China (MNN) — In preparation for the Olympics, China is cracking down on their security. Included in this, Dale Randolph of World Bible Translation Center says, "Some people have been arrested, Bible's have been confiscated, and so we're trying to quietly replace
some of those Bibles."
This confiscation of Bibles has created a critical need for more of God's Word in a country where house churches already have to share them.
WBTC does distribution all year round, but with the recent situation, they're trying to ramp up the process. Randolph says they are "like the turtle Bible distribution in China. It's slow, consistent. At maybe about a thousand a week, we will print, distribute, and put in the hands mainly of people who do not have a Bible."
The process is also tied to church planting. "We're seeing many, many churches planted all across the areas as the Bibles are being distributed because we're not trying to saturate an area; we're not trying to do something overwhelming. We're trying to consistently get people the Bibles that don't have them, and at the same time help them to grapple with what the text says and come to know Jesus from that. And its having tremendous results all across the country," said Randolph.
It may seem like a drop in the bucket at the distribution rate of 1,000 per week in a country with possibly millions of underground believers. However, each Bible will likely be read by at least 10 people if used in a house church.
