IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — A Turkish court has freed the Rev. Andrew Brunson, an American missionary who had been the subject of a diplomatic standoff between the United States and Turkey. Brunson had been under house arrest after being accused of terrorism and conspiring against the Turkish government. The Pastor, who denies all charges against…
ABKHAZIA – SOAR International Ministries is holding special camps for handicapped kids in Abkhazia. Raise your hand if you know where Abkhazia is? Anyone? Anyone? Okay. Let’s try this. Raise your hand if you have ever even heard of Abkhazia. Anyone? Anyone? Abkhazia is a small, independent state on the eastern shore of the Black…
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported pastor Naitik organized a blood donation camp on April 12, 2018. The believers in his congregation were excited for this opportunity to bless those in need of blood and to show the love of Christ in a practical way. So when the Nepalese Red Cross heard that a pastor was trying…
FOREST, Va. — Christian humanitarian organization World Help has activated its crisis response program to provide relief to victims of Indonesia’s deadly earthquake and tsunami. This past weekend, the Southeast Asian island nation was rocked by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, which triggered a massive tsunami that swept over the city of Palu. The twin disaster has left at…
SIKSA, Pakistan – The World Health Organization estimates that more than a third of the people in Pakistan lack access to safe drinking water. It is a problem all too common for countries in South Asia and the 10/40 window. The village of Siksa is an example of how things change when clean water becomes…
YANGON – Myanmar, formerly Burma, may best be described a line from Rogers and Hammerstein’s “The King and I” in which the king exclaims, “It’s a puzzlement.” In a recent article, we related the story of a Christian pastor in a small village in the Chin state in northwest Myanmar. The gist of the story…
Kerala, India, now faces continued tragedy as water wells across the state appear to be drying up. According to the latest news from the flood-affected state, reported by the Times of India “A series of issues including soaring mercury levels, unprecedented dip in water level of rivers, sudden drying up of wells, and depletion of…
Congregations across country replicate Denton Bible Church’s Community Garden — nation’s largest — growing fruits and vegetables for the homeless and hungry DENTON, Texas — As fall harvest season approaches, a green-fingered Texas church is teaching other congregations how to be fruitful—literally—just as the Bible says. Churches across the country are replicating Denton Bible Church’s…
KINSHASA – When last Missions Box News reported on the reemergence of the Ebola virus on August 20th, the estimated number of deaths over the previous 10 days had risen from “at least 20” to 55. Yesterday, September 17th, UNICEF issued their latest Ebola Situation Report indicating that the death toll has reached 97. As…
DELHI – Celebrations were held across India today to honor Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 68th birthday. PM Modi is the MP (Member of Parliament) for Varanasi. His party’s election in 2016 was the first majority party election in India since 1984. He is India’s 14th Prime Minister. Monday, September 17th, actually began an entire week…
As interest spikes in youth programs this fall, Trail Life USA leader challenges PC thinking BELTON, S.C.— With interest in enrollment in extra-curricular programs spiking nationwide as children return to school, Trail Life USA (www.traillifeusa.com) has released a special e-book outlining the unique learning and development needs of young males. Political correctness is failing America’s boys, according…
NEW DELHI – The Swachh Bharat Mission has been receiving kudos from media outlets for being “The world’s biggest toilet-building spree” in the UN-affiliated global effort to eliminate open defecation. There is little debate over the progress that has been made in India. More than 80 million household toilets have been constructed since 2014 as…
HOKKAIDO – While the monsoon and flooding in the Kerala state of India have received their share of attention in recent weeks, Japan has suffered a string of natural disasters, one following another, all summer long. The latest crisis is the damage done by a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that hit the island of Hokkaido early…
KERALA – Merku Thodarchi Malai is a made-in-India Tamil language film that chronicles the daily lives and the continuing plight of tea estate workers in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The English title of the film is The Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is 62,000 square miles of the mountain range that runs parallel to the…
Desperate need inspires sacrificial giving, as GFA-supported teams work through night to assist relief efforts of government officials ready emergency supplies WILLS POINT, Texas — Gospel for Asia (GFA) has issued a “loaves and fishes” appeal for support in bringing help and hope to some of the tens of thousands devastated by historic flooding in…
CHENNAI – Vijay Jayaraj holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia in Great Britain. He is a native of India and a resident of Chennai. In a recent op-ed to published by the Christian Post, he lauded the immediate and substantial aid by Christians following the Kerala…
