International (MNN) — If you promise to provide free Christian evangelistic literature to anyone who asks, people are going to take notice. For 58 years, World Missionary Press has done just that, but with such a helpful mindset comes challenges of supply and demand.
Right now, Helen Williams, Freight Shipment Coordinator for World Missionary Press, says 115 million Scripture booklets are on backorder. Right now, they can only produce six and a half million every month; that means that even without any new orders, it would take over a year and a half to catch up to current orders.
Some of these ordered booklets have already been produced, but printing isn’t enough to call a shipment “finished.” According to Williams, “Some of them have been produced [and] are sitting in the warehouse waiting to be shipped, and that waiting is just on logistics of getting a boat, getting a booking, [and] getting all the paperwork ready.”
Stalling Ministry
With so many logistics keeping booklets from reaching World Missionary Press distributor partners, on-the-ground locals sometimes have to make by without the resources they need. That’s especially a problem for some partners who rely heavily on these resources because they don’t have the training to pursue other evangelistic projects.
Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press
“When they have to send out these evangelists with either not a full box or just a minimal amount, that limits their effectiveness,” Williams says. “It’s a little discouraging for them.
Among other things, Williams works with coordinators to account for this backup. She tries to remind distributors to contact her before they’re out of materials so they don’t have to wait quite as long for new resources. Still, the list keeps growing, and World Missionary Press is hoping God will present answers.
“We’re asking the Lord to help us increase production,” Williams says. “If we can get to 10 million a month, we can get it down to almost a year. We can cut half a year, six months, off of this backlog, and even if we started right now and could clean this off, I’ve got enough coming. They keep coming in and coming in and coming in, so this is just kind of the level at which we’re working now.”
Spreading the Word
This is about more than filling orders: “This is a way that they can reach all the way around the world and… be part of fulfilling God’s last command to us.”
This is a way of exposing people to the mercy and saving grace of God.
World Missionary Press needs your help. If you want to donate or find locations to volunteer, we’ll connect you right here.
Want to pray? Williams says “Prayer is the commodity that we need in abundance and that we need new every day.”
Pray for wisdom when it comes to applying resources, resources to fill orders for shipments, and patience for World Missionary Press and for their distributors.
“We have the infrastructure here, we have our teams set up,” Williams says. “We believe that we are poised to go to a greater extent, so we’re just waiting on the Lord to provide the funding and trying to do our best with what we have now.
“Whoever prays and whoever gives, we are grateful and thankful and we praise the Lord for you.”
Header image courtesy of World Missionary Press.
