Gospel for Asia

Often times, people will argue the pros and cons of different methods of sharing Christ’s love. I used to be that way, but after reading articles from various missionary organizations, I’ve learned there is no method that is effective for every individual. For many people in other countries, illiteracy is a problem. In India more than 34 percent of the population is illiterate. [1] Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia have a literacy rate higher than 75 percent, but that still leaves portions of the population illiterate. [2] This is why digital media, such as films, are such great tools. It shares the Good News with those who can’t read a Bible or literature. Plus, who doesn’t like a good movie, especially when the good guy ultimately wins? Struggling with Sweat on Their Way GFA-supported film teams often travel on foot, from village to village, with sweat running down their faces. Unless they travel by bus or have their own vehicle, they have no other way to haul the projector and generator, ...

Wills Point, Texas – GFA ( Gospel for Asia ) – Discussing the most essential gifts the Lord God has given Christians everywhere for use in His service. “We could read every book ever written on prayer, but that won’t make us people of prayer. We learn to pray by doing it.” —Dr. KP Yohannan, “Learning to Pray” The Bible is very clear in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 that the Lord has given all believers gifts to use in His service. The gifts He gives us are chosen by Him to equip us for sharing the His love with people who need to know of His love and sacrifice and for building up the body of believers. What an honor and privilege to know that the Lord God has given you and I individually selected gifts for use in His service! Without a doubt, however, He has given each of us at least three gifts that are more important and far greater than all those listed in 1 Corinthians and Ephesians. These gifts are given to every believer. They are essential to our relationship with the Lord an...

GFA-supported workers in Asia are living examples of the truth of Psalm 37:4 everywhere they go: “Delight in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” It is a well-known verse for many believers, but it is not necessarily commonly experienced to the extent that we see it in GFA-supported national workers. Delight in the Lord: Take Pastor Navashen When he arrived in the village where the Lord had called him to minister, no one knew anything about him. But he became well known rather quickly because of his habit of going around the village singing songs about Jesus. Until Pastor Navashen started singing about Jesus in the streets , no one had known anything about Christ either. Soon after Pastor Navashen arrived, he established a tuition center for the local children. They had heard his happy voice in the streets, and they wanted to learn the songs. Pastor Navashen had come to the village with the desire to share the love of Jesus with people who had never heard about H...

Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing the life-changing impact of Bridge of Hope centers on the lives of thousands of children. When you are a child of the slums, every day may be a repeat of the last. Life is about staying alive. If you do not scavenge or beg or become entrapped in bonded labor and a pantheon of dismal circumstances, you will not survive to see tomorrow. Even worse, tomorrow holds no promise of anything better than yesterday or today. Think for a minute what it is like to lay your head down at night in a dirt-floor hut built from scrap materials, perhaps alongside a railroad track, in a garbage dump or near a red-light district. There are no visions of sugar plums dancing in your head with joyful anticipation of what will happen when you awake in the morning. Millions of children in abject poverty in Asia close their eyes at night, knowing for certain that tomorrow holds no more hope for them than the day that has passed. Perhaps it is too much ...

A GFA-supported missionary Jayin held a position of high respect in his community and was well on his journey to self-realization and ultimate reality. But Jayin was searching for something more. He was searching for God. His role in the village was to share his spiritual understanding and enlightenment with those who came under his tuteledge in the hope that their experience will transcend his own. Jayin’s dilemma was that he had been unable to find the living God in his studies, his traditions or his rituals. Realizing that all that he had learned and practiced had done nothing to bring him to the true God he was seeking, he became frustrated. It disturbed him deeply that he conducted and taught all of the physical rites and metaphysical ruminations to his students. If he couldn’t find God in them, how could they? As he continued to struggle, he spiraled into depression and nearly lost his mind tilting at the windmills on his increasingly quixotic quest. He became so mentally and emo...

