(Photo courtesy of WBTC)
International (MNN) ― Are you tired of holiday consumerism? Are you feeling pinched by the economic recession? Is there anyone on your Christmas list who doesn't want or need anything? You can buy inexpensive, meaningful Christmas gifts that help spread the Gospel through the World Bible Translation Center Christmas Bible Catalog.
"This year, when all Americans in particular were hit with an economic challenge, we wondered, 'What if we thought of it differently?" WBTC president Eric Fellman explained. "We said, 'Instead of giving each other gifts, let's give a gift that provides the Gospel to someone who's never had it before, somewhere in the world.'"
WBTC gives donors the option of donating Bibles in honor of a loved one.
Fellman said the catalog "simply offers the opportunity for your family and your friends to say, 'Instead of giving you this big present, I'm going to give the gift of Bibles.'"
Every item in the Christmas Bible Catalog costs either $2 or $4. New Testaments, complete Bibles, and a CD-Rom are available in Arabic, Spanish, English, Chinese, as well as languages spoken in India, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Recently, Fellman saw firsthand the impact of WBTC's Easy-to-Read Bibles when he traveled to India. India's rural villages generally have literacy rates of 50 percent or less, so India's government has set up assistance-to-literacy centers to help people learn to read.
"In those literacy centers, we've been given permission to distribute Proverbs and the Gospel of Mark, which is very effective in the Indian culture because of the way it's described," Fellman said. "So the first thing that many people read, because this material's provided to them free once they learn to read, are Proverbs and the gospel of Mark."
After reading the Bible, many of the students connect with the village pastor and ask to be baptized.
"In just one small village, there were 17 new converts who have been baptized that year, through the literacy center, because they had received for the first time the Word of God," Fellman said. "What greater gift to give at Christmas than the gift of eternal life!"
