WILLS POINT, Texas — GFA (Gospel for Asia) has issued an urgent appeal for help in responding to some of the worst flooding in almost a century that has claimed several hundred lives and displaced nearly a quarter of a million people in southern India. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers have already begun distributing emergency…
“I visited two camps where those who are displaced by the catastrophic flooding in Kerala, India are staying,” says Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder KP Yohannan. “I was able to meet with and pray for many.”
More than 300 deaths have now been reported from the monsoon rains and flooding that have devastated Kerala, India. Many rescue teams had to stop after dusk yesterday because the currents were too risky for teams to venture out successfully. According to the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, a total of 82,442 rescues were…
Kerala, India, continues to face peril as the monsoon rains destroy homes, paddy fields and businesses. The death toll has risen, as reports are now estimating well over 100 lives have been lost, while some people are missing. Some houses are under 10 feet of water. Many people are still being rescued by helicopter after…
NEW YORK – The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released its 2018 overview of the Aid Workers Security Report in time for the commemoration of World Humanitarian Aid Day. The observance is held annually on August 19th. The overview tells a story that we would rather not read. But it…
Kerala, India, is experiencing monsoon rains that have not been seen or experienced since 1924. Reports estimate that 70 to 100 lives have been taken due to the floodwaters. Many homes and businesses have been washed away by severe landslides and rivers overflowing because of the constant downpour. For the first time in its history,…
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Special Report on Mosquito Netting and Malaria Prevention Combat a Parasitic Genius Written By Ken Walker of InChrist Communications Fighting Malaria. Though eradicated in many developed nations, malaria still claims thousands of lives around the world. One victim who survived this mosquito-borne disease compared its chills to “lying down between…
JAKARTA – The Indonesian island of Lombok was ravaged by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake on 05 August. CBS News reported today that the death toll has reached 426 and more than 350,000 people have been displaced. Indonesia’s national disaster agency estimates that the cost to repair the damage to infrastructure and property will exceed $340…
MINSK – Belarus is a land-locked country in Eastern Europe, formerly a part of the now-defunct Soviet Union. Nine and a half million people live in the heavily-forested country of only 80,000 square miles. Belarus is about the size of Kansas, but with three times as many people. Although the majority of the population self-professes…
ATHENS – The Greek coastal cities of Mati and Rafina in the southeastern region of Attica have been devastated by the worst wildfires in decades that have spread into the small urban areas. As of August 12th, the death toll has reached 94, including men, women, and children. Many were trapped in the flames in…
Evangelism is intimidating, especially when you’re first learning about how to pass out tracts or go door-to-door or starting a conversation on a spiritual issue. In most parts of the United States, the worst thing a person will do is make fun of you or call you a bad name. If you work in a…
“Depend on it. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.” ―James Hudson Taylor, missionary to China and founder…
NEW DELHI – India is among the most inefficient agriculture producers in the world – and all major crops – wheat, sugarcane, cotton – consume large quantities of water. Agriculture consumes 83 percent of India’s water resources, leaving only 17 percent for domestic and industrial use, according to a recent report in The Hindu Business…
EDINBURGH – While nearly the whole of Christendom is aware, at least to some extent – of the persecution being wrought upon the followers of Christ in many countries, the same are blissfully unaware of the attacks upon the church by humanism and secularism. These twin threats to the faith once delivered the saints are…
WASHINGTON, DC – Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom open the first meeting of a three-day Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom conference in Washington DC sponsored by the U.S. State Department. In his opening speech on 24 July, he said, ‘ The lack of religious freedom anywhere is a threat everywhere.” His…
NEW DELHI – This year India will celebrate the 72nd anniversary of its independence, following two centuries of being subject to the domination of the British East India Company and, ultimately, the rule of the British Empire in 1857. In the 18th century Indian subcontinent consisted of an array of local kingdoms. As the British…
KINSHASA – The Congo has been at war for a very long time. Most people who live there have never experienced an extended period of peace. The inability to stabilize the government has turned a country with enormous economic resources into a graveyard for more than six million people. While rebels and militia continue to…
I travel at least once a month between where I live and where my parents live. Every once in a while, as I wait in airports, I see people who are foreigners and do not know the God who loves them. It really breaks my heart, because according to God’s Word, they’re heading to hell…
INDIA – South Asia and the Indian subcontinent seem to be facing a perennial water crisis that may be getting worse rather than better. The problem is complex. It is not simply that there is too much or too little. While there is flooding in some regions there is a drought in others. Where there…
HARRISON, AR – Ron Hutchcraft Ministries (RHM) bears a strong similarity to that of Gospel for Asia (GFA) and many other faith-based NGOs in the 21st century. The ministry is a peer-to-peer outreach in which Indian people share the Gospel with other Indian people. By and large, both minister to the poorest of the poor…
WASHINGTON DC – The subject of immigration has become a tinderbox of contention among many Americans as well as Europeans and Australians. The substance of immigration issues is often obscured by a fog of conflicting opinions between personal compassion and the government’s responsibility to ensure the general welfare and domestic tranquility of its current residents….