“For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” —Romans 12:4–5 (NIV) Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing the indispensable role of behind-the-scenes missionaries. Let’s do something most of us have probably not done for a while. Let’s think about our thumbs. There’s probably nothing special about your thumbs. There’s nothing special about mine. They’re just thumbs. But what if we had no thumbs? It is almost incomprehensible how many ordinary, simple tasks would suddenly become much more difficult. Holding a book or a glass of water. Picking up a penny. Using a fork. Our entire body suffers if our thumbs are not there doing their job. What about your parathyroid glands? We each have four of them, each about the size of a grain of rice. We never see them nestled inside our neck. They are just as important for us as...

Gospel for Asia (GFA World), Wills Point, Texas – Discussing the purpose, passion and impact of National Missionaries. Dr. KP Yohannan’s seminal book, Revelation in World Missions, may have been inspired in part by a recognition that the nations of the world were themselves facing major changes in the post-World War II era. Many nations, previously parts of global empires, were experiencing the early stages of independence. Independence is the favorite traveling companion of national identity. Whenever or wherever one nation is subject to another there is always some measure of lost identity that accompanies the loss of governmental and economic control. This has been true through all of recorded history. Ruling governments, including the Greek and Roman empires, gave great priority to determine the appropriate form of governance that would be most tolerable by the local culture whilst maintaining control over them. History also shows that no government has ever found a successful way ...

Recently my wonderful daughter-in-law Angela asked if I could pick up her children, ages 8 and 10, from school when their classes were dismissed. Later in the afternoon she would drop off the third child, age 5, by the house. Angela is the widow of our son Jeremy, who died several years back from aggressive lymphoma, or cancer. She has her hands full. Not only does she work full-time, she is also close to getting her doctorate in adult learning. So I am always happy to help out. At the appointed time, Eliana and Nehemiah tossed their book bags in the car, hopped in themselves and promptly announced they were hungry. “Tell me what you want and Papa (that’s me) will get it for you,” I replied. Eliana, the oldest, had a hankering for a cinnamon pretzel. There’s a shop that sells them a few blocks from the school, and what she wanted looked huge in the glass case. I should have given the price tag of $4.00! Nehemiah’s request was for a Blue Ice. “Where do I get that?” I asked. “My friend g...

You’re 10 years old, enjoying your happy-go-lucky days by running around with your friends and playing games. But in a few months, all that will end when you assume the mantle of being a wife to a man you only just met. What’s the point in going to school and learning anything besides how to take care of a home and a family if your fate has already been decided? It is estimated that one-third of girls in developing nations are married before the age of 18—and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15 . In Asha’s community, they were married as young as 10. “In their society, girls were not given consideration,” reported a Gospel for Asia-supported field correspondent. “They were believed to be a burden upon their parents. At the age of 10, they would get them married. Parents did not want them to study more, since they are going to be in someone else’s house after their marriage.” Asha, too, had no regard for her education. Why would she when it was common knowledge her life would end up...

Jagat isn’t a super hero. He isn’t a genius. In fact, he dropped out of school early. Yet he is a mighty man of God. Through him flows the Spirit of the Living God, and within him dwells the One who gives all wisdom and strength. But it wasn’t always this way. Jagat is a Gospel for Asia- supported national missionary . Because of Jagat’s willingness to be used by God, many people in South Asia have started intimate relationships with Jesus. But each one of their glory-filled stories exists because of Jagat’s own story of finding Jesus. Pastor Jagat and his family. Jagat’s life took a dramatic turn from drugs and irresponsibility to serving God as a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary. Form of Godliness Fades Away Jagat grew up in a Christian home, but he had many of the characteristics James 3 warns against. He held a form of godliness—he obediently followed his family to church services, Sunday school and other activities—but he did not know Jesus personally or live in His power. So...

