India’s Income Tax Department last week raided the residence and offices of Gospel for Asia Founder and President K.P. Yohannan and his Believers Church, looking for evidence of tax fraud. That’s according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and multiple Indian media outlets.
The tax authority said it had received credible information that Yohannan and his various trusts had illegally used tax-exempt foreign donations intended for helping the poor and destitute for personal and real estate transactions.
The search-and-seizure action took place at 66 places of worship, schools and colleges led by Yohannan, including Believers Church’s headquarters at Thiruvalla, a medical college, and a hospital in Kerala, according to the statement.
Searches also took place in Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chandigarh, Punjab and Telengana.
Unexplained cash of approximately 60 million rupees, or about $807,000, was found during the search, including more than $518,000 in a place of worship in Delhi. The Hindu reported nearly $77,000 in rupees was found in the trunk of a car near the church’s headquarters.
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Government officials said the group operates about 30 trusts across the country, many of which have been found to “exist only on paper” and are suspected of being used to re-route funds.
They said the group allegedly inflated expenses including purchases, construction expenses, real estate development expenses, and salaries with the help of other parties, who would return the inflated amount in cash. Some of the alleged co-conspirators also were involved in the search action.
Believers’ Eastern Church’s computer records are under investigation, the tax authorities said, and related documents have been seized.
The church’s United States-based partner Gospel for Asia (GFA), also headed by Yohannan, called reports of unethical behavior “thinly sourced and unsubstantiated.” The group noted in a statement that GFA is a separate, legal entity operating under U.S. law and has no offices in India, according to The Christian Post.
Gospel for Asia has been the subject of controversy for nearly a decade. In 2015 it was stripped of its membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. In 2019 GFA settled a $37-million lawsuit over the misuse of funds, and earlier this year a $100-million lawsuit was filed against GFA’s Canadian partner.
Anne Styche is a freelance writer, copy editor, proofreader and content manager.
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32 Responses
And this is going to just make things more dangerous and more difficult for other Christian organizations — like the one I’m affiliated with — to work in India. This is playing directly into the hands of the Hindu nationalists who want to see all funds for Christian orgs from outside of India banned, whether or not they’re involved with conversion.
I agree with International Worker. I don’t know the veracity of these allegations, but the church in India faces real opposition. Please pray for our sisters and brothers there.
What?? Indians can do well by themselves. They are not dependent on outsiders for their Christian survival. How egotistical of Westerners to think Indians can’t take care of themselves. I hate to remind you Westerners…India had Christianity way before the Western world did. They did fine without us in the past. I am sure Indians don’t want corruption in their organizations yet you are saying ..keep it intact. Do outsiders have the right to make that call? You are insinuating that Indians shouldn’t obey their government? Where is that in the Bible? Please educate us.
Yes, one of the biggest tragedies here (in addition to donors being misled and funds going to build an empire rather than to kingdom purposes) is that Yohannon’s operation being so crooked gives more excuses for the Hindu nationalists in power in India to act against the many non-corrupt Christian organizations trying to minister there.
Looks like Yohannan joins the ranks of fraudsters and charlatans like JMac, Benny Hinn, Joel Olsteen, Ken Copeland and the like. Religion is a good business.
Why should we automatically believe an accusation against our brother?
You shouldn’t believe that a foreign government is doing the right thing? What proof do you have to assume that?? There is PLENTY proof KP is a thief and con. There are Christians in Kerala that called for KP to be investigated. Do you believe your real brother and sisters in India or the fake ones???!! Have you bothered to research this more and seen the many believers that say this man and his whole organization is a fraud? Wow! Are you on the payroll or something?????? You are actually telling believers to not believe the Indian government! Can you imagine an Indian telling an American believer to not believe our government?? This is a slippery slope. Do Westerners really want to poke their nose in that? Do you think that position is going help Christians in India or hurt them in the long run? Think.
We shouldn’t forget Francis Chan’s connection to Yohannan.
Sometimes settling a case even though your not guilty saves the integrity of the organization and allows Gods word to continue . You only have to look at how Yohan dresses to know he doesn’t belong to the line up of the other criminals you mentioned they all wear expensive suits ( birds of a feather flock together ) .
