Hey Bible Givers, it continues to be an incredibly busy, yet productive ministry year. I DID warn everyone that things would get a little crazy as we started working toward our fresh vision to place the next one million Bibles into hard places. This month, I want to take a brief pause and tell you just one story.
The churches in Pakistan are somewhat isolated as they are always a tiny minority in any community in this 98% Muslim majority country. As I shared last month, initial connecting work by our ministry partner resulted in requests for over 100,000 Bibles. There is a huge pent-up hunger for the Word of God in this country.
To address this isolation, as well as to invite IBG into the local work in Pakistan, they have asked us to attend these Bible-giving events via video conferencing, and to share from the Word of God with the attendees. What has evolved is that each time we ship Bibles into Pakistan, I am scheduled to preach once or twice a week for several weeks until the Bibles run out. I preach again tomorrow morning.
Now I will never present myself as any sort of preacher. I know quite a few good ones, and I do not have the gift of exposition that they do. I have, however, read my Bible almost daily for a few decades, so I know my way around scripture and can deliver a solid devotional. And that’s really what I am doing.
These events start with ~45 minutes of worship, prayer, and then the message. I have learned to speak a sentence and then pause for one of the Pastors to translate my English into Urdu. I’ve become more emphatic as I preach at my computer. After all, I can see and hear the people attending on my screen. But my words sound amazing and powerful as they are delivered in Urdu by the Pakastani Pastors.
The sweetest part comes next when we distribute Bibles. They call each person up by name and present the Bible. It gives me and other IBG Board members attending the chance to pray for each Bible receiver. I’ve been raising my hand to symbolically lay hands on each person as I pray. In the last gathering, someone took my raised hand as a wave, so we waved at each subsequent Bible receiver as we prayed for them.
These simple points of connection from thousands of miles away are powerful. These people are overwhelmed with joy to receive a Bible. I hear back from Pastors that these sessions are a huge encouragement to them and their congregations. Very few Pakistani believers have ever had a connection with the larger church. You, IBG, are giving them far more than just a Bible. Your gift of God’s Word is also a huge encouragement to one of the most persecuted churches in the world. Your gifts and your work make this possible, and there is much fruit from these events.
Last week, our ministry partner travelled many hours by bus into central Pakistan. A future event will be 12-hours away. This is difficult work because the church in Pakistan has few resources. But they are committed to partner with us in Bible distribution. They also located a new source of the exact same Urdu Bible for $8 instead of $10, so we will be able to provide 25% more Bibles than in our initial plan. That is a glimpse of how God is using you in Pakistan.
Give Hope! Give Life! Give Bibles!
Chuck Hayes