How many movies do you suppose you’ve watched in your lifetime? Even in the last year? Some clever punchlines or visuals of intense scenes probably stuck in your mind, but there’s a good chance you haven’t thought back to many of the movies. It’s quite a different story for many people in Asia who attend a film show hosted by Gospel for Asia supported workers . For many, that simple movie night ends up changing the course of their lives. Through Gospel for Asia-supported film ministry, the heart of Christ is displayed in a culturally relevant way. Many have found new life in Christ as a result! But even if you loved a certain movie, would you risk your own safety to organize a movie night? Rajak did. Rajak, a Gospel for Asia ( GFA )-supported worker serving on a film team, and his team members drove to a village they had not visited before. They approached the village leaders to get permission to show a film on the life of Christ, but the men denied their request and sternly warned th...

Do you remember your senior year of high school? Maybe you were one of those people who had the next 10 years of their life planned out already—I was not. At 17 years old, I knew I wanted to follow Christ, and I felt like He was leading me to be involved in missions somehow, but I had no idea what that was going to look like. I had lots of questions but few answers. How do I get started? Who can give me some direction? What ministry should I partner with? Am I called to stay in the U.S. or travel and serve abroad? What skills and resources do I need to have under my belt? During my senior year, I searched time and time again for missions opportunities with a variety of ministries. But nothing stuck out; nothing seemed to be the right fit. Graduation came and went. I felt stressed, unequipped and no closer to finding an answer to the question everyone under the sun had asked me by that point: “What are you going to do after high school?” Later that summer, I read Dr. KP Yohannan Metropo...

Thousands of communities are tucked away in remote regions of Asia. In such places, chances to hear the story of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection can be very rare. Beatings. Taunting words. Long days on the road. Late nights of traveling to pray for the sick. False accusations . Even imprisonment. If national missionaries know ministering to their people may cost them all this, how do they go on day after day? Why do they do it? One reason missionaries continue to pour themselves out in service to God is because of people like Naitik. He was 80 years old before he ever heard the name of Jesus. National missionaries long for him to understand the love of God, whom they themselves love so much. Naitik is not alone—his story was like millions of others’ who live in remote places in Asia, where, so far, there’s been no mention of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God. Thousands of communities are tucked away in remote regions of Asia. In such places, chances to hear the story of Ch...

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Who in their lifetime hasn’t heard that question or asked that question. The responses children give… it’s like the entire world is at their fingertips. To them, there’s nothing they can’t be, there’s nothing but their age that’s holding them back. “An astronaut.” “A farmer.” “An intercontinental airplane pilot.” (Oh yes, I have heard that one.) “A police officer.” “A mom.” “A missionary.” “A pirate.” Whatever they can think of that is the most exciting, most adventurous thing…that is what they want to become. And who would tell a 5-year-old, “Well, I think that’s just a bit out there. Why don’t we sit down and think about some more realistic things you can do when you grow up?” We give children the freedom to dream. They’re supposed to dream. But you know what? There are millions of children in Asia who don’t even know how to dream. You want to know why? Because for generations before them, who they will be when they grow up has already been ...

Many young people come to Gospel for Asia School of Discipleship to see their relationship with Jesus significantly deepen. What they find is that prayer is the vehicle that takes them there. A Culture of Prayer Students at School of Discipleship are quickly immersed in a culture of prayer when they join GFA for a year. That’s because prayer is the very fabric the GFA community is woven from. More than 30 years ago, Gospel for Asia was born from a prayer meeting in Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan’s living room, and that weekly prayer meeting continues to this day. Now students are an integral part of them, too! They engage in prayer side by side with GFA staff, crying out to God for people, things and circumstances both locally and abroad. They even participate in sharing prayer requests. Students also learn to cultivate their private prayer life. They engage with the Lord in times of personal devotions and prayer walks and in times of silence and solitude. They learn how to be in God...

