Gospel for Asia

Fulmala Ekaja's life was changed on a day that seemed to be like any other. She was going through many difficulties even though her family had been worshipping their traditional gods and goddesses. However, instead of bringing peace, these gods only brought disorder within her family. Some of her relatives confessed they had cast an evil spell on her, and that was why her family members were so disturbed.

Hoping to find a solution to her family's problems, she went to a local temple in search of a priest. However, on her way to the priest, some of Gospel for Asia's Women's Fellowship sisters stopped to talk to her. When they heard about her family, they had compassion. These sisters began to share their testimonies about how they had also lived in darkness but were now blessed in the Lord Jesus. As they shared and read the Word of God to her, Ekaja's heart began changing.

When four Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries set out to share the Good News on March 12, they didn't know that a few hours later they would be arrested in a foreign country.

Samarth Tamang, Bijoy Saxena, Stephen Singh and Sushmita Choudhary embarked at 9 a.m. to preach the gospel in a village in their state. While they were distributing gospel tracts there, they noticed a nearby village—across the border, in a neighboring country. Feeling burdened to reach the people in this country, they went there after finishing their work in the first village.

They gathered their courage and headed across the border—even though they knew it would be dangerous. When they arrived, they started handing out gospel tracts to the villagers.

Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Vin Kumal was the subject of a police inquiry after someone in his village accused him of bribing people and forcing them to convert to Christianity.

Kumal was summoned and met with a local police officer who asked him a lot of questions regarding the complaint. Kumal told the truth—that he is not offering bribes or forcing anyone to change their religion against their will. He shared the love of Jesus and the story of the gospel, telling the officer that the love of Jesus is a free gift that can only be accepted by a willing heart.

The officer was satisfied with Kumal's answers and released him.

Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries frequently face accusations of bribery and forced conversions. The allegations usually arrive when the person making the accusation sees many people turn to Christ. The complaints must be investigated because many areas of South Asia have so called "freedom of religion" laws. These laws spell out stiff penalties for anyone convicted of converting someone by means of "fraud or allurement." Christians are often accused of breaking these laws.

A group of people from a fanatical religious organization shut down a church construction project in Delhi, India, on May 20.

The building was near completion with only a few finishing touches remaining when the leader of the anti-Christian group arrived on the site and said: "You cannot build any church building in this village. You are only allowed to construct a house to live in, not a church."

Because of this instigation, construction has stopped. Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Satyankar Gedam, pastor of the congregation planning to meet in the building, faces discouragement.

About 190 youths from southern India gathered for a three-day camp, where Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Daniel J. taught from the verse 1 Timothy 4:12. He encouraged the boys and girls to be an example in all areas of their lives by breaking down the verse and putting it in practical ways for the teens to understand and apply to their lives.

"A common statement we hear from parents, neighbors, friends and everyone around when a youngster gets into trouble is 'Oh, it's OK; he's young,'" said Daniel. "But it's not OK! The Bible says to youngsters in 1 Timothy 4:12: 'Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity'" (NIV).

Banko is a Gospel for Asia-supported missionary serving the Lord in South Asia. But he doesn't have just one place of ministry. He is a film team missionary, taking the movie about the life of Christ to villages where few people, if any, know Jesus.

One village that Banko visited had no Christian witnesses. With the help of a GFA-supported pastor who worked nearby, Banko planned a film show for this village. The two missionaries walked throughout the village, handing out tracts and inviting the villagers to the film show that night. The Lord blessed their efforts, and more than 200 people came to watch this powerful film.

Josep Batti was struggling.

The 42-year-old husband and father of three didn't have a steady job. He was more than willing to work, but the only jobs he could find were temporary day-laborer jobs. And that was only on the days he was lucky. Some days he came home empty handed with no way to buy food to feed his family.

He tried driving a rickshaw, and while he was able to get plenty of fares, the daily rental on the rickshaw consumed all his earnings.

To deal with the anguish in his life, Batti turned to drinking. Since liquor is cheap and abundant in his hometown, it was always easy to drown his sorrows.

In spite of his problems with alcohol, Batti, his wife and all three children professed faith in Christ. This created a lot of disharmony in his family.

Dhanishta Jode ended up homeless because of her faith.

She belongs to the congregation of Gospel for Asia-supported pastor Saroj Nanda and loves Jesus—but most of her relatives do not. They follow a religion traditional to their area.

When one of her relatives died, Jode's husband told her to take part in a burial ritual that involved bowing down to idols. Believing it was against God's law, Jode humbly refused, which angered her husband. He started to violently beat her.

