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…
KERALA, INDIA – No one can comprehend the terror of a major flood until they have been personally affected by one. This is especially true of those who lose their homes, their possessions, and their loved ones to raging waters that cannot be contained. This writer has been at the sites of four floods over…
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…
GFA-supported workers rescue stranded, provide emergency supplies for India Flood victims. WILLS POINT, TEXAS —Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers are stepping up efforts to help with rescue and relief efforts in India’s flood-stricken Kerala state, as the death toll and number of displaced people in the worst flooding in nearly a century continue to climb. Though…
After hearing about the monsoon flooding in Kerala, India, the Mission Support Team serving at GFA’s headquarters in Wills Point, Texas, sprang to action to help spread awareness of the timely need. Many shifted their schedules to work long hours through the weekend to bring awareness to the devastation many are currently facing. After receiving…
KERALA, INDIA – India is experiencing monumental meteorological and geophysical problems that constantly threaten the potential of the country’s efforts to raise itself to a position of global leadership. As governmental agencies, private companies, and NGOs work consistently to improve education, healthcare, and alleviating poverty and disease, circumstances beyond the control of mankind take one…
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…
The heavy rains have mostly subsided in Kerala, India, and now, the red alert has been lifted in all 14 districts. Even though the rains have stopped in most parts of Kerala, ongoing rescue operations continue, saving those who are stranded. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported relief teams have been hard at work, caring for the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
‘Learn the Bible in a Year’ radio program offers response to Barna Group study showing downward trend in Bible literacy COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Bibles For The World (BFTW), a global ministry focused on reaching unreached peoples with the gospel in developing countries, is tackling a disturbing and growing trend — Bible illiteracy in the…
HIROSHIMA – The death toll keeps rising by the in Hiroshima Prefecture and seven other prefectures in the south of Japan. More than two million people have been forced to evacuate after record rainfalls have inundated the area. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that 14.3 inches of rain had fallen within a period of two…
HAVANA – Reports indicate that people are coming to Christ in Cuba in numbers rarely seen before. Lest we think that this is happening because of improved relationships between Cuba and the United States, we must remember that ministries from other countries have been working in Cuba for many years. The awakening that is happening…
VIENTIANE – The constitution of the nation of Laos guarantees its citizens freedom of religion. Specifically, it recognizes their “right and freedom to believe or not to believe in religion.” In addition, Laos is “a state party” to the seven core international human rights treaties under which they are obligated to “respect, protect, and fulfill…
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…
FREETOWN – Pastor Alvin Smith arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1989 with a vision to evangelize and to build a local church ministry under the auspices of The Door World Outreach based in Tucson, Arizona. The West African nation was so poor at that time, it was ranked the second-poorest in the world. He…
JERUSALEM – Drought and water shortages are plaguing nations all around the world. Blame it on whatever you choose, the need to provide adequate amounts of clean, sweet, potable water must be addressed before the local and regional water crises become a global, life-threatening crisis. Israel faces a potential crisis as the Sea of Galilee,…
WILLS POINT, Texas – The United Nations has set aside June 23rd of each year as International Widows Day “as an opportunity for action towards achieving full rights and recognition for widows. According to the UN, “It has been estimated that there are some 258 million widows around the world, with over 115 million of…
SENAU, ARUNACHAL PRADESH – Members of the Believer’s Eastern Church in Senua reached out to help about 30 widows living in the village on International Widows Day, What the church did was quite unusual, at least for westerners, yet deeply appreciated by the recipients. The Senua BEC regularly looks after the needs of widows with…
One of the widows touched by Gospel for Asia-supported teams’ help-and-hope visits speaks of her ‘beautiful house’ made possible by simple donation WILLS POINT, Texas—The message of God’s sheltering love for the destitute and disenfranchised was spelled out practically with tin sheets and umbrellas when Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported teams reached out to some of…
Imagine this: You have a teenage daughter who is brutally raped by a young man. After she tells you what happens, he kills her. Between May 5 to May 13, three Indian girls were raped and burned alive. The first victim was kidnapped by a group of men in Jharkhand while her parents were at…
NEW YORK CITY – Wednesday, 20 June 2018, is World Refugee Day. The day is especially important because there is, as most people know, a global refugee crisis. The crisis is compounded by the emotional and political conflict regarding the status of refugees. More about that in a minute. First, here are some facts about…
ABUJA – The country of Nigeria is an enigma. While, on the one hand, the Nigerian Minister of Health announced today that the country’s efforts to eliminate polio within its borders “are beginning to yield results, considering the fact that we have spent 18 months without a case of poliovirus,” the country stands at the…
by Lou Gutheil, Gospel for Asia (GFA) guest writer “You fathers–if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? Or if they ask for an egg, do you give them a scorpion? Of course not!” (Luke 11:11-12 NLT) One of His disciples had asked Jesus to teach them how to…
Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported Bridge of Hope centers help campaign for brighter future for youngsters at-risk for child labor in some of Asia’s impoverished communities WILLS POINT, Texas—In a part of the world where many children are valued only for the small amount of money they can earn through long hours of hard work in…
Believers Eastern Church served a hot, nutritious meal to 150 men and women working in a brick factory on International Workers’ Day, May 1, to encourage and show God’s love. Pastor Aapt and the leader of the local Women’s Fellowship, Chadna, led the food distribution. Many of the people in this area serve as laborers…
YANGON – Life goes on as normal for Christians and Muslims in Myanmar, just as life goes on as normal for Christians and Muslims in America. Normal is the operative word because what is normal for them is at the extreme opposite of what normal is for us. We often refer to normal as “the…
GENEVA – June 12, 2018, is World Day Against Child Labor. The annual event is sponsored by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is intended to “direct attention to the plight of child laborers with the hope of one day being able to end all forms of child labor that may exist in the world…
