A Hunger for God’s Word
Stories of Limited Access to God’s Word.
We partner with Paul* and Ecclesia Ministries (formerly Community Transformation Ministries) in western Sudan.
Many in his community have little to no access to God’s Word. Paul shares with us a few stories to help us better understand the importance of getting Bibles to people in his context.
Uma’s* husband is a student in the Community Transformation Ministry Bible School. Uma hated her husband because he became a Christian. While growing in his faith at the Seminary, Naya* tried to teach his wife the Bible but she refused completely.
But one day, while Naya was at the table reading his Bible, Uma observed him intently. Naya left the house and left his Bible on the table where he had been sitting and reading earlier. When he left the house, she said to herself, “Let me see what this book may contain.”
“It was not easy for me to hold that book,” she recalls, “ but my spirit pushed me to read.”
She kept reading until her husband came home.
She said, “I didn’t know that Jesus was so loving and caring to us!” That evening, she accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. She met the Word of God (Jesus) by reading his Word.
But Uma didn’t stop there. She began to reach out and care for her neighbors. She started a fellowship in her home, reaching those far from God right there among her neighbors.
“It is because we don’t have Bibles to read, we have missed God’s love,” she says.
Our global partner, Paul*, shares this story with us. As he recounts Uma’s story, he says, “Hard copies of the Bible can change a village! It doesn’t matter how hard their hearts may be; God’s love is greater!”
Shar* is a church leader in Rokirro, Sudan. He has only one Bible available for use by his entire congregation. “People are asking for Bibles, but I don’t have Bibles to give to them,” he shares.
A member of their gathering is a secondary school teacher. He has been coming and borrowing the Bible to copy by hand.
He has started in Genesis and to date has copied to the book of Judges.
He copies as much as he can and then goes home to study and comes back again to copy some more.
“This is how much people are lacking the hard copy of the Word of God,” voices our global partner, Paul*. “When I told him (Shar) that I brought some Bibles and some SD cards and that he can take some to give to his people, he was so happy!”
With your help, we recently were able to support Paul and his disciples in purchasing the physical Bibles and digital Bibles loaded on SD cards that he mentions above.
Join us in praying for these new believers and for more copies of God’s Word to share with them.
*Names altered to protect the identity of those working in areas of increased persecution.