China (MNN) — The Bible is living water, and many people in China are thirsty for it. But getting Bibles into the country is becoming harder.
Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says they’re working carefully and patiently as new laws add limits. “It’s never our goal to break a law or put our Chinese brothers and sisters in danger,” he explains. “But there’s often a question as to what a regulation really means.”
The new regulations also pressure believers to align more closely with the Communist Party. Rovenstine says practical challenges are growing too: “Getting funding into China is a challenge. Organizing the distributions are a challenge because of the permissions that are required.”
There is a great need for the Living Word in China (Representative photo: Chinese farmer; photo courtesy of Zhengfan Yang via Unsplash)
Another major hurdle is staying connected with local partners without putting them at risk.
“What we want to do is be able to interact with and see the process and have conversations and encourage our brothers and sisters in China,” he says.
Even with restrictions, God provides encouragement.
“We continue to receive requests for Bibles, and we do our best to meet them — it just takes more time,” adds Rovenstine.
On another occasion, Rovenstine’s team couldn’t meet with the Bible school they support through donations. However, God provided another way to meet the graduates.
“As providence of the Holy Spirit’s guidance would have it, we arrived and worshiped on a day where they were celebrating a significant anniversary of that Bible school, and they had the students sing two songs for the congregation. One of the students that was graduating preached the message!” shares Rovenstine.
It was a reminder that God is still at work — and that their efforts are bearing fruit.
Please pray for more open doors for the ministry. “Pray for opportunities that may arise that we’re yet unaware of, that God would lead us to a place to be able to deploy resources,” says Rovenstine.
With both great need and resistance, Bibles for China is moving forward with patience so they don’t jeopardize future opportunities. Pray that God strategically guides their decisions and protects everyone involved in distribution.
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Header photo: Guard in Nanjing (photo courtesy of Abderrahmane Habibi via Pexels).
