Celebrating Jesus!

World Missionary Press exists only because the zeal of the Lord (Isaiah 9:7) sent Jesus into the world so that the speakers of every language, members of every tribe, descendants of every race, and citizens of every nation could know the thrill and wonder of forgiveness, salvation and sanctification in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

It is also God’s zeal that moves people to donate to WMP. It is He who ultimately provides the printed Word through the hands of faithful witnesses. WMP is only the facilitator. We have a holy and solemn privilege to print the story of God’s redemption in a form easily used to witness. We are very grateful for every dollar given to help us fulfill the work God has laid to our charge. Costs of production have increased significantly this past year. This newsletter details ways you can designate your funds at this joyous Christmas time; ways to help publish the good news and send out God’s message of hope and joy to hungry hearts, eager for the Hope Jesus brings!

 

Idea #1 – Founders Challenge

Recently, one of our partners donated $150,000 for Scriptures for Africa. He challenged us to raise another $150,000 for a total of $300,000. We are accepting the challenge and calling this our Founders Challenge because our founders, Watson and Rose Goodman, had such a heart for Africa. During their missionary career in South Africa, God gave them firsthand experience with the worldwide hunger and need of God’s Word in printed form. They began meeting that need on a small scale while on the mission field, but in 1961 they came home to begin a larger ministry known as World Missionary Press, that provides Scripture for almost all of Africa and the rest of the world!

In September, 2022, the General Secretary for Evangelical Alliance in DRC Congo wrote to our distributor in Rwanda, “I recently got your contact during my short visit to Rwanda. I encountered believers sharing Christian literature in homes and other places. Some of the literature used was Help from Above and The Way to God.  I was very much moved that these materials could be a platform for Evangelical Alliance in DRC Congo…. We plan to use them in our upcoming major evangelistic campaign in Goma, Masisi, Rutshuru and Walikale, where we envision reaching 300,000 individuals in homes across our entire province.” Our distributor had booklets in stock and was able to fill the General Secretary’s request. WMP is committed to Africa!

The Founders Challenge will help fund the production and shipping costs of 40-foot containers to South Africa ($82,493) with 21 different languages in its hold, to Ethiopia ($91,570), to Rwanda ($94,098), and to Nigeria ($100,481) in 2023. You can get on board our Founders Challenge with a gift of any amount—no gift is too small or too large to help impact souls for eternity!

 

 

Idea #2 – A box of Scripture booklets every month

As trimmed 48-page Scripture booklets come off our binderies, volunteers pack 500 copies into each box, weighed to about 10 pounds, and strapped for shipping. These boxes serve as convenient carriers for Christian workers around the world as they trek from village to village, and door to door.

A regular monthly donation of $25.00 for a “WMP BOX” provides 500 Scripture booklets for a church planter in Congo, river ministry along the Amazon in Brazil, and village evangelists in South Asia—bringing glad tidings of great joy into the darkness and leaving a lasting message of hope and redemption.

Idea #3 – A roll of paper

By producing topical Scripture booklets in over 350 languages, WMP provides a unique ministry tool, free of charge, for multiplied nations of the world where materials are not readily available or affordable. The need for “paper missionaries” continues to grow, even in a digital age.

Rolls of PAPER are needed to keep the web press running! A gift of $1,430.74 provides a 1,500- pound 35-inch-wide roll of paper for printing the inside pages for 85,000 48-page Scripture booklets! (The cost per roll of paper increased almost 25% from last year’s $1,147.00 per roll.) A gift of $715.37 will provide half a roll.

 

Idea #4 – Paper for full-color covers

All WMP topical Scripture booklets and Bible study booklets now have full-color covers. Attractive colorful covers are appealing to the eye, sparking an interest in what might be inside. The contents are still the same precious Scriptures to share the “good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.”

Printing full-color booklet covers is done on our efficient 6-unit sheet-fed press. Each stack of 8,500 sheets costs between $578 and $978 depending on availability, and provides colorful covers for 136,000 48-page Scripture booklets or 68,000 full-color covers for the variety of Bible studies that WMP produces. You can help keep color covers flowing!

Idea #5 – Powerful ink on paper

Ink is vital to the process of printing. When black ink is applied to the rollers on our web press, words from Scripture bring “dead” paper to life! A 425-lb barrel of black ink costing $650.00 transforms rolls of blank paper into the inside pages of approximately two million powerful 48-page Scripture booklets.

