There is a lot I could say, but what is apparent is that GFA from the first was not honest with donors about the nature of its ministry. I was a party to this, so I also need to repent of my actions and lack of actions when faced with this situation.
In the 1980s, GFA supported already established ministries in Asia. The problem was that while the supported ministries were Pentecostal in nature, GFA’s basis of support then was among conservative Baptists, who were opposed to Pentecostalism. So any reference to the nature of the ministries being supported was deleted from the news stories, photos, etc., because to be honest about who we were supporting would have resulted in fewer donations.
Some 30 years later, GFA had established its own Church in India, and KP, who was originally ordained a Baptist minister, had long-since rejected Baptist teachings and reverted to the Asian/Episcopal structure of his childhood. Once again, GFA was hiding the nature of its church on the field from its supporters, who are largely Calvary Chapel, Mennonite and Baptist — none of whom support the Episcopal structure. This was evident when we cropped pictures of Believers’ Church pastors so their robes wouldn’t show, and try to crop out photos that showed KP as a bishop. Again, the reason for the “editing” was the same: it would hurt income if the donors knew who we really were.
For a ministry that has publicly struggled with using “the methods of the world,” I can think of nothing more “worldly” than manipulating your communications to maximize income at the expense of truth.
The cult-like emphasis on authority is a total perversion of the freedom that is promised in Christ. It reached a crisis point for me when, in a leadership meeting, I questioned a point in KP’s “authority” book and was told later that “our role is not to question Brother KP, it is to follow his orders.”
So I left GFA with very mixed emotions. There was no question it was time for me to retire, as I was killing myself with the long hours and commutes, but what pushed me over the edge was the emphasis on authority and other cult-like tendencies.