The man, Jesus, sat on a hillside surrounded by people who followed Him. He was talking to them, teaching them how to live. Then the scene shifts, and you can see a man, swathed in rags, hiding out of sight. He glances. He pauses. He gathers his courage and steps out toward Jesus—and people start running away at the sight of him. You realize, if you didn’t recognize before, that the man in rags has leprosy. No one wants to be near him. No one, that is, except Jesus. Jesus, the soft-spoken man with the kind face, does the unthinkable—He reaches out and touches the sick man. And he is healed. This scene plays out again and again before crowds all over Asia. Night after night, “ Dayasagar ,” “The Man of Mercy,” plays on the sides of buildings, on sheets stretched between poles, under trees and inside houses. Cool weather, warm weather, crowds of hundreds, groups of 10—Gospel for Asia-supported film teams show movies about the love of Christ. And as they do, Jesus reaches out to touch, he...

For Veteran’s Day , Lynn C., Gospel for Asia staff and 20-year U.S. military veteran, shares her thoughts about serving in the Navy and now her Lord with GFA . Let’s face it — I cry whenever I hear the song “Proud to be an American” by Lee Greenwood, and I get choked up when I sing the National Anthem. As a retired Chief Petty Officer of the United States Navy (September 1977–September 1997), I’ve served with some of the finest men and women our country had at the time. Having served then, I understand the tremendous sacrifice that our military men and women and their families currently make to protect the interests of the United States, both foreign and domestic. Families make do with only one parent taking care of all the responsibilities, while the other is off on deployment in the middle of the desert or the mountains, serving as an Embassy guard or sitting watch at 3 in the morning. Loyal, dedicated men and women who spend months at a time off on deployment, missing their familie...

Do you remember what happened in your life on May 2, 2000? It was a Tuesday. It might not have been a significant day to you, but for Manja, a father of two in Nepal, that day changed his life and his family forever. That was the day Manja landed in jail under false accusations of murder. It started when Manja, a Gospel for Asia- supported missionary , joined a group of friends for an afternoon of fishing. Along the river, they discovered a body. They informed the police and filed a report. Everything seemed to be finished—until one month later when Manja was accused of committing the crime. A Prisoner Missionary Months of accusations, falsified evidence, betrayal, abuse and drawn out legal proceedings followed. Then the bars closed behind Manja with a sentence of 20 years imprisonment. “When my husband was arrested and imprisoned for 20 years,” Rati, Manja’s wife shares, “it was as if my whole world had crumbled down.” Manja and Rati were devastated by the verdict. But in the months a...

In Luke chapter 15 we find the parable about the prodigal younger son, who comes to his senses once he loses everything, and returns back home to a loving, gracious father. Kaling’s life is similar to the story Jesus shared with tax collectors, sinners, scribes and Pharisees. The heart of our Heavenly Father remains the same through the ages. Even though we may wander far from home, God desires to redeem the past, and draw us close to Himself. And sometimes He may go to great lengths to show us that grace. Just like he did for Kaling through Gospel for Asia- supported Sisters of Compassion . Gospel for Asia-supported Sisters of Compassion minister to the least of the least in society. The Redemption of a Dying Man Kaling never listened to his father’s instructions, even as a little boy. His father tried to teach him how to live a good life, but despite all the guidance he received, Kaling had a disobedient and unchanging heart. Eventually, his father would no longer endure his son’s s...

Tsunamis happen more often than we think. Just this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recorded four. In 2016, it recorded seven. In 2014, it recorded 11. Now that’s a lot of tsunamis. Thankfully, the majority haven’t been large enough to cause extensive damage, with waves cresting less than a foot above sea level. What a relief! But then there are times when the waves, upon reaching shore, reach heights of 10, 30, even 300 feet . Tall walls of water crescendo and collide into coastlines, coursing through every crevice, collecting chunk after chunk of sea-side homes and business, sweeping away thousands of pounds of metal in the shapes of buses and other motor vehicles. Husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, children and grandparents run, their backs to foaming black water that threatens to steal their lives. Tsunamis. One of the “ costliest and deadliest forces of nature .” The United Nations declared Nov. 5 as World Tsunami Awareness Day because of t...