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Athanasius Yohan I (born K.P. Yohannan, 8 March 1950 – 8 May 2024) was a Mar Thoma turned, Baptist turned, Pentecostal Christian in India and later embraced a spirituality similar to the Eastern Orthodox tradition. He was the founder and president of GFA World formerly known as Gospel for Asia, a large non-profit missions organisation with a focus on India and Asia. He was also the founding Metropolitan Bishop of Believers Eastern Church (formerly Believers Church) with the religious title and name of Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I. Yohannan had been airing Athmeeya Yathra radio program since the 1980s, which also was transcribed into over 200 books on Christian living.

Biography

Early life and education

K.P. Yohannan was born on 8 March 1950, and raised in a St. Thomas Syrian Christian (Mar Thoma Syrian Church) family in Kerala, India. At age eight he became a follower of Jesus. He was 16 when he joined the Operation Mobilization (OM), an evangelical missions movement, and served them for eight years in the Indian subcontinent. He continued to have close working relationship and friendship with the late George Verwer, OM's founder. Through an invitation from W.A. Criswell, Yohannan moved to the United States in 1974 for theological studies at Criswell College (at the time Criswell Bible Institute) in Dallas, Texas. He graduated with a B.A. in Biblical Studies, becoming the school’s first international student to graduate. Eventually he also was conferred an honorary degree of divinity by Hindustan Bible Institute and College in Madras, India. Though his degree was honorary, he often used the title of "doctor" when in the United States.

Ministry

Six months into his undergraduate degree, Yohannan became an ordained clergyman and served in the clergy of a Native American Southern Baptist church for four years near Dallas, Texas. In 1979, Yohannan and his wife Gisela started an organisation known today as Gospel for Asia, based in Carrollton, Texas until 2014, when it moved to Wills Point, Texas. In the first year, they helped provide financial support and training to 24 missionaries. In 1979, Yohannan resigned from his church to devote attention to full-time mission work. In 1981, he started a chapter of Gospel for Asia (GFA) in Kerala, India, and in 1983 created an Indian headquarters in Tiruvalla. GFA supports over 50 Bible colleges in various countries.

Gospel for Asia

He founded Gospel for Asia in 1979. It adheres to Yohannan's belief in the efficiency and efficacy of “national missionaries”, or missionaries that are native to the nation or culture they serve. The organisation’s primary mission fields include those that live in the “10/40 Window”, referring to the longitudinal coordinates of areas in west Africa, India and east Asia. Yohannan credited his early work in his native India as inspiration for his focus on the poor and underserved in this region. He states:

“In my head I knew all the answers, and Bible became the tool of the trade for me that I would use to teach and preach and I was doing very well. People liked my sermons, but finally I said to myself, ‘I’m not the same person I was when the Lord called me to serve Him. I’m not the same person that I was that walked on the streets of North India weeping over the lost and perishing millions and stayed up all night praying and weeping over a world map. The Lord was gracious enough to talk to us very lovingly, and I realized that he wanted me to go back to America and speak to the ‘Body of Christ’ about the possibility of seeing countries like India, Burma and Bhutan, turn to Christ if only they would become unselfish in praying and helping these brothers by becoming senders.”

Believers Eastern Church

He was founder in 1993 of Believers Church later Believers Eastern Church, a self-described "evangelical in nature and outlook, oriental in worship, democratic in function, and orthodox in governance and character" church. Believers Eastern Church is administratively based in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. He was the Metropolitan Bishop at the time of his death.

Family

Yohannan was married to Gisela, who served with him in Operation Mobilization. They met in 1973. In 1974, they were married in Germany, Gisela’s birth country. They have two children, Daniel and Sarah and seven grandchildren.

Name change

In August 2018, Believers Eastern Church announced that bishops and leaders in the church would take up "ecclesiastical" names in church duties, and Yohannan henceforth would be known as Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan Metropolitan with respect to church duties. Across the Western world, he continued to go by K. P. Yohannan as an author, speaker and missionary statesman.

Death

On 7 May 2024, Yohannan was hit by a vehicle while on a morning walk in Wills Point, Texas. He died the following day from cardiac arrest. Yohannan was 74 years of age.

Print and radio

Yohannan was the author of 39 books published in the US and over 200 books published in India. His books include Revolution In World Missions.

