GFA Diaspora

The Diaspora, a group of former Gospel for Asia (GFA) staff, has long desired to see GFA restored to a ministry of integrity. To this end, in June 2014, we sent a private letter exclusively to GFA’s leadership and boards exposing systemic wrongs within the organization so that they would have the opportunity to repent and to bring their practices in line with biblical integrity.

The wrongs we saw primarily concerned the mistreatment of staff and a lack of transparency to donors. After a second letter and many private discussions with leadership, neither GFA’s leadership nor boards took action to adequately address the issues. After many months, we privately disclosed to the current staff all of our communications with the leadership because we believed they had a right to know our stories and how GFA leadership had responded to us.

When a report from GFA’s board exonerated the organization without interviewing any person from Diaspora, we then felt it our duty to make our information publicly available to current and potential donors so they could make fully informed stewardship decisions.

We felt our scope of action was completed when all of our evidence and communications were made fully public. Since then, various entities have brought new questions and evidence to light. We support their intent to continue working to bring GFA to full accountability for all their actions. However, Diaspora, as a group, is not a part of any further ongoing efforts, including the class-action lawsuit that was filed on February 8, 2016.

Our hope has always been for GFA to return to being a humble movement of God, walking in His ways as they minister the good news of Jesus Christ to the people of Asia. We pray ultimately that those responsible for wrongdoing will be held accountable and personally take responsibility for their wrongdoing. We wish no harm to anyone but desire to see the name of Jesus properly represented by integrity in ministry.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ who support GFA,

Greetings from more than 100 of us, a group made up of the majority of former Gospel for Asia staff, who have prayed and worked inside the ministry to reach the lost in Asia.

Over the years, we have seen the Lord do many good things in and through GFA. The Gospel has reached many unreached and His Kingdom has grown. Sadly, however, we have observed systemic, unbiblical practices within the ministry of GFA.

GFA leadership practices a false view of spiritual authority.
GFA leadership prioritizes ministry over family.
GFA leaders deceive people to “protect” the ministry.
GFA practices unbiblical shunning.
GFA discourages staff involvement in bible studies and local churches.

These practices are more fully explained at the Our Concerns page. Now GFA is under public scrutiny, especially for financial mismanagement, and was terminated from ECFA membership. You can read some of the news articles on the Media Reports page.

We sent a letter outlining our five concerns to GFA leadership, GFA’s non-Asian international offices, and the U.S. and Canadian boards. Receiving insufficient response, we continued to seek resolution of our concerns with them through additional letters, emails, and phone calls to no avail. The US board closed the matter in March 2015 after finding no merit in our concerns* despite over 35 testimonies having been shared (20+ are available for public view), and 100+ witnesses available which they never interviewed. Though some of you may have heard about us, many of you may not have had an opportunity to know the full story.

This site has been put together to give you a better understanding of these and other concerns that we have regarding GFA’s treatment of staff and their lack of full disclosure to donors. By showing you the documentation of our attempts to share our concerns with GFA, we believe that you will be able to judge for yourselves the veracity of these issues. Our hope is that your influence may move GFA to bring about needed correction and healing for the sake of the staff, the supporters of the ministry, the field, and ultimately the glory of the Lord. This is shared—not in bitterness, but in love— out of a moral obligation to bring our experiences to light so you who support GFA can make informed choices and be good stewards of the Lord’s resources.

Sincerely,
The GFA Diaspora

*In late 2015 it was revealed that there was an original board investigation report that indeed validated our concerns. This report was rejected by GFA leadership and then altered into the board’s final report sent to us that found no merit to our concerns.

Home

4/27/2021 | Ministry Watch: Gospel for Asia Changes Name and Publicists, Few of its Practices