Central Asia (MNN)–Bible correspondence courses are very popular in the former Soviet block countries.
Bible Mission International’s Malcolm Smith says the studies are being administered from six regional offices.
There are currently seven thousand students studying the Bible on a monthly basis. That’s good news. Even better, Smith says, “We’ve seen increased move toward national language groups, specific in the Central Asian region. Just this past year, we have agreed to go ahead and start translating and start adapting those into the Ukrainian language, the Turkmen language as well as the Karakalpakian language.”
Bible Mission International’s motto is that everyone has a right to the Bible. Opportunity abounded when the Iron Curtain came down, and the agency was flooded with requests for the Bible. The problem was that there weren’t enough trained people that could teach the application of Scripture. That created a huge demand.
Smith says because of the demand for resources in the national languages, “We partnered with Moody Bible Institute and they gave us permission to translate and adapt their courses into the Russian language. The result of that has been literally the laypeople within the churches, new believers that have received Bibles have received tools to find personal application in their life.”
Smith urges believers to pray that this tool be used in a powerful way to help the Uzbek people grow in their Christian walk.
