Gospel for Asia

The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women ratified in December 1993 defines violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” The Scourge of Violence Against Women On February 23, 2018, Gospel for Asia published a Special Report entitled, “ Ending Violence Against Women .” The report cited data from the World Health Organization (WHO) that indicated that “the prevalence of violence against women in (South Asia) is at 37.7 percent, compared to 23.3 percent in high-income countries and 24.6% in the Western Pacific region.” Other information from WHO includes findings that, “ Women are more likely to experience intimate partner violence if they have low education, exposure to mothers being abused by a partner, abuse dur...

On Feb. 14, a day that should have been marked by the celebration of love, hundreds of students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, fled the raging bullets of a 19-year-old gunman. Students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School walk out of their school building after a shooting. (Photo courtesy of Christy, current student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.) For some, the deaths of 17 innocent people—14 of them high school students—on Valentine’s Day will become just another sad news story in the days to come. But for 17 families grieving in South Florida today, it is the end of a story of hope, love and the promise of a bright future. It is the beginning of a story of grief that may last a lifetime. This is a time for mourning—the first step in the process of healing. We may not be able to understand the depth of their pain, but however deep and dark it is, we can pray for their healing. At our morning prayer meeting the day aft...