International (MNN) — You’ve probably heard the proverb that says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” It’s especially true in the Great Commission.
Partnership between ministries is becoming more popular as technology makes transnational communication easier. Additionally, pooling resources often means greater Gospel impact.
Bibles For The World’s President and CEO John Pudaite says partnership between organizations and with local Christians is the lifeblood of their ministry.
For many years, BFTW distributed Scripture through the mail. However, with rising postal rates and new technology developments, the ministry is taking a new approach.
(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)
“We started making a shift toward engaging national partners,” Pudaite says. “If God placed on our heart a target country or people group, we would work hard to find indigenous partners who are working in and with that people group or in that country to join with us in getting God’s Word out.
“In that way, our provision of the Scriptures could further strengthen their efforts in reaching out to these people.”
This approach is really a throwback to BFTW’s roots. Pudaite’s parents, Rochunga and Lalrimawi Pudaite, founded BFTW — initially called Partnership Mission — with the theme of “nationals telling nationals the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Pudaite says, “It was pretty radical [and] even controversial at the time. But we’ve come back to that same theme as we see the role that we can play in providing Scriptures to strengthen the nationals as they share with their fellow nationals the Gospel message.”
(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)
National partners are important to Gospel work because they know their own language and cultural context. They also cannot be expelled from the country like foreign workers can.
For example, in Nepal, BFTW partners with a network of nearly 2,000 pastors, missionaries, and evangelists for Scripture distribution.
“They are all engaged in taking Scriptures from our stocks from our warehouse in Katmandu and taking them out to the villages and the towns in the areas where they’re working and reaching out with the Gospel. This has been really exciting to see now two and a half million Gospels of John go out across that country,” Pudaite says.
“In addition, we’ve been supplying them with New Testaments for confirmed verified new believers. We’ve given out nearly 200,000 New Testaments to our partners to give to those new believers in Christ.”
Partnership is opening exciting doors for the Gospel. But they can’t do it without your partnership too! You can:
- Support a national worker
- Sponsor a child
- Give to the ministry
- Go on a missions trip to India or Nepal
Finally, you can partner through prayer. Pudaite asks, “Pray that those out there working in the field and the Body of Christ will just find ways to work together, to collaborate, to work cooperatively with a level of transparency with each other so that we can do the work more effectively and more efficiently.”
Pray also for partnerships between organizations in the Church so every tribe, tongue, and nation will know Jesus as Lord.
“It can really be a win-win situation for each of the ministries and for the Body of Christ if we truly work together collaboratively for the Kingdom.”
Header graphic courtesy of johnhain via Pixabay.