As a FORMER donor to Gospel for Asia….they have IGNORED my several letters and emails…asking for TRANSPARENCY on how the several donations I sent…was being used in accordance to their “claims of providing relief to the least of them.”
From someone who has been on this story since before Prof. Throckmorton made this public, this is some very big news. One report from India said that the final amount was much higher than what is reported here in black money-cash-seized from the 66 locations (interesting number right there) which reported 145 million rupees or close to 2 million US.
But other things you should know that came from my source within a legit charity in India: They said that about 80 percent of the native “Christians” they would never entrust any money to because they have no scruples about lying and defrauding others. Also their remarks about the culture being a kleptocracy where no one appears to have any conscience about lying or cheating on taxes, so much that they would not recommend a single charity that is not managed by someone outside that kind of culture. Many other charities there are just as bad, but just smaller in size.
Also, they have feelers out all over India and could find no clear proof of real persecution. Yes, there is violence but when a bishop or priest lies, steals or commits things we would call crimes is that really persecution if they get arrested or beat up by offended parties? So do not believe the line of a couple of others commenters here. They may just be afraid the tax department might look into their charity next. My source knows of no direct real persecution for righteousness inside the country, though they cannot rule out that it has never happened ever. So be very cautious when any native from a kleptocracy comes begging for cash or claims persecution. India is not the only country like this. Also do realize that giving Mammon is not really the way to spread the Holy Spirit around the world? Those are two very different Spirits. I only wish we would realize that..
Have you been to India or met any pastors from India? There is persecution in parts of India. And there are godly Indian pastors and trustworthy ministries led by Indian ministry leaders. I would encourage you to think about the missiology and view of culture that you are sharing. What are some of the redemptive characteristics of Indian culture that your contact respects?
They work with pastors from India and they would not trust 80 percent of them with any significant amounts of cash. And they know of no true persecution directly from any of their contacts which they have all over the country. But if you are working there you should already know the severe levels of corruption that can be found everywhere and in every faith. The fact that you are complaining about persecution, without giving clear evidence, instead of echoing how corrupt the kleptocracy culture is what I hear. You sound just like KP which speaks volumes on this blog…
Excuse me, are you talking to me? What you wrote has very little to do with what I wrote. I asked what your contacts see of the redemptive characteristics of Indian culture. What do your contacts love about the people they are called to serve and the place where they are called to serve?
I see from another comment that you are not dismissing this as “merely persecution” or unimportant. But what you are failing at here is two things. First of all you do not know who you are speaking with and secondly, you are completely out of touch with what is appropriate to comment on in blogs. You are not alone as the others also mention “persecution.” But this post is not about persecution but about what was the second largest missions org. in the world being a complete fraud! Let stay on topic instead of wondering off onto the excuse this org. has been using for not being transparent in its finances. When Roy posts up a piece specifically on that topic, then I will comment in length as I have worked for a big international org that specializes in raising money for that and it is a fraud with continuing allegations of child abuse as what some of the “charity funds” have actually been used for.
First off, I am the former donor who first contacted Prof. Warren Throckmorton and got him interested in covering GFA. His involvement started the snowball running down hill 5 and a half years ago to where we are now. GFA has chosen to settle out of court instead of face a jury in the US when a fraud based lawsuit was brought against it. It is being investigated in Canada and New Zealand by those governments on the same basis. And now the India Income Tax Department has seized, according to the latest news report I read, 145 million rupees in black money that was illegally smuggled into the country. According to Warren, news is that KP and his immediate family fled India shortly before the raids happen. No doubt someone in the IT wanted a big bribe and so leaked the news so that he could not be arrested there on fraud charges. Some Indians claim KP is a billionaire in US Dollars. He is certainly a Billionaire in Rupees so that goes a long way in a kleptocracy. I have been on this since before anyone other than the GFA Diaspora knew. I have been arguing with various GFA cronies for years on Warren’s blog and others about this phantom “persecution” such that KP, I am told, does not even need body guards. That speaks volumes.
