Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leader in tackling critical issues facing the extreme poor and most marginalized people in Asia today, including women’s issues, clean water challenges, leprosy, slums, child labor, plight of widows, human trafficking concerns, among numerous other topics.
Acquiring clean water is a day-to-day struggle for millions of people throughout the globe. But GFA World is leading the way in providing lasting solutions that transform thirsty communities. To date, we’ve installed over 30,000 bore wells, aka “Jesus Wells”, and distributed over 58,000 BioSand Water filters, to provide clean water to 37.5 million people in South East Asia.
More than 70,000 children in Asia otherwise at-risk of growing up illiterate and uneducated are instead receiving a daily meal, ongoing education, school supplies, and medical care through our Bridge of Hope program — all because of Christ’s love. To date, we have helped over 138,000 children, and in 2019 graduated 2,170 students from high school onto brighter futures.
Gospel for Asia points out that there are more than 250 million women in Asia today who are illiterate. It’s impossible for them to help their children with schoolwork, read road signs, the instructions on medicine bottles, understand legal papers, or read a Bible. But through our literacy programs, we taught 59,888 women to read and write in 2019 alone.
For decades, GFA-supported workers in South Asia — one of the world’s most leprosy-endemic regions — have provided physical and emotional support for victims of the disease. Leprosy cases in the U.S. are rare, but this dreadful disease afflicts more than 200,000 new victims around the world every year, mostly in India. GFA has 47 teams working with Leprosy patients through Asia.
GFA World serves Asia’s poorest of the poor in more than 870 slum neighborhoods throughout Asia. That’s an increase of more than 360 slum ministry locations since 2015.
GFA works to combat unjust discrimination, stigma and suffering endured by widows in Asia. We have 40 teams working among widows to bring them hope and tangible help.
Globally, around 736 million people are living in poverty, many of them children. Lacking adequate housing, hygiene, health care and education because they don’t have enough money, they pay a high price: disease, discrimination and, often early death.
GFA’s website tells its story, and its story is vast: To date, we’ve installed over 32,000 toilets built in some of the most underdeveloped areas, including 5,428 latrines with dual-tank disinfection systems were constructed in 2019 alone.
Noel Yeatts, President of World Help, is an active advocate for social justice and humanitarian needs around the world, discusses four unconventional resolutions to help change the world this New Year of 2020. In 2020, many of us will resolve to live better lives — eat healthier, make more money, get organized and kick bad…
Vernon Brewer, CEO and founder of World Help, a Christian humanitarian organization, discusses the good news stories that took place in 2019. There’s a trite yet true saying about the world’s fascination with negative news stories and headlines: “Good news doesn’t sell.” This saying proved painfully true in 2019 — from conflicts abroad to natural…
Samaritan’s Purse teams have been delivering more than one million gifts filled shoe boxes to children in need in Cambodia, while sharing the true meaning of Christmas. Franklin Graham, CEO and President of Samaritan’s Purse recently joined a team in the country’s capital Phnom Penh to share the good news and these gifts of joy….