KATMANDU – The 14th graduating class of the Believers Eastern Church vocational training class in the Diocese of Pokhara, Nepal, completed their work on 14 July 2018. A total of 24 women received their tailoring certificates at the end of the six-month course. A century ago, sewing and tailoring was a necessity for women in…
SRI LANKA – While, as we reported recently, parts of northern India are suffering from a major drought, southern parts of the country have been besieged by flood-producing monsoons. Either problem can generate both immediate tragedy and long-term suffering. India’s island neighbor of Sri Lanka is still suffering from the effects of monsoons that hit…
OLDENBURG, GERMANY – A total of 3,200 attended Operation Mobilisation’s (OM) TeenStreet 2018 during the last week of July and ending on August 4th. The theme of this year’s six-day conference was “Drawing Closer to the Father.” Enthusiastic teens from 19 different countries were led through a different element of Christian living, each of which…
MUMBAI – A recent study conducted by the Azim Premji University (APU) and the Center for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) concluded that “There is a distrust of leaders from outside the community across all classes, and all caste-class intersections.” Put simply, the majority of Indians prefer leaders with whom they identify most. Voter…
SEWICKLEY HEIGHTS, PA – Christians in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia have been struggling to keep churches open and maintain home Bible studies in the face of opposition. Not all of the opposition they face comes in the forms of physical abuse, assault, and terror attacks. Much of the opposition is coming now in…
LONDON – Imagine, if you will, a 55-year-old man reading the Bible aloud in front of a church. Imagine that it is not just any church, but the iconic St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Then imagine that the church staff asking him to stop reading the Bible and leave the property, after which he was…
VIENTIANE – At approximately 8:00 p.m. local time on 23 July, the Xepian-Xe Nam Noy dam on the Xe Pian River in Laos collapsed. Within minutes, eight Laotian villages were completely destroyed whilst others were inundated, making travel and escape impossible. Reports on the number dead, injured, or missing vary as time goes by. It…
KIGALI – Thousands of churches across Rwanda look like this one. Empty. While government closure of churches has grown all too common in many countries where governments enforce state religions or cultural nationalism, nearly half of the population is Protestant, 43 percent are Catholic, and the remaining seven percent includes all other faiths. The KT…
REDDING, CA – Witnesses to the devastation wrought by the Carr fire in Northern California have been describing the scene as apocalyptic. As of this morning, the fire is about 20 percent contained, but it has already consumed nearly 100,000 acres. Nearly 40,000 people have been evacuated. More than 500 buildings, including at least 300…
WARNER ROBINS – Jalen Manns is nine years old. For the most part, he is a pretty normal kid. He loves dogs and, in particular, German Shepherds. He has a collection of stuffed German Shepherds in his bedroom. He calls them his guard dogs. He also has something that most nine-year-old boys don’t. Doctors discovered…
ADDIS ABABA – The North African nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia have formally agreed to end the longest-running war on the continent. Christians in Ethiopia are praying that the agreement will present new opportunities to spread the Gospel. “With this new peace agreement, borders will be reopened and trade reinstated between the two countries. The…
NEDLANDS, WESTERN AUSTRALIA – Slavery is not a thing of the past. Despite the efforts of William Wilberforce, Abraham Lincoln, and others, slavery did not end in the 19th century. In fact, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index, over 70 million people are caught in the throes of 21st century slavery. More than 70…
TMS Global outlines program to help move congregations from ‘vaguely spiritual Rotary Club’ to strategic outreach NORCROSS, Ga.—A wake-up call to sleepy churches has gone out from missions agency TMS Global, which wants to help revive inward-focused congregations through revitalized faith. The interdenominational organization offers a roadmap to renewal in the latest issue of its…
Through graphic guidebook, David Howell is helping transform lives of incarcerated men and women and reduce numbers of those behind bars HOUSTON—Oil industry veteran David Howell is working a rich new harvest field—saving souls and reducing the prison population through a graphic guidebook, allowing public funds to be diverted to other pressing needs. Mailing copies…
HO CHI MINH CITY – Hospitals and churches something in common. They are places where many people do not want to go. Unless they are hurting. People suffering from pain will often eagerly seek a place that can bring relief. Hospitals and churches are recognized as places for healing. Some of Christian Aid Mission’s (CAM)…
NEW DELHI – The sad story of 3,500 Indian construction workers in Kuwait began in June 2016. They had been working for the Karafi National Company on the construction of major infrastructure projects. The Kuwaiti-based company is engaged in infrastructure development, construction, fabrication services, and facilities management in Egypt, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates….
