejected her—and help Imani bring others the hope that rescued her.
Send News of Acceptance, Unfailing Love
Imani showed Rasa a path to life in Jesus, and she helped Rasa understand God loved her when it seemed no one else did. Now, Rasa is in true fellowship with God and with her family, and she is helping Imani carry God’s message to others.
The message of God’s forgiveness and unfailing love is desperately needed around the world. According to the World Health Organization, there are as many as 16 million suicide attempts each year. Millions more don’t attempt suicide but are burdened by discontentment and grief. Each person on the brink of choosing death over life has unique situations and sorrows, but in Jesus, they can find acceptance and abundant life.
A Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionary brings life-saving news to people in desperate need of God’s endless love. Your partnership today will enable many more people to encounter that message!
You can help send a GFA missionary like Imani to people in Asia who are on the brink of hopelessness. Your gift of any amount will help bring news of God’s unconditional love and healing to those who need it most. Donate today and help point people to a path that leads to life!
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are GFA stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by Dr. K.P. Yohannan – Discussing Myo Zaw, a gospel for Asia missionary, and family who, despite the struggle and difficulty, through a burning love & desire for God, poured out their lives in love for others.
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fire burned inside Myo Zaw. It was lit the day the Lord redeemed him, and it grew hotter and more intense every single day. He was like the prophet Jeremiah, unable to keep the love of Christ hidden within himself. If he tried, he felt restless, he felt sick.
Weary of holding it in, Myo Zaw shouted from the roadsides and in market places, “Christ [redeemed] me, and He will [redeem] you also!”
People thought he had gone mad. Those in his community already knew him as a hot-blooded drunkard who fought with people and beat his wife and children, and now he proved his insanity.
“But I knew I was not mad,” Myo Zaw says. “The love of God just would not simply keep [quiet] in my heart. I wanted to pour it out and share it.”
Independently Ministering
Consumed by a fire that could not be put out, Gospel for Asia Missionary Myo Zaw traveled throughout his region, walking from place to place, sharing the Word of God. He told people “how a sinner like me was found by God.” In three years, he visited 100 communities. His wife, Shway, sent him letters while he was away to encourage him.
“If your life can [be changed] by Christ, there is no one who cannot be changed by Christ,” she’d say. “So wherever you are going and sharing the Word of God, we are here to pray for you. I believe people will be changed by the love of Christ.”
And people were—350 of them. They heard of His great love and saw it lived out in His child, and it changed them.
Following Like Jesus: Gospel for Asia Missionary Network
Not long after, a man visited Myo Zaw’s village and shared about the different places in their country and how Jesus went to a foreign land, though heaven was His home.
The fire inside Myo Zaw intensified. He knew without any doubt that his life needed to be about sharing the Lord’s love with others. It was a powerful love that transformed him, and he knew others needed it, too.
Myo Zaw (pictured) with his wife, Shway, and youngest son.
He told himself, “It is better that I go and give my life for the people in foreign lands.” So he and his wife prayed and prepared themselves to live in an area where people were unfamiliar with the Lamb of God.
Nearly 10 years later, God sent them to the southern region of their country as Gospel for Asia missionaries.
Forced Out of Community
In their new community, people quickly realized Myo Zaw and his family were Christians and decided they would have nothing to do with the new arrivals.
“We were [forced] out of community,” Pastor Myo Zaw says, “and it is very difficult to live without community.”
People threw stones at Myo Zaw’s home and threatened to penalize others if they spoke to the Christians. Even Myo Zaw’s young children faced discrimination at school because of their faith.
“Sometimes, when we would go to the market,” Pastor Myo Zaw recalls, “they’d look at us as if we were enemies. All these things we faced, but the Lord showed His grace upon us through which we are still OK now.”
Gospel for Asia Missionary: Love Turning Hearts
Myo Zaw, Shway and their children trusted Christ throughout the hardships, and with the Spirit’s fiery love pulsating within them, they learned how to love the people in their new community.
Myo Zaw’s wife, Shway, leading Sunday School in one of the local fellowships.
The pastor started with film ministry, showing people movies they enjoyed and also the film of Jesus’ life. The local children felt Myo Zaw’s and his wife’s warmth and began visiting them. Myo Zaw and Shway would give the young boys and girls treats, teach them songs and bathe the ones that came looking haggard.
The community watched how they cared for their children and wondered why this man and his wife loved them so much. Soon, people talked to them at the market, and Pastor Myo Zaw and Shway were able to reveal Christ’s love to them.
They cared for the sick and took people to the hospital when needed. When floodwaters destroyed homes and livelihoods, they and other Gospel for Asia workers helped provide relief. Pastor Myo Zaw frequently visited people to encourage them and offer words of life and hope in Christ Jesus. And people visited him as well.
God’s Most Powerful Weapon
“What I have found in my life is that love is the most powerful weapon we have from God.” —Myo Zaw
The fire God kindled within Myo Zaw on the first day of his redemption continues to burn brighter and hotter as the years pass.
“My love has become deeper for them. I care for them more,” he says of the people who are now his friends. “That’s why I don’t want to go back to my hometown. That is why I would like to sacrifice my whole life for them.”
After 14 years of displaying Christ’s love, people feel and understand Myo Zaw’s love for them and many return it. They’ve come to know that “everything I do is for them,” he says. And he does it because of Christ.
“What I have found in my life,” Myo Zaw says, “is that love is the most powerful weapon we have from God.”
*Names of people and places may have been changed for privacy and security reasons. Images are Gospel for Asia stock photos used for representation purposes and are not the actual person/location, unless otherwise noted.
Learn more about Film Ministry in Asia, as films on the life of Jesus have proven to be one of the best ways to let people in Asia know about the sacrificial love and deliverance of God.
Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.
“The local people wonder why we’re so positive and friendly. … They ask us why,” Thoeun says, explaining it opens the door to tell them about God’s love.
![“[National] workers toil to bring healing and hope,” GFA World says. “They touch thousands of lives with the tangible love of God through slum, leprosy, medical and disaster relief ministries. Thanks to them, men, women and children who otherwise might have gone without help … have been blessed with much-needed aid.”](https://wp-media.patheos.com/blogs/sites/792/2021/08/quote-graphic-sisters-of-compassion.jpg)
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