Gospel for Asia

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Part#2 Special Report on the aftermath of acute gender imbalance: Discussing the horrendous reality of 100 million missing women worldwide. Geeta’s husband used to come home drunk and beat her with the wooden cricket bat pictured. Violence against women is a major public health problem in Asia and a violation of women’s human rights. The majority of this violence is intimate-partner violence, estimated to be 30 percent worldwide. Intimate-Partner Violence Against Women Contributes to Gender Imbalance One of the greatest contributors to this missing-women / gender imbalance factor is violence against women—both sexual violence and violence by their own intimate partners. According to the World Health Organization, “Violence against women—particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence—is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights.” Global estimates indicate that about 1 in 3 women worldwide (35 percent) have ...

Death and sickness where two things Abhijun was familiar with. Including him and his family, many in his village and the surrounding area contracted serious illnesses such as typhoid from their drinking water. “We suffered from many sicknesses,” Abhijun said. “When our relatives come to visit us from the city, looking at the color of the water, they did not want to drink. Sometimes they managed to drink it, but they suffered from cold, cough and headache.” Gospel for Asia (GFA) is working toward the improvement of situations like Abhijun’s with its two major clean-water initiatives: Jesus Wells and BioSand water filters. In places where the water sources are almost completely contaminated, such as Lhepar, BioSand water filters are the best option. An Answer for the Thirsty: BioSand Water Filters For Abhijun and his family, a BioSand water filter, which purifies water up to 98 percent, was the perfect solution to their water crisis. Fortunately for them, Gospel for Asia (GFA) -supporte...

WILLS POINT, TX – According to Dr. Seth Barkley, the CEO of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, “Malaria is still one of the biggest killers of children worldwide, taking the lives of over 200,000 children each year.” April 25 is World Malaria Day. Because the disease is still widespread in large regions of the globe, Gospel for Asia (GFA) has shared 10 facts to remind us about this life-threatening disease: 1. The Institute of Health Metrics & Evaluation estimates that more than 720,000 people die of malaria each year. This is significantly higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) estimate of 438,000. 2. Malaria is still one of the leading causes of child mortality. 3. More than 70 percent of malaria fatalities are children under the age of 5. 4. Ten percent of all child fatalities in 2016 were caused by malaria. 5. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90 percent of all malaria deaths. 6. Countries with the highest malaria death rates currently include: Country Deaths/100,000 Niger ...

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing the state of a billion children in the world who live in extreme poverty who are worth every effort and measure to be given love, care, education – a Bridge of Hope. The world has more than 7 billion people. More than 2 billion of them are children. Half of these little ones live in poverty the likes of which is difficult to understand. Extreme poverty affects every aspect of life, from physical and emotional health to education and the possibility of a better future. So many people are in need of love, care and compassionate help. Solving their complex problems might seem like an insurmountable task. But not if we all work together. Every child who receives life-saving care and access to education is precious in God’s sight. Each one is worth the effort. With tens of thousands of children in developing countries dying every day, often from preventable diseases, education might not seem like the most important problem to focus on. ...

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) – Discussing what national workers do daily to spread God’s love across Asia. “They need to think about what is needed, not what is possible because possible can change. A major problem I see . . . is not having visionary leaders.” —R.D. Thulasiraj, Director of Operations, Aravind Eye Care System Mr. Thulasirai’s sage observation, although having nothing directly to do with missions, might be worthy of our consideration of what it really means for indigenous, national workers to be supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA) and its generous donors.It is difficult for us to imagine the role of pastors and other national workers in Asia because we have not seen what they have seen, nor have we experienced what they have. One thing is for certain, these pastors and workers do not have the same routine that most Western pastors do. Gospel for Asia (GFA) -supported pastor Marty grew up in an Asian slum where, as a young boy, he often dug for food in the bo...

Aravind walked around barefoot in ragged, worn-out clothes. He carried his books in a plastic bag. The skinny 7 year old lived in a humble mud house with his parents. Aravind’s “normal” was generational abject poverty . His family was so poor they could not even afford to buy rice, so their diet was not only meager but also severely lacking in the nutritional value a young boy needs to sustain normal growth . As is common among the poor, life for Aravind and his family was always complicated. His father, Hukka, was unable to find enough work locally to generate an income adequate to meet the most basic of his family’s needs. Because Hukka loved his family, he had to journey to a neighboring state to find employment. His long-distance commute meant he would be away from home for a month or more at a time, returning with wages he hoped would help his wife and son make it through his next absence. Yet, even what he was able to earn was not enough. “There are countless young boys and girls...

Anyone? Anyone? Just the guy who grew up on the farm?That’s not altogether surprising, especially as the American society has become less agrarian and more urbanized. Because the vast majority of us have never owned a goat, we are likely to have a less-than-accurate understanding of a goat’s potential value to its owners, which could make one wonder why so many faith-based agencies (FBO) suggest goats among the many offerings of their Christmas catalogs . Here are a few reasons why Gospel for Asia (GFA) and other FBOs offer the opportunity to give goats to families in the impoverished, remote villages throughout Asia. 5 Reasons Why Goats Can Be a Blessing for a Family in Asia 1. Goats produce a generous amount of healthy milk. The average nanny goat produces about 90 quarts of fresh milk per month. That’s much more than the average family will drink, so goat’s milk can become a good source of income to help families prosper. Goat’s milk is much easier for humans to digest than cow’s m...

