K.P. Johannan is founder of Gospel for Asia,

an organization that trains and sends out native missionaries to reach villages in India, Nepal, and other nations. He has started an outreach to the children that will result in millions of souls being saved. Read his story of how this came to be. (The following paragraphs were taken from the book, Revolution in World Missions; a few paragraphs have been put in a different order so his vision could be presented first.)

Our spirits, which are eternal and infinitely more precious than the whole physical world, are contained in perishable, physical bodies. And throughout the Scripture, we see that God used the felt needs of the body to draw people to Himself. Truly, the needs of suffering men, women and children in this world are great - especially in the 10/40 Window.

Calcutta alone is home to more than 100,000 street children who know not mother or father, nor love and care. They are not just numbers or statistics - they are real children. Though nameless and faceless on the streets where they live, each one was created with love and is known to God.

It is doubtful they've ever held a toothbrush or a bar of soap; they've never eaten an ice-cream cone or cradled a doll. The child laborers of South Asia toil in fireworks, carpet and match factories; quarries and coal mines; rice fields, tea plantations and pastures. Because they are exposed to dust, toxic fumes and pesticides, their health is compromised; their bodies are crippled from carrying heavy weights. Some are bonded laborers, enslaved to their tasks by family poverty.

According to Human Rights Watch, this is life for 60 to 115 million children in South Asia. In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, nine-year-old Lakshmi works in a factory as a cigarette roller. She tells her sister's story, giving us a glimpse into their world:

My sister is ten years old. Every morning at seven she goes to the bonded labor man, and every night at nine she comes home. He treats her badly; he hits her if he thinks she is working slowly or if she talks to the other children, he yells at her, he comes looking for her if she is sick and cannot go to work. I feel this is very difficult for her.

I don't care about school or playing. I don't care about any of that. All I want is to bring my sister home from the bonded labor man. For 600 rupees [$17.00 U.S.] I can bring her home - that is our only chance to get her back. We don't have 600 rupees . . . we will never have 600 rupees. (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, page 106-107)

. . . I'm particularly talking about the Dalits, or the "Untouchables" - the lowest caste of India. For 3,000 years, hundreds of millions of India's Untouchables have suffered oppression, slavery and countless atrocities in the name of religion. They are trapped in a caste system that denies them adequate education, safe drinking water, decent-paying jobs and the right to own land or a home. Segregated and oppressed, Dalits are frequently the victims of violent crime. . . .

[K. P. Yohannan was thinking about starting a ministry to the Dalit children, Bridge of Hope.]

. . . Bridge of Hope is simply the means by which to communicate the Gospel and see millions cross over from death to life. Let me tell you an experience I had in the beginning stages of this potential ministry to the Dalits that changed my thinking and propelled us to move forward with the Bridge of Hope program.

It was while sleeping in the early hours of the morning that I had a dream. I was standing in front of a vast wheat field, looking out upon a harvest that was clearly ripe. I stood there for a while, overwhelmed at the size of the harvest. The field continued for what seemed like millions of endless acres for as far as the eye could see.

As I stood there watching the golden wheat sway in the breeze, I got this sudden understanding that I was looking out upon the harvest that Jesus spoke of in John 4 and Matthew 9. It was as though the Lord was telling me that this harvest was free for the taking, much as Psalm 2 tells us to ask for the nations and He will give them to us.

Overcome with excitement at seeing so much harvest ready for reaping and knowing that this represented millions upon millions of souls being rescued from an eternity in hell, I began to jump up and down. With all my might, I ran toward the field. But as I drew nearer, I was stopped. I couldn't go any farther. There was a wide, gaping river in between the harvest and myself, a river so deep and raging that I dared not step closer or try to cross. I had not seen it from where I stood before, but now I did.

My heart broke. I was only able to look at the harvest, unable to embrace it. I stood there weeping, feeling so helpless and full of despair. All of a sudden there appeared before me a bridge reaching from one side of the vast river to the other. It was not a narrow bridge but was very broad and so huge.

As I watched, the bridge became completely filled with little children from all over Asia - poor, destitute Dalit children, like those I'd seen on the streets of Bombay, Calcutta, Dakar, Katmandu and other Asian cities. Then it was as though someone spoke to me and said, "If you want to have this harvest, it's all yours. But this is the bridge that you must walk on to get it."

I woke up from my dream and realized that the Lord was speaking to me about something so significant: that if we follow His instruction, we will see these endless millions of Untouchables come to know Him. And our ministry to the children would be the bridge to reach them. . . .

Bridge of Hope, our children's outreach program, is designed to rescue thousands of children in Asia from a life of poverty and hopelessness by giving them an education and introducing them to the love of God. Through this effort, churches are planted and entire communities are set on a course toward spiritual transformation as well as social development.

Today more than 42,000 children are enrolled in hundreds of Bride of Hope centers, and the program continues to grow. One of these centers is located in the village of native missionary and pastor Samuel Jagat. . . .

When GFA missionaries first went into communities in one part of North India to preach the Gospel, they were strongly opposed. But when our brothers began to set up Bridge of Hope centers for the children, they were welcomed in a new light. Within time, 50 Bridge of Hope programs were started in that region. Less than a year later, 37 churches were planted. And it all began with the little children learning about Jesus, going home and telling their parents; then miracle after miracle began to transpire! This is not an exception but something that we are seeing on a daily basis. . . .

Samuel had no idea that the group of 35 Dalit and low-caste children attending would make such a remarkable difference in his ministry. But one little first-grade boy in his center was about to show him otherwise.

Nibun's mother had been ill with malaria for a long time. Doctors, priests and sorcerers could not find a cure, and her death seemed inevitable. But Nibun had a little seed of hope in his heart - God's Word. Bible stories were a regular part of the Bridge of Hope curriculum at the center, and like many other children, Nibun would come home and narrate every story he had heard to his family.

One night, as Nibun and his family sat together beside his mother's bed, he told them how Jesus raised a widow's son from the dead. It became a turning point in all their lives. "That night, after hearing this story," Nibun's father later shared, "I could not sleep. This story was burning in my heart again and again."

Nibun's father sought out Samuel the next morning. After hearing more about Jesus and His offer of salvation, the man asked the pastor to come and pray for his wife. "I believe Jesus will heal my wife just as He did the widow's son," he affirmed.

Nibun's mother, thought weak in body, shared the same confidence: "My son talks about Jesus many times in our home. I believe Jesus will heal me."

Pastor Samuel laid hands on the dying woman and prayed for the Lord to raise her up; then he returned to his home. The next day he saw Nibun and asked how his mother was doing.

"My mommy is walking around," he reported happily, "and this morning she prepared breakfast for us!"

When Samuel arrived at Nibun's house, he found a family transformed both physically and spiritually. They had all made a decision to follow Christ.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There are 11,000 children waiting for a sponsor so they can join a Bridge of Hope education center. Visit www.gfa.org to join today.