Secondly, there are inappropriate things to comment on in blogs. For instance here on one of the Pastor Lentz posts to comment on why there is some supposedly “appropriate” legitimate reason to cheat on your wife would be wholly out of bounds. Would you not agree? There is no excuse for cheating. Not on your wife. And not for any Christian charity having black money that is breaking legitimate laws inside any country in the world. Also, it would not be appropriate to comment on legitimate reasons to kill someone else on a post here about some pastor being murdered, leaving behind grieving family members. In this case, there can be legitimate reasons to kill, but a post about some gruesome murder is not the place nor the time. My reality is that over the years I supported several native missionaries through GFA and all the evidence is that I was sent stock pictures they took that could be anyone in India. They were probably pictures of Hindus. I was sent fake letters likely written by some poor “Christian” who is a liar, and according to Jesus Christ will be sentenced permanently to a Lake of Fire for doing that. Participating in obvious fraud just to feed your family is no excuse. The Apostles of the first generation certainly would have condemned those actions. Bringing up the number one excuse is simply the wrong thing to talk about when the subject is a fraud that exceeds a Billion US dollars and is likely the biggest crime ever of this type!
Beyond all that, your question is irrelevant to this topic. My contacts had been there for over two decades and obviously feel that helping the 20 percent minority who can be trusted with money, and therefore according to the scriptures can also be trusted with “the true riches,” are worth dedicating their lives to in ways very few Americans ever would. They want to redeem a people who are exceedingly corrupt, so much so that they could never find anyone who would rent them a flat without demanding black money under the table. They hate the growing culture of violence which knows no religious bounds. They hate all of the scammers running charities in the country, mostly by native Indians. They actually feel sorry for the scammed foreign donors! This is not something I have seen anywhere else, including inside the GFA diaspora so I am impressed with that. And this article is not about what is good in Indian cultures. I know there are many different ones and it is not the positive things that will get them cast into hell. The same could be said about US culture. There are positive things but none of those is going to save anybody. God did not put me in the world to praise it, but to love it enough to be brave enough to confront that which is sending dying people to hell each day. My call is to that which labels itself Jesus’ church, most of which are committing sins and not repenting of them that, according to Jesus and the scriptures, will condemn them also to hell.
If you have been to India you know that millions and millions of Christian Indians go to church every Sunday without mishap. You must know that thousands upon thousands of Indian Believers share their faith freely and effectively. If you have been to India you have to know that Gideons are able to get into schools with Bibles and sometimes a lot easier than we can here in America. If you have been to India you must know that many South Indians have been missionaries to North India effectively. With all these positives you have to be aware of the vast corruption going on inside and outside of the church. The Indians themself acknowledge it. Why are you denying it? If you have been to India you do not know this? Do you think you help or hurt India by denying it? https://efionline.org/2011/08/22/corruption-a-crisis-of-our-nations-character/
The Gospel For Asia (GFA WORLD) “ministry” controlled by K.P. Yohannan is primarily a shell enterprise masquerading itself as a Christian charitable organization. Its ongoing mission is to defraud donors by misrepresenting themselves as a christian ministry whose purpose is rasing funds to provide material and spiritual relief to the poor.
INSTEAD and under this guise GFA’S leadership purposely redirects the vast majority of donated funds to enrich K.P Yohannan and family materially rather than GFA’s adverised use. The pictures they use of poor people that they are suppossed to be helping are paid actors playing a part.
These people portraid are always the same individuals although the are supposed to be in various locations around the word. It’s all a front to decieve the donors.
The majority of GFA’s donations are always diverted for K.P Yohannan’s own personal empire building. Expendatures such as PERSONAL PROFIT hospitals, rubber plantations, professional soccer team, schools and even a Catholic like religion called the Believers church that he purchased and subsequently enthroned himself as the supreme pontiff. Athe images of his bishops kissing his ring in public are horrendous.
To the western donors he wears a suit and tie. To the donors in the east he dresses like a pope wearing scarlet robes, ENTHRONED ABOVE HIS followers AS THEY WORSHIP HIM . CULT LIKE.
GFA WORLD and K.P Yohannan do exactly what that Acts chapter 5 account of Ananias and Sapphira did.