The many reasons why First Baptist is often called “America’s church” and continues to be a spiritual and political force in the United States. First Baptist Church of Dallas, pastored since 2007 by Dr. Robert Jeffress, turns 150 this month, and its impact — both past and present — on our country, culture and world…
DAMASCUS – Hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been killed in the seven-year-long Syrian Civil War. An estimated 11 million people have been displaced from their homes, creating one of the greatest refugee crises in history. Over 270,000 people have fled to southern Syria during the month of July. The single largest displacement of…
JAIPUR – According to a report by IndiaSpend, “Anemia . . . impacts half of Indian women of reproductive age, increases the risk of maternal mortality, infection, preterm delivery, poor fetal and infant health, and puts children at lifelong risk of issues involving cognitive development and physical growth.” The report summarized the results of a…
IZMIR – Despite heightened optimism that a Turkish court might release U.S. pastor Andrew Brunson from prison today, expectations were dealt a blow when the court ordered him to remain in custody. The next hearing, his fourth, is scheduled for 12 October 2018. Brunson, 50, a native of North Carolina, has lived in Turkey for…
In 2017, Gospel for Asia (GFA) and its worldwide affiliates working in 18 Asian nations addressed women’s issues by empowering more than 350,000 women through various ministry efforts and installed 4,673 clean-water wells. Wills Point, Texas, Discussing Women’s Issues in Asia — This month, 39 years ago, Dr. KP Yohannan founded the organization Gospel for…
LONDON – WaterAid, the international NGO that is driving the United Nations sustainable goal to provide clean water for the entire global population by 2030, has just released a shocking new report. Based on current status and progress, the report claims that the goal is unreachable within the allotted time. Using data provided by the…
ABUJA – The militant African group Boko Haram has terrorized Nigerians for nearly 10 years, destroying churches, schools, and homes. The infamously mass murder entire villages of people before burning the villages to the ground. They have taken more than 3,000 women and schoolgirls captive and attempt to convert them to Islam. Those who refuse…
Richard Coleman stepping down as senior director of mobilization and candidacy to serve in Ethiopia NORCROSS, Ga.—A forthcoming leadership transition at missions agency TMS Global comes at a time when it is pursuing a heightened commitment to seeing more non-whites serving in world evangelization. After more than a decade recruiting others for service with the…
BANGKOK – Ardoon Sam-aon is a talented 14-year-old. He plays the piano and the guitar and participates in the youth program and praise team at Mae Sai Grace Church where he accepted Christ in March 2018. He has a 3.94 GPA as an eighth-grader at Ban Wiang Phan School. He is an avid volleyball and…
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers warn of dangers of tobacco to help demonstrate that ‘God cares for the whole person’ WILLS POINT, Texas—June 2017, residents of a community in northern India pledged to make it tobacco-free following a health awareness drive by Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers. Carrying placards and handing out advisory leaflets about…
BEIJING – Chinese officials successfully closed and barred the doors of Beijing’s largest house church on July 8th, occupying it with ‘thugs’ to prevent members from entering. The closure is yet another in a growing list of moves by agents of the government to either gain oversight of or close Christian churches in China. The…
DHAKA – Imagine it is a rainy Sunday morning. You wake up, you consider the downpour, and you decide that the weather is too bad for anyone to go to church. And you are the pastor! Now imagine that you live in a country like Bangladesh and that it is the monsoon system, which it…
Using nationals to reach nationals, organization promotes evangelism and Bible distribution under stricter laws COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As the Chinese government clarifies its religious beliefs policy, Bibles For The World (BFTW) President John Pudaite says his organization will focus on the urgent need for effective Scripture distribution while helping believers understand their religious rights. According to Pudaite,…
