GFA workers safe in earthquake zone, many reaching out to victims

India (MNN) — As people continue counting the dead along the Pakistan, Indian and Afghanistan boarder, Christians are wondering how their outreaches have been affected.

Gospel for Asia has 54 Bible colleges on the subcontinent. One of them was in Jammu, near the epicenter of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake. GFA’s President KP Yohannan, speaking from northern India says, “By God’s grace, so far, we have not heard any of our believers or missionaries (have) lost their lives, but we are not sure about that because a lot of earthquake areas we are not able to get any information because of the government restrictions.”

Yohannan says their Bible school was severely damaged, but that hasn’t stopped them from ministry. “About 30 or 40 of our students and missionaries are right now, around the clock, working among the victims in the immediate area, trying to help them with all kinds of things.”

This earthquake may allow GFA to do even more to help the victims. “They are working with the Pakistani embassy, seeking permission for us to maybe have 50 of our people to go into Pakistan with supplies and help, to minister to the people that are suffering the most at this time in this part of the work,” say Yohannan.

Reaching out in this area of the world is difficult for Christians, says Yohannan. “These are very hard and difficult Muslim communities and as our people are going in there right now, they’re going very carefully, carrying God’s Word. Yet, they are sensitive. Each one (is) going there with prayer and commitment to share the solution: Jesus is the only hope even in the midst of all despair and hopelessness.”

GFA needs your financial help. Yohannan says the earthquake in Gujarat a few years ago, last year’s tsunami, the flooding in Bombay in July, and now this, has made emergency assistance difficult. Yohannan doesn’t understand why there’s so much trouble in the region. “I don’t know how to explain it, but it looks like it’s happening all the time, another sign maybe the Lord’s coming is a lot closer than we realize.” And, that makes helping in this unreached area of the world even more urgent.

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