Worldwide Ministry Highlights/Free SPECIAL WEB PAGE EDITION 2002
Printing Scripture Booklets for Afghanistan to Zimbabwe
For more than 40 years World Missionary Press has produced Scripture booklets for the peoples of the world in their heart languages. The call which God gave to Watson and Rose Goodman to give out the Word of God is still the driving focus of the ministry that began years ago in South Africa. Advances in technology, communication, and travel have increased the capacity to reach the world. Need for God’s Word has also become more acute with the devastation of war, terrorism, famine, and disease.
WMP continues to seek to expand its outreach, to print booklets in more
languages, to provide Bible studies in additional languages, and to build
partnerships in the work of distributing God’s Word. Large shipments via sea
vessels are being sent to over 25 national coordinators and major distributors.
In recent months large shipments have gone around the world, from Tanzania to
Kazakhstan, from Cuba to the Philippines.
In last year’s Special Edition NEWS, we wrote, “Other walls are yet to crumble. Will this be the year for Afghanistan . . . ?” In July of 2001 Help From Above was printed in Dari for Afghanistan. Since the tragic events of September 11, walls are indeed coming down in Afghanistan. Dari Gospel of John is now in production.
A missionary in Argentina sent this message of gratitude and need:
“We write to you to demonstrate our profound gratitude for your shipments. . . . For the past 26 years we have been here, dedicated entirely to missionary labors in one of the least evangelized areas. . . . The fact that even if your material was otherwise available, we would not be able to purchase it, makes it all the more a blessing to us. . . . So we ask you not to stop shipping to us. . . . I know of workers who can’t be sure of getting biblical material, so we like to share ours with them to help in the edification of believers and evangelism throughout this area.” –D.V.
A shipment of 1,652 boxes this past summer to our national coordinator in Brazil was just a small amount compared to the great need in that “melting pot” of nations, the world’s fifth largest nation. With a literacy rate of 83 percent, the opportunity to spread the gospel through Scripture booklets is tremendous. According to Operation World, the most widely sold books in Brazil are about magic and the occult. There is, indeed, a battle being waged for the souls of the people of Brazil. A ship container carrying 4,200 boxes (2,192,000 booklets) in Portuguese will be sent to our coordinator in the spring, as God enables us, to help supply the many requests.
Opportunities and challenges to provide Scripture booklets and Bible studies
for China continue. A large container of How to Know God Scripture
booklets in Simplified Chinese was delivered to a ministry that will be
responsible for getting them to Chinese Christians. China’s desire to have
a more prominent role on the world stage has opened a window of opportunity to
1,262,000,000 people which must not be ignored. Bible study materials (such
as A Bible Study on John) are urgently needed to help millions of new
believers to be grounded in truth. Believers in China have already printed
250,000 copies of A Bible Study on John in Simplified Chinese and are
ready to print more as WMP provides the funds. Many Chinese believers have
suffered greatly for their faith, yet they have stood firm.
Kazakhstan became an independent country after the fall of the USSR in 1991. Muslim missionaries from Iran, Turkey, and other Arab countries are pushing for a stronger Islam among the people. The Kazakh Church is young but growing strong. Operation World reports that in 1990 there were no Kazakh believers, but in 2000 there were more than 6,000. A shipment of 1,355 boxes of booklets in Russian was sent to Kazakhstan this past summer. Another shipment of 1,559 boxes is scheduled to be shipped.
In Peru WMP’s national coordinator trains national pastors to evangelize jungle villages. The same Word of Life being given out on the streets of Beijing and Rio de Janeiro is being carried by boat up and down the rivers to reach remote villages. Two shipments totaling 1,105 boxes of booklets were delivered this past year.
From the very beginning, World Missionary Press has provided Scripture booklets to the people of South Africa in nine languages spoken in that diverse nation. Through the WMP national coordinator as well as a partnership with Every Home for Christ in South Africa, several million booklets have been distributed. Much is yet to be done. Two large shipments of Scripture booklets are scheduled for delivery to South Africa in coming months. One container for EHC will supply 1.5 million copies of The Way to God in Afrikaans and half a million copies in English—strategic for a country targeted by Osama Bin Laden’s funds for massive distribution of the Koran.
For Zimbabwe, where internal strife and suffering are severe, WMP is sending Scripture booklets, though limited to modest quantities at this time.
Special shipments were also sent to Chad, Liberia, Cuba, Guatemala, Togo, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Mali, Honduras, Mexico, Ghana, Romania, Ivory Coast, Uganda, Ukraine, Russia, Tanzania, Namibia, Philippines, Uganda, Nicaragua, Jamaica, Thailand, Paraguay, and Chile. In each country faithful distributors use WMP booklets to reach the lost and to train and equip new believers. While we praise God for all that was accomplished, we see the fields ready for harvest.
Cuba to receive 16,000 Spanish New Testaments. This past year another
1,000,000 Scripture booklets arrived in Cuba, and now New Testaments have been
requested. As the Word of God— sown through Scripture booklets and the
faithful witness of Cuban believers—reaches into hearts, new believers need
the milk of the Word of God to grow and to reach others with the gospel.
A partnering ministry in Thailand is printing WMP booklets in
languages of Southeast Asia. How to Know God in Wa for Thailand was
language No. 305 for WMP. A foundation grant is 
providing for the printing of
two million additional booklets in Thailand.
This past year the salvation coloring book He Is Risen! was printed in Spanish, Portuguese, Hausa, Yoruba, and Simplified Chinese. These effective books, printed only as designated funds are available, are shipped almost as soon as they are printed.
Interesting facts:
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WMP Board of Directors: |
| 2000-2001 Production Prepared for These Areas of the World |
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New Languages
Having surpassed the long-standing goal of 300 languages, WMP
continues to produce Scripture booklets in additional languages. New items
introduced during the past year include The Way to God in Ticuna-Brazil for
Brazil (Language #306) and in Sranantongo for Suriname (#307) as well as Help
From Above in Dari for Afghanistan (#308). WMP also printed two additional
titles in Bulgarian and an additional title in Cebuano (for the Philippines), in
Bangala (for the Democratic Republic of Congo), and in Luganda, Ngakarimojong,
and Ateso (for Uganda). Each new item represents another people group to be
reached with more of God’s life-giving Word.
For a printable copy of
the Special Web Edition 2002 newsletter in PDF format,
click
here.
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