China (MNN) — As China recovers from the coronavirus outbreak, Bibles for China looks to “Hit the ground running.”
The coronavirus COVID-19 is now spreading faster outside China than inside, with European and Middle Eastern countries being affected. COVID-19 has hit Italy particularly hard.
Map showing coronavirus outbreak in Iran. (Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
The greatest concern at the moment is Iran, whose deputy health minister has recently been infected. Many worry Iran is not accurately reporting the number of victims in their country.
In China itself, the COVID-19 outbreak peaked around the beginning of February, the World Health Organization found, and has been decreasing since.
That is exactly what Bibles for China wants to hear. The ministry has been hampered by the outbreak, unable to move Bibles around China as efficiently as they were hoping.
The fallout of COVID-19
While still primarily focused on providing scripture to the Chinese people, Bibles for China is helping with the crisis as well. Kurt Rovenstine says, “We are responding in a practical way to the epidemic, [giving] our supporters an opportunity, if they so choose, to support in helping to combat the virus with supplies, etc.”
(Image courtesy of Bibles for China on Facebook)
The major concerns Rovenstine sees with the fallout of COVID-19? Financial stress, and work simply not getting done. Rovenstine says, “I know that a couple of our people we work very closely with have been stuck in their apartments or homes for a few weeks now. And so, I can’t imagine there’s not some kind of an impact for them personally. Obviously large on a larger scale, China in particular [has felt economic impacts].”
China’s economy is already beginning to recover, but Rovenstine says, “There probably will be a lag in the uptake when we turn back around. But again, our plans are to try to hit the ground running once it clears. Not knowing what that timeframe is does make it a challenge.”
The response of the Church in China
Bibles for China exists to help the Chinese Church, and according to Rovenstine, local believers need all the help they can get. They are separated from each other, confined to using apps to meet together.
(Image courtesy of Bibles for China on Facebook)
Still, the Holy Spirit is working. Rovenstine says, “One of the neat things in this process is that when there’s crisis, nobody responds better to hurt, pain, and fear than the Church.”
Pray the threat of COVID-19 would disappear from China and the whole world and that those who are sick would be healed.
Most of all, Rovenstine says, “Pray for the church in China, to be able to reach out in a substantial way to those who are hurting . . . And [pray] the word of God that we’re so in love with makes a difference in the lives of the people there that are going through this epidemic at this time.”
The coronavirus has peaked in China (Image courtesy of Bibles for China on Facebook)