Audited financial reports show for example that GFA raised 93.5 million dollars in Canada from 2008-14 and then supposedly forwarded the money to India. However the Indian Government reports that GFA claimed no income whatsoever from Canada in the corresponding time frame. The money just disappeared.
A major court case has been lost in theUSA against GFA for massive donor fraud. Canada and India are also investigating K.P Yohannan and GFA for gross misappropriation of donor funds.
Every single notable Christian leader that was on their board of directors has abandoned them after learning of these serious allegations. Even the ECFA has removed them from their list of accreted charities after examining the many irregularities, inconstistances and gross misrepresentation of what they were allegedly doing with the donations.
I have known K.P. as Christian brother and friend since we first worked together on Operation Mobilization Rajasthan and other village-level campaigns back in 1966-67. There is no doubt that very professional Hindu propagandists are working to destroy him and his ministry in India. It remains one of the finest Christian organizations in India and here in the USA as well.
Baloney. he is a proven crook.
I met K.P. personally at a dinner gathering in the early 2000’s and I tend to believe that he was sincere at that time. I am grieved by what has happened since then. You have known him for decades, but I would ask you to consider the possibility that the things being shared about GFA are true, rather than simply saying that these things cannot possibly be true. In my opinion, there is too much documentation for your position to be tenable in not even considering the concerns being raised.
You are being just as sincere and transparent as KP are you not Dr. Pastor Billy Bray? What you are not telling people is that you wrote the book Revolution in World Missions that has KP’s name on it. I am one of many who bought that book thinking it was written by KP, but it is your book is it not? You participated in a lie and you still have no conscience about it? And you call yourself a Christian missionary? Baloney!
You are not defending him so much as your own damned by God pride! You are old and refuse to repent for being so instrumental in a billion dollar plus scam. As one who bought that book and gave money that was diverted and supported “missionaries” who did not even exist, I want an apology. You owe that much to the entire body of Christ.
For others here is the source that names KP’s ghostwriter: https://www.wthrockmorton.com/2016/03/22/veteran-missionary-claims-co-authorship-of-gospel-for-asia-founder-k-p-yohannans-first-three-books/
I wonder how much Mammon Bray got for all the books he wrote but did not put his name on?
When was the last time you saw and worked with KP? Did you give him large sums of money? How did you meet? What is your proof that KP and his organization is fine if you only worked with it 50+ years ago? Why would you smear Hindus when those are the very souls we are trying to reach in India? Don’t you think by smearing Hindus they might not be receptive to receiving Christians and the Gospel? Don’t you think you will make it harder for Indian Christians by calling names? Maybe they might not like foreign workers if Americans say nasty things about them? Why should India open their doors if you do that? Do you think that helps us foreigners get the Gospel to those very people you smear? You are defending a man, and his organization, who have proven to be corrupt and making it harder to get the Gospel out. I don’t think that is a good strategy.
And if you look into the rubber plantation purchase you will see if was shady too. Once money leaves America the audit company, or CPA, here is no longer responsible for it. An American organization working in India can be clean on this side and dirty as all get go on the Indian side. KP also had a raid in a place he was at in the Middle East years ago. He visits often because many Kerala people work in that area. His wife is German and they are in that country as well. KP has bank accounts all over and shell organizations he can direct funds in and out of. He knows the game and he also knows it would be hard to follow the paper trail. I believe Australia closed down his operations there. He learned how to get groups of people to fly out of one country into India with cash by bypassing laws. He just divides all the cash up among several people. This is how Muslim terrorist get cash into India. Believers willingly go along with this scam. Most are naive, young adults who are lying to officials and putting themselves in danger. No records of cash from various countries coming into India. I believe his brother, or uncle, was caught with large sums of foreign unexplain cash and they kicked him out of the Congress party after his arrest.
