Gospel for Asia (GFA) is a Christian NGO founded by K. P. Yohannan in 1979, which states that they focus on helping the poor and needy in India and Asian countries through the love of Christ. The organization is located about five miles southwest of Wills Point, TX, a small community east of Dallas. The GFA says their main purpose is to support indigenous missions to "serve" the least of these in Asia ".
The GFA states that they are present in various countries, including India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Laos and Thailand. The GFA has serious allegations of delayed fraud in lawsuits aimed at closing down US offices and the charitable right to operate in India has been lifted. A US federal judge has approved the GFA ordering him to pay a Special Teacher to oversee the collection of evidence in one of the lawsuits.
Video Gospel for Asia
History
GFA was founded by K. P. Yohannan, originally in Eufaula, Oklahoma. Then move to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex suburb of Carrollton, Texas, before moving in 2013 to a 30-acre complex outside Wills Point.
In 1981, Yohannan formed a GFA branch in his home village of Kerala, with an Indian headquarters established at Tiruvalla in 1983. The GFA directly manages the college, whose graduates receive financial support to find new congregations. Increased donations make the GFA "one of the most powerful mission activities in India in the 1980s." The GFA directly supports more than 50 Bible schools in various countries.
In 1993, the GFA began setting up its own church network in Asia, which is the Church of Believers that uses the form of Polity Episcopal government.
Scholar Michael Bergunder regarded it as "One of the most influential new foundations in the second half of the twentieth century".
Maps Gospel for Asia
Program
The goal of the GFA focuses on the establishment of missionaries from missionary-served nations, with particular emphasis on Asia. The organization has set its main mission field as those living in Window 10/40, a rectangular area stretching from West Africa to East Asia and between 10 and 40 degrees north longitude. By concentrating on this region, GFA ministers become densely populated from the majority of the poor who have limited or are not exposed to the Christian faith.
Although the GFA accepts trainers for Bible translation, the ministry does not advocate the mission of the West. GFA and Yohannan opposed Western missionary shipments for three reasons:
- The high costs required to support Western missionaries (which are expected to maintain Western living standards while abroad) are believed to be a waste of resources (when compared to the costs of supporting indigenous or near-native missionaries, who will live with cultural standards are much cheaper).
- is worried that the use of Western missionaries will cause local people to believe that Christianity is the imposition of western culture and neo-colonialism.
- in the most needed areas, Westerners are generally barred from entry; where they are allowed to enter, they are severely restricted in their duties (eg permitted to help provide clean water) and are not allowed to share the gospel.
To improve efficiency and achieve its objectives, the GFA has become a store of Asian missionary donations and financial support by non-Asian cultures. The GFA manages these resources into the various programs listed below in the organization.
National missionaries
The GFA's main focus is to train and equip national missionaries. Yohannan has stated that he does not limit "national missionaries" to the formal nation-state, but rather focuses on differences in culture and language to define nationalism. This approach may result in some specialized mission groups in one nation-state, from large cities and regions to small tribes and villages. The GFA says they have more than 16,000 missionaries and church planters in more than 10 Asian countries By 2016, GFA-supported workers serve in 865 slums throughout Asia.
Church building, biblical and biblical literature
The GFA raises funds for the construction of a simple Christian center of worship in small villages to educate new students and provide a meeting place visible to Christians. However, they have built several large cathedral type buildings in major cities. Examples are St. Thomas Believers in Thiruvalla and others in the upscale Hauz Khas neighborhood. They claim about 16 churches or mission stations are created every day. Similarly, the GFA states that they distribute the original Bible and evangelical Christian literature to the region to strengthen the church and promote the proclamation of the Christian faith.
Radio and television broadcasts
Radio in Asia is a broadcast specifically designed to reach the Asian community. Yohannan boasted that the Athmeeya Yathra radio program ( Spiritual Journey ) "reaches over a billion people and is translated into 11" languages. He claims that the Road to Reality is aired on more than 900 radio stations in North America, Europe and Australia. Athmeeya Yathra has recently expanded to include television stations and print media.
Bible School
The GFA has more than 56 religious colleges that serve a variety of cultures and dialects with the aim of training indigenous missionaries in their own dialect and culture so that they will become effective ministers. The program covers three years of teaching, including instruction and field experience. They claim that more than 9,000 native missionaries have been trained through these institutions.
Bridge of Hope
Bridge of Hope is a sponsorship program for poor families in under-served communities, especially lower-caste and Dalit families. Child sponsors provide education, three meals a day, and access to medical care. The program also presents the Christian faith to children and families of children. Religious conversion is not required for participation; instead, services increase exposure to family and community. By 2016, there are 82,000 children enrolled in Bridge of Hope across Asia.
Jesus Wells
GFAs dug wells in communities where water is scarce for most or most of the year. This well was built for long-term use near church, Bible college or Bridge of Hope center, and every well managed by a local pastor. These wells provide free clean water to the individual without distinction of caste, class, social or religion. In the 2016 Special Report, the GFA reported 6,822 Jesus Wells was drilled in a community that needed clean water.
Trusted Church and Church Hospitals and Schools
BC owns and operates hospitals, colleges and public and residential schools. Most of them are non-profit companies. Narada News has reported that BC will expand their investment by building as many as 500 additional international schools. The list of what currently operates includes several hospitals and clinics, several colleges, 9 schools located in small towns in southern Rajasthan, and at least four public schools.