It’s that time of year again when Gospel for Asia (GFA) and many other faith-based organizations (FBO) publish their Christmas gift catalogs . Two of the seemingly ubiquitous gifts available are chickens and goats. I know what you are thinking. “Chickens and goats? How can chickens and goats really have any impact?” Altruistically speaking, we tend to see more value in things like Bibles, blankets, sewing machines, pull carts or rickshaws. I know this because I had thought that way for years. I was wrong. My mistake was that I was perceiving the value of chickens and goats from a Western worldview. A chicken has little value to me, and my neighbors would not appreciate me owning a goat (nor would the Home Owners Association by-laws permit it). Consider, however, the value of chickens or goats for a family living in generational poverty in Asia. When you have absolutely nothing, a couple of chickens or goats is a big deal. They are gifts that can be life-altering. GFA’s Christmas Gift C...

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 3 – Discussing the impact of quality education on the eradication of extreme poverty and illiteracy. More than 250 million women in Asia are illiterate. The women pictured learned how to read for the first time through Gospel for Asia supported literacy programs. Gospel for Asia Introduces Quality Education to Families in Poverty Remember hardworking Dayita and her roaming children? Their story also serves as an example of the powerful gift of education. One day, some staff members from a local Gospel for Asia-supported Bridge of Hope center met Dayita and her family. Upon hearing of her struggle and seeing the condition of the family, the staff members offered Dayita’s 7-year-old daughter, Kasni, the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to go to school. That day changed the course of Dayita and Kasni’s family: The cycle of poverty and illiteracy began to break. At the Bridge of Hope center, Kasni began learning skills th...

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 2 – Discussing the impact of educational development on the eradication of extreme poverty. Education’s Holistic Impact on Family Life, Income God’s creation of the human mind is a marvelous thing. It has the capacity to imagine, dream, create, cherish, remember, deduce, learn and use logic. When given opportunities through education to learn, cultivate skills and dream, we are capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. To name a few, these include sending human beings into space, discovering medical breakthroughs, crafting new written languages and rebuilding crumbled economies. This woman works alongside her husband to make bricks, bringing her infant with her. Both men and women work hard in rural villages to try to make ends meet. We’ve glimpsed snapshots of what happens when mankind lacks the necessary opportunities to cultivate the amazing mind God has granted him. Underdeveloped minds and absent opportunities ste...

Wills Point, Texas – Gospel for Asia (GFA) Special Report Part 1 – Discussing the impact of education on the eradication of extreme poverty and illiteracy. When considering the issues of poverty and lack of education, an old saying comes to mind: “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” Poverty and low education are each self-perpetuating: Those born into poverty (or illiterate households) often live the remainder of their lives in that same condition and have nothing more to offer their children. [ 1] What’s more, it is as if poverty and low education have a magnetic attraction, relentlessly pulling those who are caught in one cycle deep into the other too. Why is that? Kristina Birdsong, a writer for Scientific Learning, sums up the relationship between poverty and education by saying, “Today more than ever, education remains the key to escaping poverty, while poverty remains the biggest obstacle to education.” [2] Let’s look at one example: Dayita is a mother in Asia living with...

Growing up in North Texas, one of the rarest sights must be snow. Even when it happens to snow, it lasts barely a day. A veritable blizzard to come roaring through is among the oddest of occasions. Looking back, I remember one winter day, as a boy when I watched the snow fall and the ice harden outside the walls of my family’s home. With the roads effectively closed, school was not an option. As Texas tends to not prepare for major snow events, it took three days until the roads were somewhat safe to drive on. In 2016, more than 170,000 blankets were distributed at GFA-supported events like this one. Each time I and my family would go outside to play in the snow there was always the house, warm and cozy, waiting for us when we were done. Even to this day, I have a place of warmth to return to. During our ventures out into the cold, we always bundled up. Hats, gloves and coats aplenty—there was no shortage of warm clothing. Protection Against the Biting Cold Severe cold in Texas is an o...

Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report ( Gospel for Asia ) – Discussing the large and small scale efforts and solutions to end inequality, social injustice, grinding poverty, human rights violations, that continues to exist, affecting millions of women, men and even children. Small Steps, Big Change In the face of such enormous inequalities, it can be difficult to know how to respond and where to start. But just as the problem of social injustice is not really a single, abstract issue so much as the many individuals it affects, so ending inequality is about changing personal circumstances as well as addressing the structures that allow inequality to continue. That sort of action is taking place on large and small scales. At one end of the spectrum, the World Bank is supporting a $63 million empowerment project in Jharkhand, India, which aims to help adolescent girls and young women complete secondary-level education and acquire job skills. Another way of improving the situation for po...