Yohannan's radio broadcast "Road to Reality" was heard on over 900 radio stations in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. He has also been heard on the Athmeeya Yathra (Spiritual Journey) daily broadcast for the past 25 years. This is broadcast in 14 nations in 113 Asian languages. Athmeeya Yathra now includes a television station and print media.

Yohannan served as a board member with the National Religious Broadcasters Association (NRB) from 2013–2015. In 2003, NRB presented Yohannan with its Individual Achievement in International Broadcasting award.

References

1. "Samuel Theophilus enthroned as head of Believers Eastern Church". thehindu.com.
2. Wooding, Dan. "Gospel for Asia's K.P. Yohannan a Quiet Revolutionary". Crosswalk.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
3. "An archbishop's spiritual factory – Indian Express". archive.indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
4. "KP Yohannan, Metropolitan of Believers Church". www.believerschurch.com. Archived from the original on 26 April 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
5. "Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan I Metropolitan". Archived from the original on 15 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
6. Eternity, Living in the Light of. "About Dr. KP Yohannan Metropolitan". Living in the Light of Eternity. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
7. "Obituary for K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan) (1950-2024)". Gospel for Asia. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
8. "Home". kpyohannan.org. Archived from the original on 9 January 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
9. ^ "About K.P. Yohannan". Gospel for Asia. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2011., Gospel for Asia
10. ^ Bergunder, Michael (2008). The South Indian Pentecostal Movement in the Twentieth Century. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-2734-0.
11. ^ New Release Today, A Division of NRT Media Inc. “K.P. Yohannan Author Profile and Bibliography.” Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine 1 September 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
12. ^ Wooding, Dan. “K.P. Yohannan’s Long Road To Helping India’s ‘Broken People’.” Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine ASSIST News Service. 14 July 2006. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
13. "Dr. KP Yohannan – Founder and Director of Gospel for Asia". Dr KP Yohannan. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
14. Van Rheenen, Gailyn (1996). Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies. Zondervan. ISBN 0-310-20809-2.
15. Philip, Shaju (17 June 2008). "An archbishop's spiritual factory". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
16. "BEC Faith and Beliefs". www.bec.org. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
17. Daughrity, Dyron B.; Athyal, Jesudas M. (1 August 2016). Understanding World Christianity: India. Fortress Press. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-5064-1689-2. Some of the more prominent Pentecostal groups are the Sharon Fellowship Church (est. 1975), the New India Church of God (est. 1976), New India Bible Church (est. 1975), and the Believers' Church, run by the Gospel for Asia ministry (est. 1978) under the leadership of K. P. Yohannan, from a St. Thomas Syrian Christian background.
18. ^ "Episcopas of Believers Eastern Church Take Up Ecclesiastical Names". 15 October 2018. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
19. Bland, Vikki. "Yohannan: Persecution is Part of the Deal". Crosswalk.com. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
20. "K.P. Yohannan Gives Himself a New Name". 18 October 2018. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
21. "Believers Church Metropolitan KP Yohannan passes away". Archived from the original on 8 May 2024. Retrieved 8 May 2024.
22. "Latest Updates on Athanasius Yohan I Metropolitan". Believers Eastern Church. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
23. "Kerala-based church's founder KP Yohannan dies in Texas after accident". Indian Express. 9 May 2024. Archived from the original on 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
24. "Obituary for K.P. Yohannan (Metropolitan Yohan) (1950-2024)". GFA World. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
25. "Books by K.P. Yohannan (Author of Revolution in World Missions)". www.goodreads.com. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
26. Yohannan, K.P. (2004). Revolution in World Missions. Gospel for Asia. ISBN 1-59589-001-7.
27. Athmeeya Yathra Official Website. “Athmeeya Yathra TV: About. Archived 16 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 30 March 2016.
28. "In Memoriam: Dr. K.P. Yohannan". National Religious Broadcasters. 9 May 2024. Retrieved 13 May 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Believers Eastern Church page on Moran Mor Athanasius Yohan Metropolitan (formerly known as K. P. Yohannan)
• Gospel For Asia

• 1950 births
• 2024 deaths
• Criswell College alumni
• Indian evangelicals
• Indian Protestant missionaries
• People from Kerala
• Protestant missionaries in India
• Writers from Kerala
• Road incident deaths in Texas