Controversy
Purchase of rubber plantations
The GFA and Church Trust operation was observed after the Church of Believers, under the guidance of Yohannan, purchased a 2,268 acre (9.18 km) rubber plantation in Kerala, India. Opponents say the church has diverted foreign funds to collect land for itself and for other purposes than otherwise stated. Further, it is suspected that rubber plantations, purchased by the Believed Church of Harrison's Malayalam Ltd., are from government infrastructure and are not sold. Therefore, the Church of Believers is accused of illegally holding government land. At other times, Harris's Malayalam was accused of forging their titles, which led to a continuing debate about the legality of the sale.
The legal process is still ongoing. "The former District Collector Ernakulam Dr. MG Rajamanickam, who was appointed Special Government Official to confiscate illegal land and surplus land under the custody of various companies, issued an order in May 2015, seizing 2,268 hectares of land from the Church of Believers." However, this decision was filed and there are now further complications because the local government wants to build airports in the region. News outlets report that the local government wants to buy property. However, it was also reported that "the government does not need permission from K P Yohannan to establish an airport in the Cheruvally region," said BJP national executive member V Muraleedharan. The BJP is currently behind large-scale anti-corruption measures on Black Money in India. The last status of the plantation to build the airport remains unresolved.
There are also ongoing court cases related to unauthorized filling of wetlands to build the Belief Medical University Medical University. The GFA has paid special taxes because the "substantial" amount of income is not used for the intended purpose of the fundraising. An Indian court said, "There is no dispute that substantial income from the trust of the assessors is not used by both parties judged for the purpose they form."
Yohannan said that the claim was politically motivated and that the workings of the Gospel for Asia and Believers Church were transparent. Furthermore, rubber plantations are an investment to help fund social work among underdeveloped communities and not private land grabs as stated by opponents.
Donate donation
The GFA is also accused of raising funds for charity "while secretly diverting money into a multi-million dollar personal empire."
The first controversy began in 2014 when a group of more than 100 former GFA workers formed an organization called GFA Diaspora and wrote two letters addressed to the GFA board highlighting their concerns. The existence of the Diaspora GFA became public knowledge in April 2015.
Then in October 2015, the GFA lost their 36-year membership in the advocacy group of financial standards of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, with the ECFA reporting that the GFA has not met their standards. The ECFA states that their membership is "Discontinued for failing to comply with the Standards 2 Governing, Financial Supervision Standards 3, Resource Use 4 Standards, Compensation Arrangement 6 Standards and Related Party Transactions, Truth 7.1 Standards in Communications, and Giver Standard 7.2 Expectations and Intentions". The GFA Council responded with a statement that noted "the ECFA decision was made after a special study of the gospel for Asia, and we respect the ECFA evaluation." Our response is to start a focused review and to implement the ECFA recommended improvement ". However, there has been no published action since then that shows any changes in the GFA.
There are two pending RICO anti-fraud lawsuits against GFA officers who are attempting to permanently shut down US offices. The first awaits an appeal by the GFA. The second has a court day scheduled to start a jury trial on 4/15/2019. The court case states that in 2013, "Regardless of the GFA's explicit statement that will be spent on the field of 100 percent of each designated dollar donor for the field, the GFA only spends $ 14.9 million from $ 118.6 million for real relief efforts, spending more on salary and overhead, "according to the complaint. "The Murphys (plaintiff), from Bentonville, Arkansas, says that the Gospel for Asia collected more than $ 450 million in donations from the United States alone from 2007 to 2013, most of which Yohannan transferred to his personal empire." On June 4, 2018, Federal Court Judge Brooks issued an order to sanction the GFA ordering it to pay a Special Teacher to supervise the collection of evidence for the discovery stage. Judge Brooks stated, "Therefore, the court found that the defendant's abusive behavior in this case since August was a deliberate violation on the order of his apparent discovery."
There is also a problem with the Canadian office, with one newspaper reporting that $ 90 million in donations can not be accounted for. The head of the office, Pat Emerick, was also named as a defendant in Arkansas' lawsuit. They also report that Pastor Bruce Morrison and the recently overthrown member of the GFA Council of Canada, Garry Cluley, have filed a complaint against the office with the Canadian government. There is also news that the UK GFA office has received the attention of the British Charity Commission which is their government agency that investigates charity-related fraud. The Church of Calvary Chapel Aukland, New Zealand also expelled the GFA New Zealand office from their property, allowing them to use it.
There is also controversy in India given the GFA. The Times of India has reported that "The Believers Church, founded by K P Yohannan, and three NGOs associated with it have been banned from bringing foreign funds to India with the Ministry of the Interior (MHA) canceling their FCRA registration." Money from foreign offices can no longer be legally transferred to India to support the GFA (the main problem in many GFA donations comes from western countries). In August 2017, The Hindu (a newspaper in India) reported that, "The South Indian Church (CSI) has decided to withdraw from the Kerala Council of Churches (KCC), an ecumenical forum of non-Catholic Protestant Churches in Kerala, in protest against the decision of the KCC to grant membership to the Church of Believers The latest developments should be seen in the background of the controversy over the episcopal claims of the Church of Believing that its leader, KP Yohannan, was consecrated by the CSI Church. "This is related to reports that Yohannan bribed CSI officials to sanctify it. Narada News in India reported on the matter, "The CSI senate committee investigates this issue.They come to the conclusion that their bishop is being paid a large sum of money and a luxury car for this.the Church dismissed Bishop KJ Samuel of CSI for this act."
See also
References
Bibliography
- Brodeur, Michael; Liebscher, Banning. (2013). Cultural Awakening: Prepare for the Next Great Awakening . Chapter 4. Publication of the Light of the Gospel. ISBN: 9780830765478
- Yohannan, K.P. (2004). Revolution in World Missions . Gospel for Asia Books. Carrollton, Texas. ISBN: 9781595890016
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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