New Bible Distribution Program Sends God's Word Into Restricted Nations
by Allie Martin
March 2, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Voice of the Martyrs (VOM), a ministry to the persecuted Church, has launched what it calls the "Bibles Unbound" program. Through this outreach, Christians in the United States have a chance to help get copies of God's Word to nations where access to the Scriptures has been limited or virtually nonexistent. The Bibles Unbound program sends Bibles directly to the homes of those living in countries where Bibles are either forbidden or difficult to find. For $30 a month, a package of five Bibles along with address labels will be sent to individuals participating in the program. Each participant will then send the Bibles to an international re-mailing center in New York.
VOM spokesman Todd Nettleton says this project allows Christians in the United States the chance to play a vital role in spreading the gospel worldwide. Through these volunteers, he notes, the ministry is able to send the Word of God into several foreign countries and put the Scriptures into the hands of people who might otherwise not be able to get access to it.
"We're working directly with our brothers and sisters inside these restricted nations," Nettleton says. "They are the ones collecting the addresses and the names for us to send these Bibles to, and they are planning ways that they can follow up after a Bible mailing has been done."
The ministry spokesman points out that participants in the program are encouraged to give more than just their time and their hands to the Scripture distribution project. "One of the challenges that we're giving to people who join the Bibles Unbound program," he explains, "is to pray for the people they are mailing Bibles to."
As the volunteers package the Bibles and put them in the mail, they are asked "to pray for the person on the other end in a restricted nation that will be receiving that Bible," Nettleton says. "You know, it's sobering to think that, for many of these people, that will be the first time that anyone has prayed for them by name."
VOM is able to mail the Bibles directly into many restricted nations using non-U.S. postage provided in cooperation with United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Remail System. Currently, New Testaments are being sent to China and Egypt through the Bible Unbound program.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