Wills Point, Texas – GFA ( Gospel for Asia ) – Discussing the transformative, life-changing impact a Bridge of Hope center can make in the lives of children through the power of God’s love. One class session was all it took to convince me not to be a teacher. Going in, I had been undecided. But that one class solidified that I have neither the patience nor the motivation to be the guiding light children need. But Aayush, a Bridge of Hope student, has these qualities. Aayush knows that children need love, encouragement, and place to thrive; he himself did not have these growing up at first. A Broken and Terrified Family Aayush grew up in a broken home. His father was an alcoholic, often abusing his wife both verbally and physically. Aayush and his brothers could only watch, terrified into silence. His home was an unsafe haven, and there was nowhere else to go. Aayush’s father spent all their money on alcohol, leaving barely enough for the family to survive. Any form of education was sim...

Wills Point, Texas – GFA ( Gospel for Asia ) – Discussing how GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers change the lives of children, their families, and in turn their communities. 1.8 million Indian babies succumb to death annually from effects of malnutrition and diseases. 150,000 infant deaths per month 34,615 deaths per week 4,945 deaths per day 206 deaths per hour The sad plight of the surviving children living in poverty in South Asia is impossible for our minds to comprehend unless we have seen it with our own eyes. These children wake up every morning in squalor, waste, rubbish and odors—not unlike survivors of a tornado, hurricane or earthquake experience. The major difference for these children is that every morning is the same. For these children and their families, there is no likelihood for a better future. There is no hope. GFA-supported Bridge of Hope centers have been changing the prospects for the lives of tens of thousands of children every year since 2004. Most people fa...

Hope in the eyes of a child due to Christ’s love in Bridge of Hope. More than 67.4 million children worldwide are forced out of school due to poverty, depriving them of the education needed to succeed. Unable to read and write, most eventually find themselves unable to get good jobs and succumb to the cycle of poverty, which continues for another generation. Rather than going to school and playing like more privileged children their age, an estimated 150 million children are engaged in child labor. These kids wander around begging, doing odd jobs and selling garbage so they can have a small amount of food to live another day or work. In some parts of Asia, children from the poorest families are three times more likely to die by the age of 5 than those from higher income groups. This gap is due to starvation and disease take a striking toll on the marginalized, who lack access to basic medical care and proper nutrition. In the early days of the developing ministry of Gospel for Asia,...

For many around the world, malaria is a feared disease. According to a special report released by Gospel for Asia, t here are 91 countries where malaria is a viable threat because of transmission . Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are the countries most at risk because of high prevalence. Thankfully, there are a few ways to prevent malaria. One of them is simply using mosquito nets, which Gospel for Asia-supported workers give out regularly. In 2016, around 600,000 mosquito nets were distributed to those in need. 600,000! Now that’s a lot of netting. GFA also helps support medical camps , where doctors urge families to remove all stagnant water from their homes, because that can become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I’d like to share with you a story about a woman in Asia who lived in one such place where mosquitoes loved to congregate. Lavenia’s family needed some way to keep the mosquitoes at bay, especially because the stagnant water near her communal hut provided a prime breeding gro...

When a woman in America is pregnant, she has multitudes of resources available to her. Rows of books at libraries, countless blog posts and magazine articles about the best way to prepare for labor and raise a child, many options for how and where she will deliver her baby, dozens of options for prenatal vitamins and various supplements to boost her health and help her baby develop. But that’s not the case for many women in Asia. Many have never been told some of the things we consider basic pregnancy information here, such as taking vitamins, resting extra and decreasing the weight of any loads they carry. I’m six months pregnant, and I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard “Are you taking it easy?” or “Are you sure you shouldn’t be resting right now?” or “Here, let me carry that for you,” or “Are you taking your prenatal vitamins?” I’ve thought often of the story Gospel for Asia shared about a mother in Asia who lost her baby because she never learned what pregnancy care should i...

Gospel for Asia medical camps in Asia offer free medical care to assist families who are often too poor to pay for their own medical needs, or typically have little hope of ever receiving proper medical care. “Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” —Hippocrates There is a hospital about 15 miles north of my home. There is another 12 miles west. There is a third just 12 miles south. There are three urgent care facilities within a 6-mile radius. My doctor’s office and three pharmacies are less than 2 miles away. In some places in Asia, that is not the case, especially for those living in rural and remote villages. “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” —Jiddu Krishnamurti Whilst the hospitals provide a needed service by ministering to medical needs and training physicians, they also serve a much greater scope of care by reaching out to the unreached in the rural villages and slum areas where medical aid is n...

It’s ironic that as someone who likes to cook and loves to eat, I really dislike making dinner. As a mom with four kids, it’s not exactly a chore I can skip when I’m not “feeling it.” They need food. And I care that they eat healthy food. So, I make dinner. Every night. It’s a small thing, but I have learned perseverance in the small things of motherhood. I have learned to keep doing the necessary tasks, day in and day out, regardless of my level of sleep deprivation, irrelevant of my emotional state, often in opposition to my current degree of motivation. The words of Paul often run through my head, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9). Getting tired of the things we were once passionate about is a common human experience. We have all gone through it. But sometimes it has a greater impact than we realize. World Malaria Day , observed on April 25, was inaugurated in 2008. According to a special rep...