Gospel for Asia Stripped of Membership in ECFA

Gospel for Asia (GFA) has been stripped of its membership in the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) due to noncompliance with ECFA standards.

Worldmag.com reports that GFA violated five of the ECFA’s seven standards for ministry organizations. 

Rusty Leonard of Ministry Watch stated, “Clearly, there has been extensive problems uncovered at the ministry as a result of an audit/review of GFA’s operations starting in June 2015 and concluding on October 2, 2015.”

GFA was a founding member of the ECFA, Warren Throckmorton, who has repeatedly sounded the alarm on the ministry’s financial violations, reports. GFA was a member of the ECFA for 36 years before its recent membership termination.

The ministry operates primarily in India, the home country of founder K.P. Yohannan. One of the allegations against the ministry is that they used funding from donors which was meant for ministry needs in India to fund their new headquarters campus in Wills Point, Texas--a $40 million project.

GFA has issued a statement in response to ECFA’s decision, but many, like Warren Throckmorton, believe the statement does not address any real issues, but merely expresses GFA’s regret that their membership has been terminated and their hope that it will be regained in the future.

The ministry’s statement asserted that “This past year GFA had four extensive meetings with ECFA representatives about fiduciary matters. Although there were no findings of money missing, ECFA felt that some of our procedures and practices did not line up with their Seven Standards of Responsible Stewardship. GFA was grateful for ECFA’s input and put into practice every suggestion that was mentioned in these meetings.” 

The statement then went on to say that, for seemingly no concrete reason, the ECFA decided to terminate the ministry’s membership.

Photo: Hyderabad, India

Photo courtesy: deviantart.com

Publication date: October 6, 2015