PHOENIX – Gary Edmonds, President of Food for the Hungry (FH) has responded to a recent study sponsored by Grey Matter Research and Opinions4Good (Op4G). The Donor Mindset Study provided many interesting insights, one of which is that 54% of child sponsorship donors think it is “mostly a gimmick to get donations” and that donations…
In the face of death, Robert Jermain Thomas remained faithful in his mission to share the Good News with people of Korea even though it was not open to the Gospel. Life as a Student As Robert grew up, his relationship with the Lord thrived, being the son of a preacher. At the age of…
KERALA, INDIA – The latest news indicates that the known death toll from devastating floods in the southern Indian state of Kerala rose to 445 by Sunday, August 26th with the discovery of 28 more bodies as the waters recede and a massive cleanup gathers pace. Another 15 people are reported as missing. A million…
MADRID – International Media Ministries (IMM) was founded by the Assemblies of God World Missions (USA) in 1981 as it became apparent to forward thinkers that the ability to have and share information would become the essential and driving strategy for successful businesses. There was no reason to believe that successful business platforms built on…
Gospel for Asia (GFA World) Special Report on Slavery & Human Trafficking Written By Palmer Holt of InChrist Communications Around 10 million people are currently behind bars somewhere in the world. Some have yet to face trial, a few have been wrongly convicted, but most are prisoners for a crime they have committed. Meanwhile, four…
KERALA, INDIA – The southern state of Kerala on India’s west coast has been inundated by monsoon-generated floodwaters that have destroyed 40,000 crore hectares of crops, destroyed countless homes, commercial buildings, and displaced more than a million people. Although the flood waters are receding, much of Kerala is still under water. State Agriculture Minister Sunil…
Along with many heroic efforts from the armed forces, various rescue teams, fishermen and locals serving as guides to the more remote areas in Kerala, India, Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope staff members have stepped in to help families and children after the terrible monsoon flooding. Approximately 191 enrolled students in Bridge of…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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)…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
HAMILTON, MA – The estimated total population in the world is between 7.3 and 7.6 billion people. (It’s hard to keep an exact count. The number keeps changing!) It is probably even more difficult to assess how many Christians there are and where they live. First, by the time a count is determined, it has…
ALGIERS – Idir Hamdad is a native Algerian. He was born into and raised in a Muslim home. In 2002, he and his family converted to Christianity which led to harassment from their neighbors. Islam is the state religion in Algeria, so conversion to any other religion is considered apostasy and is punishable by death….
TEGUCIGALPA – With a total area of 43,433 square miles, it would seem that reaching everyone in a country of that size with the Gospel would be fairly easy. But then, the ability to reach people is not always defined by the square mileage in which they live. The Tolupan people, as seen in the…
Partner churches open their doors and find ‘new courage and boldness’ for evangelism as Mission Eurasia’s initiative ends amid religious freedom ban WHEATON, Ill. — Hundreds of churches in Russia are preparing to end an innovative World Cup 2018 outreach on a high note this week, despite opposition from authorities. As the world’s most popular…
MUMBAI – India Spend recently inteview Naina Lal Kidwai. Kidwai was the former head of HSBC in India, the first woman in India to become the head of a foreign bank in the country. She is the current vice-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water. She was instrumental in founding the…
PORT AU PRINCE – Haiti is a popular country for short-term missions trips because its needs are great and it is a relatively short distance for small church groups. As the pastor of a church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, said, “We want to serve the Haitians with compassion and offer real hope.” That pretty well…
GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) have collaborated to publish a new manual of guidelines for a “faith-sensitive approach” by faith-based organizations (FBOs). The 88-page document outlines guidelines by the UN-affiliated Inter-Agency Standing Committee for acceptable approaches for FBOs offering humanitarian responses to people in need around the globe….
International Day for the Unreached organizers emphasize need for whole church to respond to Jesus’ Great Commission COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – United by a single goal, the champions of missions to the unreached follow a wide range of paths in taking the gospel to those who have yet to hear of Jesus. The breadth of…
With an evangelistic message embedded, a cacao tree-raising initiative offers a welcome economic boost to rural communities COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Missionaries in South America have come up with a novel way of encouraging people to respond to the Bible’s invitation to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” They have started a project growing cacao trees—the…