KP donated money to a project that PM Modi had concerning the Ganges, one of those Hindus that are famously out to get KP, and the whole idea flopped because Indians have been reading American news on him. Now why would Christian KP give lots of money to Prime Minister Modi, who is a HIndu that cames from the RSS branches in his youth, yet claim those very Hindus are persecuting him and his followers? Hmmmmm?? Keep in mind that Modi is the equvilant of our President of the USA. How many of you can hand deliver a check to our American president? KP sure moves in high Hindu circles in government don’t you think? Do you seriously think he is the object of their persecution? Yet he and his followers often smear, and complain, those Hindus are after him. Don’t believe those people you Westerners. KP good….Hindus bad. Don’t you think that maybe, just maybe Hindus don’t like being smeared? Just maybe this might not be the best way to get on some people’s good side? I really feel sorry for the common Christian Indian that is working his bum off and he has to compete with this KP rubbish. The whole thing falls out on his head or foreigners trying to reach Indians with the Love of Christ. KP is the one causing more problems than anyone else in India. He sure is not bridging any gaps between India and America. Americans that cover for him are not helping win over Indians to truth and light.
KP doesn’t respect any country’s laws, or rules, yet we are to believe the governments are the bad actors? His excuse for not obeying the laws is those Hindus in government are after him yet he donates money to those very same people. Does any of that make sense? If KP was being persecuted by Hindus in government why would he walk right up to them and wave a check in their face? Don’t you think he would lay low and out of sight? I think I would. KP, and his co-workers, sure are high profile for being persecuted and harrassed. I don’t ever recall them having body guards or any type of protection. KP has regularly had local government officials to his home and events yet these are the folks that are after him and his followers? Don’t believe me. Go research and see the pictures. KP is seen on Indian TV as well. Seems he is wearing a sign saying ..here I am. Come persecute me. He travels freely in and out of India. If he is in such danger wouldn’t they pick him up at the airport? Believer’s church folks travel freely. It hardly looks like they are being persecuted or harrassed. It looks to me that they ALL live a good life on your dime.
It was KP brother who was running a scam about a foreign currency that was old and obsolete so it was actually worthless. https://www.ucanews.com/news/police-arrest-brother-of-asias-richest-evangelizer/69053
Looks like fraud and pursuit of earthly power is the Punnoose family business (what the P in KP actually stands for.)
Mr. J , I think the brother’s son was caught with women. He had a bunch of cell phones and super nice car for a young dude when they arrested him. I know some Indians claim KP is a billionaire, not sure of that but he has millions. He had so many for profit schools and then that hospital/medical school in Kerala with nice medical equipment, which is not easy to have shipped into India. He has to pay a heavy tax to get it in or he bribe someone. I am sure the Indian government wants their taxes and back taxes. The paper said he had 30 trusts and way back he only had 14. He has property all over India according to old news stories. Many of his churches are very wealthy areas. So much for serving the poor. I only wish all those Christian leaders would come forward and share their views on it. I know KP took so many on trips to India to show them his “work”. KP was very good at making people believe he was doing so much for the people of India. Sad he only use them as a backdrop for his frauds.
Baloney, he is certified crook and you, ‘Kay’ know it.
Go to http://www.gfadiaspora.com for documented proof of exactly what kind of person KP Yohanan is and how GFA operates.
Read Warren Throckmorton’s blog (https://www.wthrockmorton.com/category/gospel-for-asia/) for complete coverage of the facts surrounding GFA & Believers Eastern Church.
As someone who personally worked at GFA, saw first-hand how KP operates, was there every step of the way throughout the original lawsuit, and saw all of the evidence presented during the proceedings, I can attest that if lying lips are an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 12:22) then the actions of KP Yohanan and GFA/Believers Eastern Church are an abomination to Him as well.
To sum this up there are a few educated people who have learned some facts and are bringing them out on this blog, and five people who have likely profited from this scam or some other similar one, and boy are those profits huge! who are saying persecution, evil Hindus, do not trust the Indian government! Welcome to the kleptocracy where fake overseas Christians want to keep taking more suckers right to the bank! So truth flies out the door as the gods of Mammon and Lying takes it place. This is truly an evil world.
