Dear Theophilus Archive: April 2001

A Conversation with K.P. Yohannan

The following is an excerpt of a conversation between Deacon Terry Kwak and Dr. K.P. Yohannan.

TK: What vision did you receive before you started Gospel for Asia (GFA)?
KP: My early days of ministry in Northern India gave me huge exposure to the enormous need for evangelism there. After moving to America, I began to think and pray. I heard the Lord speaking to my heart, saying that the only way to reach this lost generation in countries like India, was to train and send out national missionaries to work among their own people. It was a gradual process. The Lord enabled me to finally realize that I had only one life and had to use it effectively to reach the most people for Him. I then gave my life to sending out missionaries to these lost nations. And that was the beginning concept 23 years ago. Now looking back, it's abundantly clear that the Lord was in it, especially when I think about all the major victories we see happening in terms of thousands of churches being planted and missionaries being sent out to the field.

TK: Since you have seen the Lord use your ministry in such vast ways, with missionaries being raised in many countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, where do you see GFA going in the future and what are your hopes for GFA?
KP: In the world of missions there are two significant things that are happening. After 15-20 years, there is a very clear awareness among the mission community at large about the 10/40 window region where nearly 3 billion live. These people will not be reached in terms of planting churches and fulfilling the Great Commission if we are to depend on the colonial mission approach whereby Westerners go into the countries. As in India, these countries are closed to mission work by outsiders. So with this awareness, God gave GFA the burden of training 100,000 missionaries to send to the most needy countries in Asia. We have 11,000 missionaries now and a long way to go. The second thing that we want to see happen is that in order to keep missions alive in our churches and maintain burden for the lost world, we must mobilize young people for short-term mission trips. Anything from two to three months or one to two years, whatever they can do. For the last few years we have been working with several organizations encouraging young people to go overseas for smaller intervals to work with our national missionaries. This gives them tremendous experience and exposure to God's work. And coming back, we hope that they live a different lifestyle in light of the world's reality and impact their local church as well. So our main focus is to see 100,000 missionaries trained and sent out. Therefore, we have established 45 bible schools where over 6,000 students currently study. After June or July of this year, we will have another 3 or 4 new bible schools. We have one right now in Nepal, where we will be adding two more. At the same time, we want to be involved with the body of Christ here on earth, encouraging them as much as possible to get the job done. That's what we're after now.

TK: How do you compare the church in the West (or even in Korea) with the churches in places like India and Sri Lanka and other countries where you minister?
KP: When you look at the first generation Christians in the book of Acts you'll find that when they were persecuted for Christ's sake they did not run away and hide. They regarded persecution and martyrdom as a privilege for their Lord. Despite the persecution, they would not stop preaching the gospel because of their love and intense commitment to Christ. That's all that mattered to them. So when you look at the first generation Christians in countries like Nepal or India, you'll see that they are not cowardly, half-hearted, or bashful. They love the Lord with such intensity after they've come out of the darkness. In the West, unfortunately, there's a focus on packaging, pragmatic thinking and Madison Avenue marketing techniques: how can we get more people to join us through whatever means? Whereas God is not necessarily concerned with numbers, but quality. In the book of Genesis, you will find that God wiped out the whole earth save one family; He's more concerned with humility and godliness and love for Him than large numbers. The churches in Asia that we are working with don't have such techniques for marketing, recruiting or anything like that. Humility is there in terms of commitment to Christ and His lordship; and they never think about what they can get out of it, but about how they can offer their lives continually to Him. I think that would be the big difference.

TK: On a monthly basis, approximately how many converts are you seeing turning to Jesus Christ in India?
KP: I don't know exact numbers, but I can tell you that on average 51/2 churches are planted everyday through GFA-supported or GFA-sent missionaries. That is what we know for sure. In some places large numbers come to Christ, with 100,000-200,000 people in a month or two months, but other places much less than that. In any case, the number of people coming to Christ is enormous compared to 15-20 years ago on the mission field. In some places we can't even keep up with the growth that we have to send out workers faster than we'd like to in order to take care of the new converts. But I don't want people to misunderstand. It's not millions turning to Christ like some American evangelist traveling to a country where you see pictures of 100,000 people raising their hands. It's not like that. What I'm talking about is going to a village of 15,000 people and by the grace of God you plant a church within 6-8 months time and even have 50-100 people come to Christ. Our goal is not just conversion, but discipleship. We are after one thing: discipling people in following the Lord.

TK: Dr. Ralph Winter of the U.S. Center for World Missions estimates that if the church in the West and the evangelical churches worldwide would channel their resources in terms of money, time, and people, this could accomplish the Great Commission; giving a church to the remaining 14,000 ethnic groups.
KP: I cannot dispute with what he says, but I would say it a little differently. If the church here repents and lives in light of eternity, recognizing that our life here on earth is very short, living a life of total obedience to Christ and love for Him, we can get the job done. Maybe what we need to see is a radical transformation in the churches here for people to know Christ and really understand Him.

TK: What advice would you give to a young college student or young adult who says I want to really make my life count in living for the Lord?
KP: My first advice is to spend maximum time everyday in meditation and at the feet of Jesus, to really know Him, learning to hear His voice. I think if anyone has faith in the Lord with all his or her heart, He is eager to reveal Himself. Someone doesn't need to wait until they're 15 years old to know Jesus. Samuel was a young boy when he was with God. Joseph and Daniel were also young. The followers of Christ were almost all under the age of 30-35. Absolute hunger in following God and hating everything of your old self is the first step. If you have that, I assure you that God will reveal His perfect plan to be a light and ambassador at the university or at a job or going to the mission field or making millions of dollars and giving it to support missionaries and God's work around the world. Knowing the Lord is the most important thing, not so that we will be effective in preaching the gospel, but simply knowing Him is what we were created for. God did not make Adam and Eve to work in a garden. God made them to reflect His own image. The wonderful thing is that when they were created on the sixth day, the next day was a day of rest, which was God's way of saying, "You two get to know me, spend time with me, understand me, and only then go work in the garden." In my 35-40 years of serving the Lord, there is nothing more significant than knowing the Lord. And once that is there, I tell you what, everything else is easy.

TK: Some people wanted me to ask you about your family. I know that your children are doing missions work. Is that correct?
KP: Yes. They are both in India right now. When they were growing up in the States we prayed everyday that God would call them to know Him and be missionaries in the field. The Lord answered our prayers and they are both serving Him right now.

TK: Are they married?
KP: No. My son is 24 and my daughter is 19 and they are both single.

TK: And your wife, Gisela, is in Dallas?
KP: We travel quite a bit together. She goes to India and other countries to teach the women there. God has given her a tremendous gift of teaching. She spends most of her time teaching the women missionaries and the wives of missionaries at-large.

TK: How did the Lord bring you and your wife together?
KP: We met on the mission field in 1973 and this is where we prayed together and the Lord guided our hearts to serve Him as a family. This is more fully explained in my book, "Revolution in World Missions."

TK: At the end of your life, what vision would you like to see?
KP: My greatest dream and hope will be that my children will continue to serve and follow the Lord. And as far as GFA, that we would stay focused in reaching the lost world and not become an organization just for the sake of functioning, but be truly alive and well, waiting for our Lord's glorious return.