Gospel for Asia
Gospel for Asia (GFA) is a Christian missionary organisation founded by K. P. Yohannan in 1978, focused on spreading the Gospel to India and surrounding countries through the use of national missionaries. GFA is based in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex suburb of Carrollton, Texas.
Yohannan argues that Western missionaries are ineffective, and that it is more appropriate to provide financial support to missionaries from the relevant country.[1] Instead, Gospel for Asia supports indigenous missions; direct mission work by western churches is seen as religious neo-colonialism. GFA is also opposed to the social gospel.
In 1981, Yohannan formed a branch of GFA in his native Kerala, with an Indian headquarters being set up in Tiruvalla in 1983. It is active throughout India, especially in the North, and directly administers bible colleges, whose graduates receive financial support to found new congregations. Increasing donations made GFA "one of the most financially powerful mission undertakings in India in the 1980s."[2] GFA directly supports more than 50 Bible colleges in various countries.[2][3]
In 1993, GFA began founding its own network of Pentecostal churches in Asia,[4] including the Believers Church network in India.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Van Rheenen, Gailyn (1996). Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies. Zondervan. ISBN 0310208092. http://books.google.com/books?id=uaS2fV1FYNsC&pg=PA84.
- ^ a b Bergunder, Michael (2008). The South Indian Pentecostal Movement in the Twentieth Century. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0802827349. http://books.google.com/books?id=XGiv3riaunQC&pg=PA54.
- ^ Philip, Shaju. "An archbishop’s spiritual factory". The Indian Express. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/an-archbishops-spiritual-factory/323561/0. Retrieved January 30, 2012.
- ^ Anderson, Allan; Tang, Edmond (2005). Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic face of Christianity in Asia. Regnum Books International. ISBN 1870345436. http://books.google.com/books?id=LDZgKELq7AoC&pg=PA196.
[edit] External links
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