Story number 4 for 19 Jun 2002

(China)–Elsewhere, in spite of the reports of a crackdown on the Chinese house church movement, evangelistic work continues. The World Bible Translation Center’s Craig Smith confirms the trials believers endure. “We do find those reports to be credible. Not as much from firsthand experience, but people that we know who are involved in working in China. We do hear from very reliable sources that there is indeed persecution right now.” Smith believes China’s house church movement is tied to the Center’s distribution of its Easy-to-Read Chinese Bible, which is printed inside the country. “I was in China recently and sat in a room with three generations of Christians…meaning that people who we had given Bibles to, who had become Christians, had given Bibles to others, who had become Christians, who now are giving Bibles to other people who have become Christians. So, I think what we know of, is just really the tip of the iceberg.” The Translation Center is in the process of printing 100,000 complete Chinese Bibles which should be finished by mid-summer.