If you had asked the leadership of Gospel Fellowship Association (GFA), their clear decision was that GFA “should not be or become a missionary society… or act as such.” They were perfectly comfortable with their fellowship of like-minded believers focused on spreading the Gospel in the United States. That was 1959. But God and a persistent couple named Gerry and Miriam Johnson believed otherwise.
Gerald Johnson, or “Gerry” as he came to be known, was a Navy veteran who was led to Christ by a fellow sailor during World War II. Gerry’s conversion experience changed his life forever and gave him a burden to share the Gospel with even his enemies. At the age of 22, Gerry arrived in Yokohama, Japan, ready to win the Japanese, whom he had just fought, to Christ.
In America, another war was being fought—one that was being waged over the inerrancy of Scripture. Against this backdrop, Bob Jones Sr., an evangelist who had been faithfully ministering in the Young People’s Fellowship Clubs, formally incorporated the venture in 1939 to unite those who believed in the fundamentals of the faith to “get the Gospel to as many people as possible in the shortest time possible.” He was joined in that soulwinning effort by faithful men and women, such as Dr. Monroe Parker and Mrs. Billy Sunday. Together through hundreds of radio broadcasts, over a quarter million gospel tracts, and regular soulwinning outreaches, the organization that would later become known as “Gospel Fellowship Association” was seeing God incline the hearts of many toward the Gospel.
While GFA’s outreach was growing, Gerry and his wife, Miriam, found their own mission board that had “held the ropes” and supported them in Japan had drifted. For four years, they faithfully pressed GFA “to make an exception” and allow just a few missionaries to be sponsored by the Association, but the answer had always been “no.” Finally, after much prayer and persistence, GFA invited the Johnsons and a few other couples to be GFA’s first missionaries in 1962, as long as they committed to always “do right no matter what.”
That decision became the catalyst for multiplied gospel outreaches well beyond the U.S., and by 1963, 35 missionaries had been sent throughout the world to Japan, Puerto Rico, Latin America, Sweden, France, Cyprus, Spain, and Korea.
Today GFA is an international missions agency that supports over 270 gospel ambassadors in nearly 40 countries. Its goal is to enable God-called laborers as they serve in harvest fields around the world. To develop future missionaries, GFA has launched ministry training programs, such as Teens in Missions and the Strategic Internship Program, which provide mentorship opportunities for teens and young adults to learn from veteran missionaries on the field. Professionals International (for tentmaking opportunities) and Special Assignment categories enable current or retired professionals to serve in restricted access nations (RAN) or as short-term furlough replacements. GFA also serves local churches because "we must be strong at home to be strong abroad.” Church consulting, interim pastors, ministry relations, and a church staffing program work together to strengthen local churches in the USA.
While Gospel Fellowship Association has become “the mission board that never was supposed to exist,” one thing has never changed—its insatiable passion to see the Gospel preached in every nation and to see souls saved, discipled, and serving. By God’s grace, we want to see a fresh awakening of well-equipped gospel witnesses being sent out from a strong base of conservative local churches and reproducing disciples of Jesus Christ in every nation of the world. So where will you go?