International (MNN) – Earlier this week, we shared some exciting stories of how God has been working in Argentina through a partner ministry of World Missionary Press.
Stories of people’s lives being transformed through Jesus are exciting and encouraging, but we don’t always get to hear back about how someone was changed by hearing the Gospel. Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says that’s something ministries and individual Christians all have to deal with—not knowing the full impact of ministry. She says we’re just called to trust in God’s timing and plan.
“I think that we as people, particularly in ministry, have a tendency to want to see results and perhaps see results… and we need to lean on the Spirit. The Lord said, some plant, some water, and God gives the increase. If we look at the Word as a seed that is planted—we know some seeds come up quicker than others, and some take a little bit more tending. And if we just trust that the Word is the seed and that God will give the increase, I think it will help us not to become discouraged and not to maybe look for instantaneous things.”
(Photo and header photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)
We can accept that perhaps further down the line, something we said or a Scripture booklet we shared will open someone’s eyes to the hope of the Gospel. But perhaps what’s harder to accept in ministry is the limits to what we can do.
All over the world, ministries are struggling to keep up with the demand. Organizations reaching out to refugees, for instance, are having trouble meeting the plethora of physical needs as they share the love of Jesus.
For World Missionary Press, the demand comes from ministries sprinkled around the globe who simply never have enough materials to hand out to the people they’re reaching out to.
Their contact in Argentina, for instance, wants to increase shipments of Scripture Booklets and Spanish New Testaments by 30 percent. He is expanding ministry into Bolivia and Paraguay. Already, they receive about two million pieces of literature every 12-14 months.
Williams says that would require an additional shipment during the same time period. It’s a huge task, but not an uncommon one. In all the major ministry projects World Missionary Press supports (Williams says about 81), contacts run out of materials quickly. People are hungry for the Gospel, and the materials go just like that.
“We have no lack of business. We’re trying to produce as many as we can and get them out as quickly as we can because the Spirit’s working around the world.”
The fact that World Missionary Press can’t keep up with the demand for Scripture is a good sign—people are eagerly accepting the booklets and even if they don’t read it right away, God can use that tool down the road to draw them to himself.
Williams says at the end of January, they already had a list from nations around the world with requests totaling 88 million pieces of literature. You can help fulfill these requests.
(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)
First of all, you can help with physical needs. When you financially partner with World Missionary Press, you’re enabling them to give materials away for free to missionaries around the world. If you’d like to give, click here or contact World Missionary Press, here.
You can also be praying:
“We need wisdom, we need strength, we need just to know how to increase production and to wait on the Lord and yet not sit on our hands but just do what he gives us to do and use the funds that we have the best we know how.”
Williams also asks for prayers that they would have patience as the requests roll in: “We want to do so much and yet practically, there’s only so much we can do. And we need to rest in that—that the Lord will provide in his time for his way.”
And finally, she asks you to pray for funds to be provided, and that the team will have a sense of urgency and constant state of preparedness as new requests come in and new connections are made.