Beware those who sugarcoat reality overseas and whom claim that money is the only problem in “reaching the lost.” The real problem is the lack of people with integrity whom are actually operating in the right Spirit. The world is not being reached because the Holy Spirit is what is lacking in enough of the people claiming to be Christians. This is equally true in both foreign and native missionaries. No one comes to the Father unless drawn by the Holy Spirit. And how will they be drawn when narcissism with its lying, abuse, manipulation and outright idolatry is what all non-Christians see from all the “Christian” celebrities all over the world? Romans 2:14, “No wonder the Scriptures say, ‘The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.’”
A few thoughts from India:
1. I have not met KP, but I see GFA all over the place. I have friends there. I have spoken there many times. Their only target is numbers and photos. There is zero importance to quality. Many people they recruit, train and even pastors there are all of poor quality and many of them are unbelievers. On important occasions, they bring in people from everywhere to fill the place – most of them not knowing why they are there. Their projects are of very poor quality again. And most of the workers are paid peanuts.
2. When you recruit people like that – it is understandable that about 80% of them are corrupt!
3. I know organizations and people who work hard, have little but are still very faithful.
4. There is persecution in India, although some of them could be avoided. But many incidents go unreported or managed secretly.
5. I think, we don’t need western money. God has blessed us enough. There is enough money to meet our basic needs. We don’t need to upgrade or invest. Let us stay simple and focus on the important good news. I think it is okay to struggle, it is okay to starve, it is okay to walk, it is okay to get sick. Excess money or money that we have not worked hard for makes us turn evil / greedy.
6. Westerners can pray for us or come work with us. Our needs are different. Money is not the requirement.
7. Please don’t look at us as projects.
8. And we are once again sorry that another Indian has duped many.
This is just my expierence and thoughts on your comments. I don’t think anyone is an expert because India is a large land with many different people groups. We are all learning together although I think most of us agree that KP has engaged in criminal activity. We will see if the Indian government will hold him accountable like court systems in other lands.
1. Most Christians that are highly educated and have jobs are not looking to work for a Christian ministry. That is a bit different than Western worlds. Many times an educated man can make more by starting a large ministry and getting foreign funds. They basically absorb many small guys to make their ministry look large to foreigners. The pool of workers for any ministry is small. India has a lot of Christians even though % are small but they are concentrated in certain areas. In the South you will find multi-generational believers, their grandparents will be believers, but in the North you will find a lot of new, inexperienced babes in Christ. Most Bible colleges are located in the South which gives them greater access to Christian education. Most Southern Christians have gone to Christian schools and have more education than Northern Christians.The internet helps in education but it is not enough. It is a common practice for Indians to work for many Christian organizations so the tendency is to pay low because the ministry is basically getting a parttiime worker. Many organizations give housing, car, food or other allowances in additon to pay. This doesn’t have to be claimed on taxes unless that has recently changed. Many, many ministry workers are on facebook and other social media sites gathering money from people they target on these sites and foreigners gladly give not knowing the whole story. Many Indians mistakenly think because they are born into a Christian family they are therefore automatically Christian. There are many rice Christians that merely are Christian so they can get money or something else. Naive foreigners feed into this game sad to say. I think this is a double edge sword and to be honest it takes two to tango. When we talk about India we have to take into consideration that there really is many Indias that make up the whole India.
2. Corruption is a concept that is really accepted in India. Many in India think it is sign of being clever or smart. Most Christians are less corrupt than other groups and that is a big problem. They compare themselves to others rather than the Bible. But this is also a human condition. Many Embassies will only allow expats to work in India for 2-4 years because they have seen expats adopt corrupt practices in running their organzations. So it is a problem for most that work in India. The culture seeps in and there has to be strict accountablity so it doesn’t take over. Most will tolerate a small amount of corruption as neccessary to “get things done” in India. Indians have tendency to give foreigners what they want. You want numbers. I will give you numbers. You want crowds. I will give you crowds. These things have to be brokern down into baby steps that many of us in the Western world take for granted. Like I want numbers but not at the expense of lying. We assume the latter but Indians don’t. We are from different cultures with different expectations that can’t be assumed. Westerners are naive in all this and really , we sort of feed into this. More questions need to be asked.
