Like Christ Would Have Done, Gospel Message Not Forced on Tsunami Victims
by Allie Martin
January 26, 2005
(AgapePress) - The president of Gospel for Asia says Christian volunteers and staff members are able to share the life-changing message of salvation through Christ alone with tsunami victims, despite Church criticism.In the weeks since the earthquake and tsunami struck Southeast Asia, various organizations -- as well as a few Christian ministries -- have criticized the efforts of Christian groups and relief agencies for witnessing to the victims of the tragedy. One of the groups offering aid to the victims is Gospel for Asia, which has been working for years in many of the areas devastated by the tsunami. GFA workers are now helping meet the physical and spiritual needs of many in the predominantly Muslim nations.
GFA president K.P. Yohannon says there are opportunities to witness without being overbearing.
"We give [the survivors] all the material things, but at the same time, as [the workers'] hearts hear the pain of these people -- they're crying -- they sit down with them and share with them the love of God and the hope in Jesus," the ministry spokesman says. "And [to] those who can read, they give them scripture verses -- and that's all we do."
And the objective, he says, is not to make converts of those in dire circumstances. "As we go to these places, we are not going to give them food and clothes and medicine and housing to make them convert from their faith to Christianity," he says.
That is not the approach Jesus used -- and neither do they, says Yohannon. "Jesus never did that; He went out doing good, it says in the Bible. He healed the sick; He fed the hungry; He cried with them -- but He never told them 'You have to follow Me,'" he shares. "He said 'Follow me and I will give you life.' But [then] He walked away. Never coercion; never forced -- nothing."
Yohannon recently returned from Sri Lanka, one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
