China (MNN) — In a country where religious freedom has been described as anything but free, a ministry is preparing to give Bibles to the people of rural China. That's right China.
Bibles for China CEO Barry Werner
says they'll be heading to rural China next month. "We have about 30,000 [Bibles] that our team of four will hand out over a period of four days. It's really an exciting opportunity. When you get into these rural areas, if you find a Bible in these rural villages it was worn out tattered and about four inches thick from use."
Bibles for China does this with the permission of the Chinese government. "We get visas, we purchase the Bibles inside of China. It's the full Bible. What we would look at as the King James, but it's really the missionary version of the Bible."
According to Werner they purchase the Bibles from Amity Press. "They print everything for China in Mandarin Chinese, and they ship those out to 70 distribution points, which are all major cities. We then work with an organization that is able to purchase those Bibles through Amity, get them to the rural distribution point, and then send them out to the very remote rural areas from one of those 70 distribution centers."
The Bibles are distributed to registered churches. Werner says, "In the three days we'll visit about 16 or 18 locations. They may be separated by 50 or 100 miles. In those 15-20 locations, they'll probably be 50-70 churches represented."
So, in a church where there are only 100 church members, there could be up to 500 there to receive Bibles.
According to Werner, many of these Christians have dreamed and prayed that one day they would receive a Bible. He was told, because of years of oppression, many of these believers would be stoic as they were handed a Bible. "My chest was wet with tears. People would grab me and hug me and cry all over my shirt. The emotion that was packed into them receiving a Bible after having prayed for it for years, was unbelievable."
You can make sure even more rural poor Christians receive a Bible. $100 purchases 40 Bibles and puts them into the hands of needy believers. You can give your gift by clicking here.