Sharda's demonic possession was agonizing. The demon torturing her wouldn't allow her to stay in one place, and sometimes Sharda couldn't even breathe properly. Although her parents tried many things to free her from the demonic oppression, they didn't know how to solve the problem. Sharda seemed trapped in the clutches of the evil spirit.

As a last resort, Sharda's parents took her to a witchdoctor who advised them to sacrifice 18 hens to appease their traditional deities. After the sacrifice, instead of improving, her condition regressed. Still, her parents took the advice of neighbors and relatives and continued taking her to supposed sources of help, like temples and witchdoctors. Nothing worked—until someone pointed Sharda to the church of Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Sanjiv Reddy.

During winter in India's capital, New Delhi, temperatures can dive to surprisingly low points—below 40 degrees Fahrenheit—and these freezing temperatures cause many problems. At least three people in New Delhi have died due to cold-related problems since December 26.

The chilling weather proves especially dangerous to Delhi's large homeless population, which a local newspaper numbered to be between 67,000 and 150,000 people.

Around Christmastime, believers in Gospel for Asia (GFA)-supported congregations decided to offer warmth to this particularly vulnerable group of people. The Women's Fellowship team bought 40 blankets, and the believers ventured out after 10 p.m. to distribute the coverings to people sleeping along the bitter-cold streets.

Basanta Kanher grew up in a traditionally religious home, but he didn't put much faith in his family's religion. Instead, he wanted to learn more about the other religions of the world, and he did that by spending a lot of time listening to different religious programs on the radio.

Basanta lived in a remote area where radio was the latest technology, so he listened quite frequently when he wasn't out in the fields working to take care of his wife and three children.

Discovering Truth?One day, a Gospel for Asia-supported radio program came on the air. He listened as the pastor preached God's Word in his own language. Intrigued, Basanta began listening to the program every day. The relevancy of the pastor's sermons spoke to Basanta's heart. He called the station and spoke to the pastor, telling him how much he and his family enjoyed the program and eagerly waited for it to air.

Witchcraft is as common as water in the village where Saroja and her husband live.

The villagers practice witchcraft hoping it will give them permanent relief from the sickness and difficulties that plague their lives. They also believe worshiping their many gods and goddesses will help them attain a complete transformation in their bodies, minds and spirits.

But that wasn't the case for Saroja. All of this spirit worship opened her up to demonic forces that took control.

When Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Chellamani Rai found out about Saroja's condition, he asked the family to bring her to a small church in their village. There the couple was met by a group of believers who prayed for Saroja's freedom from the evil spirit's attacks. The Lord answered their prayers and immediately delivered her!

The children of South Asia are among the most vulnerable in the world. The United Nations estimates that 1 million Asian children are traded every single day. In India alone, 45,000 children are reported missing each year. Thousands more are missing, but their families have not reported their absence to authorities.¹

The majority of these missing children come from Dalit ("Untouchable") families, from tribal areas or from families that live in extreme poverty.²

Children in South Asia go missing for many reasons. Some are abducted by strangers and put into forced labor. Others are trafficked or exploited in the sex trade or sold to other families to work as domestic help. Some missing children have simply run away from home or were forced to leave home because of difficult circumstances, such as the death of a parent or the introduction of a stepparent into the household.³

Nadish Sabharwal, a student in a Gospel for Asia Bridge of Hope center in India, escaped from his kidnappers in February 2010, after being held captive for more than two years. Nadish and a roommate were able to escape when their kidnapper failed to lock the door of the room in which he kept them. The kidnapper, who was also holding other children captive, was sentenced to life in prison for his crimes.

Nadish was only nine years old when he was snatched in December 2007. He had run away from home after his mother scolded him for not devoting enough effort to his schoolwork. Nadish, like thousands of other runaway children, was living in a large railway station in one of India's largest cities. It was there that an elderly man befriended the confused little boy and took him to his home village.

But Nadish did not find a loving home. He ended up in the hands of a landlord who made Nadish a child slave. This nine-year-old boy went from singing about Jesus in a Bridge of Hope center to living as a prisoner and cleaning up animal waste all day. When Nadish finished his daily work, his captor locked him in a room and gave him just a tiny amount of food to eat. He was forced to sleep near the animals he cleaned up after.

Two churches served by Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries are in danger of being demolished due to confusion over who owns the land.
The churches are both in northwest India. The church buildings, along with hundreds of homes and medical clinics, are involved in a confusing legal quagmire.

The residents of the homes, businesses and churches in this area were reported to have been served with eviction notices stating they had to move out of their homes in April. The residents, business owners and congregations were told that their homes and church buildings were built on land that really belongs to the government. Most of the people have lived in this area for 30 years.