Gospel for Asia founder dies after being struck by car

Gospel for Asia founder Kadapilaril Punnoose “K.P.” Yohannan, has died after being struck by a car while taking his morning walk.

The vehicle struck Yohannan Wednesday morning as he was walking near the ministry’s headquarters in Dallas. A church spokesperson Father Sijo Pandapallil said in an official statement that Yohannan usually walked on the church campus, but that day he chose to walk along a county road.

Doctors performed emergency surgery on his lungs and placed him on 24-hour medical observation. Yohannan succumbed to sudden cardiac arrest while receiving treatment the on Thursday.

Born on March 8, 1950, Yohannan was the youngest of six sons. According to his obituary, Yohannan’s mother was a devout Christian who secretly fasted each Friday for three and a half years, praying that one of her children would commit their lives to ministry. At age 16, Yohannan dedicated his life to serving God and fulfilling the Great Commission.

In 1974, he moved to the United States and received theological training at Criswell College in Dallas. Later, he was ordained in a Baptist church.

While Yohannan spent much of his youth preaching, it was mission work that drew him.

In 1979, Yohannan and his wife founded Gospel for Asia (now GFA World), based in Texas and later, India. It would grow to become one of the largest and most influential missiongs groups in the world. According to an article by Christianity Today, a recent ministry report says the organization trained over 100,000 people to preach the gospel and plant and pastor churches in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and other Southeast Asian countries for nearly 50 years.

Yohannan wrote over 250 books published in Asia and 12 in the West, including “Revolution in World Missions,” a biography and critique of Western missions, which boasts 4 million copies in print. In the book, Yohannan explained his theory that national and local evangelists are more effective than missionaries from Western countries.

In 1993, Yohannan started Believers Church, an indigenous church movement that grew to 57 dioceses and over 12,000 congregations in 18 nations.

Yohannan will be remembered for the stance he took on supporting native missionaries.

“If we evangelize the world’s lost billions at all, it will be through native missions. If anyone replaces the retiring generation of Western missionaries, it will be the thousands of indigenous missionaries who are the fruits of Western missions.”

Police have interviewed the driver, who remained at the scene, and continue to investigate the accident.

–Metro Voice and MinistryWatch.org