COON RAPIDS, MN – When I saw a headline in The Christian Post that 5,000 people from a church in New Jersey would spend December 6 & 7 packing one million meals for an annual Christmas Outreach, I had to reread it. As I was doing my usual fact-checking, I noticed that The Parsippany Patch…
CINCINNATI, OH – Todd and Beth Guckenberger spent the first 15 years after their graduation from college in 1997 living in Monterrey, Mexico, hosting short-term missions teams. Their mission as Back2Back Ministries was to help provide resources for children in institutional orphanages in the Monterrey area. Back2Back is dedicated to coming alongside orphaned children in…
RWANDA – In 1994 during the Rwandan genocide Alex Nsengimana fled for his life and despite surviving, many of his family members were killed. But thanks to the unconditional love he received as an orphan from a number of Christian ministries Alex was able to forgive the man who killed his uncle. Today Alex’s passion…
ASIA – Gospel for Asia’s (GFA) ministry partners continued their tradition of educating and assisting people in Asia about the pervasive problem of HIV and AIDS on World AIDS Day. Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported workers use the annual December 1 day of observation as an opportunity to make people aware of the dangerous disease and…
LOS ANGELES — This past weekend, the Los Angeles Dream Center parking lot transformed into a winter wonderland complete with all the festive trimmings and filled with over 8,000 gifts, a skating rink, snow, Santa Claus, an appearance from Frozen’s Anna and Elsa, inflatables, cookies, hot cocoa and more. The Dream Center was pleased to be able to…
CAMBODIA – Samaritan’s Purse CEO and President Franklin Graham joined local church leaders in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with boys and girls while delivering gift-filled shoeboxes to them at a recent Operation Christmas Child outreach event in Cambodia’s capital. Eight-year-old Votey received a shoebox, making her one of more than 1 million children…
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – During the first two decades of the 21st Century, the lines between humanitarianism and evangelism have become blurred. Much of this can be attributed to the growing inclination toward political correctness, the revelation of the billions of people living in extreme poverty in developing (and industrialized) countries, and the increasing fascination…
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Two young men, life-long friends from Cape Coral Christian School in southwest Florida, took a trip to Haiti with Mission of Hope in 2013. The squalor they witnessed in sprawling tent cities far exceeded their worst expectations. Brett Hagler described it as “crazy.” He and Mike Arietta knew something had to…
WILLS POINT, TX — Millions of “unwanted” children in Asia crave “the gift of love and hope” this Christmas, missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) said today — as the Texas-based organization launched a Christmas season campaign to help what it calls “the forgotten ones.” Asia’s ‘unwanted children’ crave ‘Hope More than Anything Else’ at…
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on extreme poverty worldwide, how alleviation and eliminating it is possible, but it is not inevitable. If the modern world is truly a “global village,” that means everyone on earth is our neighbor—and Jesus was very clear about how we are to…
MUMBAI – Picture Time, a unique mobile Digiplex theater startup company, begins a new venture on November 14. The company has produced a film, Jhalki, about a nine-year-old girl from rural India who sets out on a journey to find her younger brother. Seeking financial help, but being illiterate, their parents unwittingly sold her brother…
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dream Center was excited to offer a way to participate in the nationwide effort of giving back this Giving Tuesday. This year, they’re looking for additional monthly donors to help support their residential programs benefiting homeless families, veterans and those recovering from addiction. With a monthly commitment of $10,…
NEW YORK – When Americans contemplate the abolition of slavery (which is not often), we immediately think of President Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. That document made slavery illegal in the United States effective January 1, 1863. Likewise, the United Nations abolished slavery worldwide on December 2, 1949, when the General Assembly adopted the…
FRANKLIN, TN – This year, the Hands & Feet Project celebrated its 15th anniversary. The project was born in a most unusual place – the back of a tour bus. Mark Stuart and Max McGinnis, co-founders of the Christian rock group, Audio Adrenaline, had been discussing what the group could do to become the hands…
SYRIA – Samaritan’s Purse is providing emergency relief to Syrian families displaced by Turkey’s recent incursion along the border. The violence has created a humanitarian crisis, displacing more than 100,000 people. Some have crossed the border into northern Iraq while others remain displaced within northeastern Syria. Samaritan’s Purse is meeting the desperate physical needs of…
AMERICA — This November 28th, families will gather together across the entire United States to celebrate Thanksgiving. After consuming a feast of turkey and dressing and an array of dishes fit for a king, fathers and sons will cheer on their favorite NFL teams while grandfathers, intending to watch, fall asleep in an overstuffed recliner….