3. I know many that worked hard, got little and were faithful too. At some point they got more and then became unfaithful. When opportunity strikes it will happen. The issue here is simple. If I left my wallet on a desk, and someone stole the money from it, who would be wrong? The Westerner would say that person was a theif and therefore wrong. Many Indians would say you were wrong for leaving it there and providing temptation that the theif naturally could not resist. Believe it or not some long term foreigner workers would also say you were wrong for leaving it there.
4. There are pockets of real and bad persecution in India. There is no system in place to report or legit groups to analyse the real from the perceived. Efforts from Westerners have become more aggresive which doesn’t really fit into a Indian culture. There is blowback. KP was famous for having his people chant they were willing to die for the cause. So they went out pumped up and got their bum kicked. This allows KP to take pictures and raise more money. Many small pastors hesitate to report because they are resentful that they are not getting that money. It goes to the top guys. There have been many reports of persecutioin that were just Christians at the wrong place at the wrong time. Some reports turned out to the false but never retracted. Sometimes the police will arrest a Christian in order to keep them safe until crowds calm down. This might be thrown into the persecution basket. Sometimes big ministries will offer bribes and when the bribe gets too big they balk so they get into trouble. They yell persecution. The problem is the basket of “persecutions” needs to be vetted into a system and verified. We also have a problem with standards. Is calling a Christian a name persecution? Some say yes and others say no. There seems to be one organization that is trying to keep track and all other organizations use that info to spread the message. There isn’t many organizations working on this and rooting out the truth from the untruth. Keep in mind that if India is designated as a country of massive persecution they get perks from the world. An application to America can be deemed persecution and they get out of India. That causes brain drain. Organizations will funnel more funds into NGOs for persection and who gets that money? Instead of spreading the gospel we will have Christians just fighting persecution because it pays well. We can’t discount that motive from reports and I think we owe it to ourselves to find the truth. One thing I find under-reported is how many times police and government (many times people from different faiths) DO stand up for Christians and how little our community publically thanks them. It does happen!!
I think Indians can get the job done by themselves. I think that training and Bible colleges are needed rather than money. Westerners need to look at different ways we can mentor and help teach our Indian family in growing in the faith. If all the foreign money dried up tomorrow, I know many Christians in India would still preach the Gospel. We Westerners tend to think Christian work would disappear if we were not involved but I don’t think that is true at all. There are charletons in all faiths in India. They are god-men that go astray. It happens not only in the Christian community but I think we should take greater steps in curbing it or eleminating it!! The solutions are where we need to dialog about.
I agree to most of what you say KAY. When the money inflow stops, then the real ones will become more visible.
I would even say we have more than enough money necessary for the gospel work within India. They are not channelized well because of the inflow from outside that does not appreciate smaller contributions from within.
We should get back to basics – if westerners want to help, please help by preaching Christ.
Targets and projects have become a deterrent instead of being helpful.
It is interesting that this conversation has come around to one that I had with Kay years ago about Mammon. Here is a native admitting that India and likely many such other countries do not need our money. Us being so generous is like leaving lots of full wallets around all over the place to tempt the locals. I recognized this even without knowing that tidbit about Indian culture. Giving Mammon is not equal to spreading the Gospel. Giving the Spirit of God is and to the extent that can be trained that would be good.
Yet so much of the pastor training in the US produces many bad pastors so just sending that overseas I do not see as being productive. At least not training Indians to think and act like Westerners. I am afraid in many cases we have been successfully training natives to think and act less like Jesus then they were before. Makes me think about the passage of Jesus telling the Pharisees what great lengths they will go to make converts and then they make them twice the sons of the Devil as the foreign teachers are. I have no doubt this has been going on all over the world and not just in India.
What is left that no one comes to the Father unless the Holy Spirit draws them so the currency that India needs the most is actually not one the US has much to offer. In many cases on both sides of the ocean we are Spiritually impoverished. It is pride that causes us in the West to think we are great and we have lots to offer and our Mammon can win the world for Jesus Christ. Instead we are great at spreading our corruption and we have a lot of that too!
And, by the way, I am not against training. It is just the quality and spirit of it has to be greatly superior to what it has been in the West. I am writing this on a watch blog covering countless and endless US church scandals. That should speak for itself.