China (MNN) – After more than 30 years of prayer for China, Bibles For The World (BFTW) has launched their Chinese outreach program.
A long season of prayer
John Pudaite, president of Bibles For The World, explains that his family’s history is one reason BFTW is passionate about China.
“It may go back 800, 1000, 1200 years, but my forefathers migrated out of western or southwestern China, and so for all these years, many, many years, we used to pray that God would open doors for us to distribute His Word in China. It was the prayer of my father’s. We used to look at this and at the same time, dad had always said, this book—the Bible—is the book of the King of Kings. I’m going to take it in through the front door, not through the back door.”
So they prayed for a legal way to bring the Gospel to a people who shared their common ancestry. While they waited, Pudaite, his family, and eventually BFTW brought Bibles to other nations legally. But while their ministries grew, BTFW never lost sight of their hope for China.
New opportunities
Pudaite says, “Finally just a couple years ago the opportunity was presented to us that we could print and distribute Bibles legally inside China. And we were just overjoyed that we would have this opportunity because we could do it legally and at the same time we could reach the largest country in the world that we had been praying about for more than 30 years.”
While they knew it was risky because the government or local people might push back, they were encouraged. This opportunity was an answer to years and years of prayer! Finally they could begin Chinese outreach.
Reaching the unreached
The BFTW team planned partnerships for over a year, raised funds, and prepared to go. They planned to visit southwestern China. This area holds many of China’s, and the world’s, remaining unreached people groups. The Word of God in any form is scarce there and the few Christians that live there are hungry for physical copies of the Scriptures.
(Courtesy of BFTW)
In May of 2017, BFTW took their first Chinese outreach trip. When they arrived in China they distributed over 12,000 Bibles and 300,000 copies of the Gospel of John. The response was amazing. Local believers were so excited that they took extra copies of John to share with neighbors and friends. They wanted to share the hope that they had found in Christ.
BFTW was overwhelmed with the response and knew they had to return to further train and equip people with God’s Word.
Returning with more Scriptures
Pudaite says, “In this upcoming trip in April we’re going to be going into that southwest region, in the province of Hunan. And I’m very excited. One of the areas that has opened up for us actually has a very high percentage of unreached people. The dominant people group in that area… they’re actually 0.19 percent Christian. And this is just a tremendous opportunity to reach out to this area, to where this people group resides.”
Get involved
Please pray for the Chinese outreach group heading over in April. They are a small group with a lot to do. Pray that God gives them the energy to work hard and a heightened passion for the Bible.
Pray also that Christians around the world would continue to fund BFTW’s Chinese outreach efforts.
Help BFTW bring the Word of God to more unreached Chinese peoples by supporting them financially.
Or if this ministry excites you, consider going on a BFTW trip to China this coming fall or spring. Get more details here.