Gospel for Asia’s ‘Forgotten Christmas’ Says ‘Put Compassion Ahead of Commercialism.’ WILLS POINT, TX — Faith-based missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) is challenging people to reject the commercialization of Christmas and instead remember Christ and His heart for Asia’s 300 million “forgotten” outcasts this festive holiday season. Last year, Americans spent an estimated $720 billion…
Missions Agency Confronts Violence Against Women During International Observance, Nov. 25 WILLS POINT, TX — A staggering one-third of women and girls around the world will suffer physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) reports, as the organization marks the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women…
WASHINGTON, DC – A recent meeting of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom declared that “Places of worship and other religious sites should be sanctuaries where worshipers feel safe to practice their faith.” Based on statements made at meetings of, or contained within documentation published by, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,…
WILLS POINT, TX – The United Nations has designated November 19 as the annual observation of World Toilet Day. The point of the day is to draw attention to the global sanitation crisis. Sanitation crisis? How bad is it? Some 4.2 billion people – over half of the world’s population – do not have access…
GENEVA – Despite the overwhelmingly good news from the World Health Organization (WHO) that two of the three wild polio virus strains have been eradicated, healthcare workers have been unable to eliminate the disease in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Recent outbreaks of polio in the Philippines is also under investigation. However, the continuing presence of the…
GENEVA — As Turkey pursues its military operation in north-east Syria, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is gravely concerned about the humanitarian impact on the people of the region. It is reported that tens of thousands of civilians are fleeing from the first waves of the Turkish attack, and that hundreds of thousands of…
NEW YORK – On my first trip to a big city (several decades ago), I saw a sign in the front window of a home. The sign had two lines of large print. The first line said, “Rooms.” The second said, “to let.” In the naivety of my youth, I thought someone had either forgotten…
BARDARASH, Iraq – More than 13,000 Syrian refugees have embarked on harrowing journeys through the conflict zones in their own country to find safety in neighboring Iraq. Their first stop across the border is the Sehela transit centre where Samaritan’s Purse staff has been present to greet them, help serve a meal, and offer them…
AZUSA, CA – What came as a shock to those who heard his announcement made perfect sense to Francis Chan. He revealed at a chapel service at Azusa Pacific University that he and his family plan to move to Asia in February 2020. The pastor, author, and in-demand Christian leader and speaker shared how the…
CAMBRIDGE, MA – According to a November 6 report in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), Takeda Pharmaceutical appears to be well on its way to producing an effective vaccine against one of the world’s top 10 threats to global health.There is currently no cure or preventative medication for dengue fever. In 2018 alone,…
TULSA, OK – Gospel for Asia released a special report written by Karen Burton Mains in September 2019. “Literacy: One of the Great Miracle Cures” discussed resolving the limitations that illiteracy places on the human spirit.Mrs. Mains explained that because we read and write, we “often take for granted the treacherous limitations illiteracy places on…
ANHUI – According to China Aid authorities have destroyed a church in China and detained its pastors. No legal papers ordering the church’s demolition were provided, but officials tore it down on Friday October 18. It could seat more than 3,000 people and was part of the country’s officially-recognized church network. The large building –…
WILLS POINT, TX — Faith-based mission agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) – on the frontlines in the fight against poverty–has released a new report declaring extreme poverty “public enemy number one,” and challenging people everywhere to help eradicate it. The release of the report – titled Poverty: Public Enemy #1: Eliminating Extreme Poverty Worldwide is…
HYDERABAD – The World Health Organization (WHO) made a significant, forward-looking announcement at a global gathering of the 50th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Hyderabad. A leading expert on the subject of tuberculosis told BBC News that a new vaccine, currently in development appears to be “a real game-changer” in providing long-term protection…
JERUSALEM — The Algemeiner, a leading publication in Israel, has unveiled its latest “Jewish 100” (J100) list—an exclusive roster of “the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year.” The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship) is pleased to announce their new President, Mrs. Yael Eckstein, 35, has…