A 5-lb can of color ink used to print the full-color covers of Scripture booklets (as well as newsletters and brochures) costs $23.75. A donation of $100.00 will provide color for approximately 58,000 Scripture booklet covers.

 

Idea #6 – Overseas contract printing

God continues to lead World Missionary Press to provide booklets for certain nations which restrict importing from the USA. Reliable in-country printers are contracted to print the Scripture booklets, which WMP’s national coordinators are able to provide to Christians waiting to share in the joy of giving God’s Word to friends and neighbors. Such overseas printings are generally more expensive than printing in our plant; however, God continues to provide the contacts and the resources to meet the need.

Current contracts in process or pending include printings in S. Asia, Indonesia, and Myanmar. The request from Indonesia for our 2022-2023 fiscal year includes 575,000 copies of the God Loves You! coloring book, which is being well-received. Printing will also include 500,000 Scripture booklets and 350,000 Bible study books.

A donation of any amount will help support believers in these countries by printing God’s Word there.

 

Idea #7 – New Testaments

Requests for New Testaments are included in many orders from national coordinators and major distributors. Currently, WMP offers New Testaments in just a few languages, but each one is a vital part of building newfound faith in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. To have one’s own copy to read at any time, and to sense that God’s Word is personal and belongs to you, can deepen the relationship between God and His child. The work begun with the Scripture booklets and Bible studies is continued by studying the entire New Testament. Meeting the pent-up need for Spanish New Testaments for the coming year will require a printing of 200,000 copies. Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Honduras are waiting.

Arabic New Testaments are invaluable in African countries. There is curious interest in the New Testament and the story of Jesus. The New Testaments are gladly received, and the truth of who Jesus is can be presented by the Holy Spirit as the pages unfold. A printing of 50,000 copies will reach into Senegal, Guinea, South Sudan, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, and beyond.

A donation of $150.00 will send 175 Spanish New Testaments to brothers and sisters in Christ who long for His Word. A donation of $200.00 will provide 235 Arabic New Testaments that can open seeking eyes and prepared hearts.

Idea #8 – Shipping materials: boxes, strapping, pallets, shrink-wrap

Sending Scripture booklets to the far corners of the world entails using all types of transport—sea containers, postal delivery, trucks, buses, trains, motor bikes, pack animal—before the package arrives at its destination. To prepare shipments for transport, some necessary “little things” involve expenses which are included in the overall cost of providing Scripture booklets to the world.

World Missionary Press uses sturdy cardboard boxes specially designed to hold certain weights. Boxes are strapped closed, rather than depending on tape. Most boxes are loaded onto heat-treated pallets for transport in ship containers. After pallets are loaded to a limited height, they are shrink-wrapped to secure them until the container is unloaded thousands of miles from our dock.

A donation of $99.58 will provide for 256 boxes to be packed with Scripture booklets and fill one pallet. A donation of $96.00 will purchase one coil of strapping and $119.00 will pay for 17 heat-treated pallets to fill a 40-foot container. A gift of $67.00 will purchase 1 roll of shrink-wrap.

 

Idea #9 – Shipping to the world

Challenges to shipping sea containers have become formidable. Rising prices, closed or congested ports, limited shipping lanes and berths, availability of empty containers—all make for uncertain schedules, but day after day God shows that He is sovereign and that He will make His Word known to the world. As container shipments are completed in production, the task of arranging the delivery to faraway places begins. One by one they leave the WMP dock safe in God’s hands. Shipments are currently en route to 18 different countries. Although delays are often encountered, shipments arrive intact and find their way to the prescribed destination, safe and undamaged. Surely God has His hand on His Word!

This past fiscal year, 59 containers were sent to 45 countries, covering the globe! Shipments carried booklets in languages such as Guarani, Kalenjin, Zulu, Sango, and Maasai. Millions will receive God’s Word, some for the first time in their own language!

We are encouraged to continue trusting the Lord! Even with all the current uncertainties, sending via ship container is still the most economical way to send Scripture booklets, Bible studies, coloring books, and New Testaments. Shipping-related costs to send a container shipment of 4,215 boxes going to Nigeria will amount to $20,481.00. Sending those same boxes via the postal service would cost $225,552.00. Sending 4,215 boxes to Bolivia will cost $11,347.60, saving $148,824.40 over shipping by mail. Such savings allow WMP to print more booklets for more countries, using every donated dollar to the fullest capacity.

Your donation of any amount will help container shipments continue to flow out of the plant, over the seas, and safely into the harbors of the world.