A different kind of Christmas gift

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!"