In March 1940 a young preacher was seen wandering through the villages and towns in South India, speaking to individuals or preaching to tiny groups of people here and there.
About three years before then he had emerged from the strongholds of Hinduism and yielded his life to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Master. He wasted no time in telling his dear ones about the love he found in Christ.
He was lonely, homeless and penniless. Very often he went without food. Many a time the only nourishment he had was a couple of bananas and cold water. But there was a radiance on his face and confidence in his steps as he went about sharing with people the love of God.
The young preacher went to his relatives after fasting and prayer and testified to them about his newly-found living Saviour. The Spirit of God was obviously at work, and within six months some 30 of his close relatives were transformed as a result of receiving Christ. A little local Church was established in that village.
This young man was none other than G. D. James, who became a world- renowned evangelist, Bible teacher, author and scholar.
During the three and a half years in Japanese occupation of South East Asia, Dr and Mrs James were trapped and traumatised. But they faithfully served the Lord, introducing many to Christ and encouraging the suffering Church in Malaya. On a couple of occasions the Japanese were at the point of killing “G.D.”, but his life was miraculously spared.
Dr and Mrs James and their children moved from Malaya to Singapore where the Lord used Dr James for the blessing of thousands of people during his nearly 60 years of service for God.
Over the radio networks of the FEBC, TWR, HCJB (now Reach Beyond), etc and on several television stations, Dr James has spoken to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Many more millions have been influenced by his 21 books and other writings which have been translated into several languages . One of his booklets, The Man You Must Confront, has exceeded the 5.5 million mark in English and 10 other languages. Dr James also gave an account of of how, as a former Hindu, he became a follower of Christ in the following short article A Hindu Meets Christ.
Dr James and Asia Evangelistic Fellowship
Asia Evangelistic Fellowship International was founded by Dr James as Malaysia Evangelistic Fellowship in 1960. It began with one worker but now has expanded to 10 countries and has a task force of more than 200 national missionaries who are involved in dynamic evangelism, church-planting and training ministries.
Hundreds of nationals, whom Dr James had trained and guided over the years, are now serving the Lord as pastors and Church leaders around Asia and elsewhere. The Tamil Bible Institute, an educational arm of AEFI founded by Dr James in 1977, has trained many Indian Christians. Thirty of these TBI graduates have planted 25 house Churches. The School of Missions and Evangelism trains interested young people in cross-cultural missions and evangelism in Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), India, Nepal and the Philippines.
Though his first love was for the mission (AEFI) and the Bible schools he founded, Dr James had also gone out of his way to help such Para-Church organisations and missions as Scripture Union, Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Nurses’ Christian Fellowship, Youth for Christ, World Evangelical Fellowship, The Bible Society, Every Home for Christ and others. Dr James helped the Overseas Missionary Fellowship as one of the board members of the Home Council, and later as its Chairman for a few years, and The Bible Society of Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei as its Vice-Chairman for a number of years.
On 24th July 2003, Dr GD James passed away in Sydney Australia after more that 60 years of ministry all over Asia. He is sadly missed by many people around the world. Please watch this short video of the AEFI founder.