Posts

Caring for Women & Providing Clean Water Serve “The Least of These”

Image
National missionaries provide hope and help to women with desperate needs all across Asia, and thereby serve the least of these. Gospel for Asia (GFA World) , Wills Point, TX – Discussing what motivates us to serve “the least of these”. Driven by a passion to serve people Jesus referred to as “the least of these,” in 1979, Dr. KP Yohannan led a group of prayer believers to establish Gospel for Asia with a vision to turn the passion into practice. Putting Our Passion into Practice to Serve the Least of These While millions of people in North America were consumed with the debut of the Dukes of Hazzard, the release of The Muppet Movie, the introduction of the McDonald’s Happy Meal, and things on a more significant scale such as the American hostage crisis in Iran, the search for the Unabomber, and the peace talks in Washington between Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin, a small group of Christians had been fasting and praying in Dallas. They were praying that the Lord would...
Post a Comment
Read more

Which Doctor Can Heal the Witch Doctor?

Image
Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, TX – Discussing miracles from the past and the present. Each of the Gospels shares examples of the many miracles that Jesus did during His earthly ministry 2,000 years ago. Many of them involved healing people when there was no other hope of healing. Though there are many accounts of Jesus offering healing to the blind, the lame and the deaf, John ends his Gospel account telling us that “Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book” (John 20:30). What is more, he tells us that there were “also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25). Though Christ has returned to His Father in Heaven, His work on earth is not yet done. His mercy and grace are still extended to all who believe. His message is delivered by believers all around the globe. While many who read this ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Girls’ Education in Asia Often Sacrificed to Fetch Clean Drinking Water for Their Families

Image
Education for young girls in Asia is often sacrificed for family roles like fetching clean drinking water for their families . Tens of thousands of young girls in Asia drop out of school every year. Half of them stop attending at the primary school level, and The Times of India says the number is rising. Several factors affect the likelihood of girls graduating. But the drinking water crisis remains a constant threat . According to the United Nations, women and girls in rural Asia bear the overwhelming majority of responsibilities for finding and carrying clean drinking water. It’s not a minor chore, not like walking a few steps to a well and carrying it back inside the home. Clean, disease-free water is often miles away. Fetching safe drinking water is a necessary full-time job that comes at the expense of education, among other serious risks . GFA’s clean water initiatives does more than give families better access to water that’s safe to drink. It gives girls the freedom to focus o...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘So Happy I Answered the Call’ to Join the Mission Support Team at Gospel for Asia

Image
Ashley, serving with GFA since 2012, shares her experiences as a School of Discipleship student and then as a behind-the-scenes missionary in the Mission Support Team. Her life and journey with Jesus has grown through the encouragement of being involved in the Christ-centered, missions-focused community. I was only 18 years old when I decided to leave my home and family in Pennsylvania and come to Texas to join GFA’s School of Discipleship (SD). During my SD year, it wasn’t so much the classes and the books I read that impacted me, although going through the books and classes were a good thing. It was seeing the Christian life lived out in a Christ-centered community that really impacted me and still does today. God spoke to me a lot that year through some godly leaders here at GFA, who encouraged me to pursue Christ with all my heart. I can say without a doubt that this is exactly what my journey has been: pursuing God with all my heart and seeing others pursue Him too. I only planne...
Post a Comment
Read more

Loneliness is a Companion of Poverty for So Many Children in Asia

Image
Loneliness is a companion of poverty. The despair in which many poor find themselves in is not the lack of resources as much as it is the loneliness of feeling unwanted and unloved . The only cure for loneliness is knowing that someone genuinely cares about you, regardless of your circumstances. Somedev was lonely because his father was never at home . In fact, his father had deserted Somedev and his mother. Somedev was lonely and his mother, Jerusha, was heartbroken as she had lost her husband to another woman and now faced the prospect of having to raise her son on her own. One day, Jerusha heard some women talking about a Bridge of Hope center in a nearby village where children could receive free education, food and medical care . Knowing this could be the answer to her needs and her son’s loneliness, she asked the ladies to come to her home. When the women, who were Bridge of Hope staff, went and shared the love of God with her, Jerusha broke down in tears . She had never heard o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dream Job or God’s Calling?

Image
Sandy, a behind-the-scenes missionary with GFA, shares her family’s journey through 20 years of dedicated service. Still today, she and her husband Ralph face the unfinished task together, all for the sake of Christ and His love. Although my husband Ralph and I were both raised in Christian homes, we had become very disillusioned within the church. We felt there had to be more to the Christian life than works and the fear that we would never be good enough for Heaven. After much prayer and searching, we discovered three things that changed our lives: grace, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We have not been the same since. Desiring to Serve the Lord Together In 1997, after my husband completed a degree in business information systems, it was apparent to Ralph and me that we needed to use this skill for God. But we had no idea how to even begin. All we knew was that we wanted to work together as a team for the Lord. We heard an advertisement on the radio about a national Christian job placemen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Condemnation, Shame, Rejection Common for 57 Million Widows in Asia Reports Gospel for Asia

Image
Widows in Meru, Kenya, Africa who have lost their husbands and have only themselves as a group to look after each other. If a woman happens to escape the abuse so common in marriage, what happens to her once she is no longer married and becomes a widow? Does the violence against widows end? Violence Against Widows “Gulika’s life drastically changed the day her husband died. … Bearing the title ‘widow’ was a heavy weight to carry. The sharp, condemning words of the villagers stung Gulika’s already broken heart. Because of this, the pain of losing her husband increased all the more. It seemed that every time she stepped out of her home she wasn’t safe from their harsh criticism. “The villagers believed Gulika was cursed. They were even afraid that if she passed them on the street, she would bring them bad luck. This shame and rejection, on top of the reality of her husband’s death, grew unbearable. Soon Gulika fell into deep emotional despair.” Condemnation. Shame. Rejection. Wearing a w...
Post a Comment
Read more