SACRAMENTO, CA — The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) is launching a series of nationwide campaigns to protect the sanctity of human life, defend religious liberty and advocate for biblical justice. The campaigns, drawn from the NHCLC’s life, religious liberty and biblical justice directives, are a collaborative effort with some of the most influential…
NEW YORK — In an era in which places of worship have become, too often, targets for violence, United Nations officials and religious leaders gathered in New York City on to talk over plans for preventing attacks against people of faith.The event, titled “Uniting to Prevent Violence in Places of Worship,” was held at the…
FOREST, VA — World Help, an international, Christian humanitarian aid organization, is responding to the crisis in northeast Syria following the recent Turkish offensive into the country. World Help is providing emergency supplies like clean water, food, blankets and hygiene kits to refugee camps where many are fleeing. Through World Help’s partners and programs, every…
WILLS POINT, TX — While Americans take washing their hands for granted, thousands of children in Asia die every year because their families don’t wash their hands properly, mission agency Gospel for Asia (GFA) reported, marking Global Handwashing Day, October 15. Under the theme “Clean Hands for All,” Global Handwashing Day promotes the vital importance…
SOUTH ASIA – Pollution is dangerous for everyone living on planet Earth. The editors of the Lancet Medical Journal estimate that pollution causes the premature death of 9 million people every year. That’s three times the number who die from AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis combined. It is also 15 times the number who die from…
WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA) issues an extensive Special Report on the deadly diseases brought by the mosquito and the storied impact of faith-based organizations on world health, fighting for the Kingdom to “come on earth as it is in heaven.” It takes only one mosquito, buzzing around with ill intent, dive-bombing…
KERALA – Workers supported by Gospel for Asia (GFA) held rallies and gatherings across the subcontinent in observance of the International Day of the Girl on October 11. Now in its 25th year, the UNICEF-backed day was initially named the International Day of the Girl Child. The movement calls for a world “where every girl…
ROME – When the United States Secretary of State speaks, it is usually about political affairs of state. When Mike Pompeo addressed a symposium in Rome on October 2, his message was about increasing global threats to the right of religious freedom. Secretary Pompeo was a featured speaker at a symposium about the work of…
HONG KONG – Speculation about the future of Hong Kong abounded in 1997 when Great Britain handed over its governing authority to mainland China. Anxiety-ridden headlines predicted China would move swiftly to integrate the city under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When a one-country, two-systems approach was proposed, the world breathed a…
Donations will be used to fund residential expenses for hundreds of prisoners, human trafficking victims, veterans, and homeless families in 2020. LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dream Center celebrated another year of miracles this past weekend during their annual Night of Dreams on Saturday, September 28. This year’s event included many moments of reflection…
AL-HOL, SYRIA – The refugee camp at al-Hol is currently home to 70,000 refugees from the Syrian Civil War. Contained in close quarters in a space initially occupied by 9,000 persons, the population now includes about 11,000 widows, wives, and children of ISIS fighters. Local and international authorities believe that ISIS is attempting to muster…
Marking International Day of the Girl Child, October 11, Mission Agency Gospel for Asia Says Thousands of Girls in Asia Saved from Possible ‘Fate Worse than Death.’ WILLS POINT, TX — Tens of thousands of girls in Asia at risk of being sold into prostitution or slave labor have been saved from a possible “fate…
MELBOURNE, FL — Christian Care Ministry (CCM), which offers the popular Medi-Share healthcare sharing ministry, is inviting the entire community to its second annual “Day of Sharing,” a nationwide initiative to motivate and mobilize people to share their time, talent and treasure to serve others Oct. 5. The theme of this year’s event is, “Find…
Noel Yeatts, author, speaker, and the President of World Help, an international, Christian humanitarian organization, discusses the devastation Hurricane Dorian left behind in the Bahamas, the great humanitarian need, and the resilience of the people despite the crisis they have been put through. This past week I was on the ground in the Bahamas helping…
BEIRUT – Lebanon has declared a national “state of economic emergency.” President Michel Aoun told the Lebanese people, “We have to unite our efforts to come out with solutions to the economic crisis that is strangling the dreams and hopes of our people.” One of the leading factors that have driven Lebanon to the edge…
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – A high profile group of US Christian leaders visited Saudi Arabia on the eve of 9/11. During their visit, the delegation issued a statement including why their visit coincided with the 9/11 tragedy. “While it may surprise some that we would choose the week of September 11 to visit the Kingdom,…
