The ministry distributes free Christian literature to spiritually-needy people, by asking people to donate from their bookshelves and then sending these resources around the world. These resources are then distributed within three to four days, reaching approximately 30,000 people per container. While the Bible is not banned in China, access to it is limited. However, Mission Cry President Jason Woolford notes government policies and attitudes can shift quickly.

“We look at what’s going on with Iran right now, we see the alignment with China and Russia, and you know, history has shown us that doors for the gospel don’t stay open forever,” says Woolford. “Right now, we still have the ability to ship Bibles and Christian books into Hong Kong and the surrounding region. But this global climate right now could change very, very quickly.”

According to Woolford, many other ministries no longer have these same opportunities to get resources into China.

“So we need to get the Word of God into that area as much as we can, especially with the tensions that are going on,” says Woolford. “So the need is great, and we just need to keep getting the word into these areas.”

Woolford asks for prayers for Mission Cry’s missionaries on the ground in Hong Kong and the relationships they’ve built with businesses there, which allow them to creatively get the Word of God into the area; for their team that goes into mainland China and into the north, where  they risk imprisonment and possible death by taking the Word of God into these areas; and that they would get the sponsorship needed to ship more containers of resources to those in need while they can.

How else to help:

• Donate books: Christian books in English are accepted by Mission Cry, as English is widely spoken in Hong Kong and mainland China.
• Donate funds: It costs Mission Cry about $11,000 to ship a container, worth half a million dollars in free Bibles and other resources.

Header photo courtesy of Mission Cry. 

“The way these articles are framed and the statements that they make, I think you have to be able to dig a little bit deeper to find out what is really the issue,” says Rovenstine.

So what is true?

In the article referenced, China is mentioned alongside Saudi Arabia and North Korea as some of the most dangerous countries to possess a Bible—Rovenstine notes this misrepresents the reality. China is not in the top three for limited access, but it is on the list of countries where access to the Bible is most restricted.

The article also claims the Chinese government is “removing the Bible from online retailers and replacing it with a ‘sanitized’ version.”

“We’ve not seen any of that,” says Rovenstine. “Nobody who’s claiming that has ever shown us that or actually produced one of these compromised Bibles.”

Most significantly, he notes the Bible is not banned in China—but it can be difficult to get one.

“Right now the Bible is relatively accessible. I mean, we still have a great number of requests and opportunities to do Bible distribution.”

(Photo courtesy of Bibles for China via Facebook)

Having a Bible or buying one is not illegal in China. People traveling to China can also bring their Bible, even as a gift for someone within the country. However, they can’t be purchased just anywhere, and printing of the Bible is limited by the government. Bibles for China works with Amity Printing Press, which has approval to print a limited number of Bibles a year.

“They’re printed by the millions,” says Rovenstine. “That’s not enough, but we want to make sure that what is being printed is accessible to those who may not have the opportunity to possess a Bible.”

There are still several challenges with distributing the Bible in China. There simply are not as many Bibles available as there are people who want access to one, and the underground church faces greater challenges than the registered church. On top of that, there is still a need to reach areas of China that are more rural or have lower economic positions. Rovenstine notes there are some places the Bible could be available but not accessible simply because it hasn’t been translated into different minority languages.

“There’s still challenges, absolutely, but there’s still opportunity that we need to be pursuing and taking advantage of, until those opportunities are not available to us anymore.”

He asks believers to continue supporting Bible translation and distribution around the world.

“Over a million Bibles that Bibles for China has had the privilege of helping to distribute are in the hands of people just like me who are reading those Bibles, and the Holy Spirit is working on their lives in those moments. I thought that’s really cool, that the Bible is doing its good work, and we need to make sure that good work is available to anybody who has a desire for that.”

How to Pray:

• Pray for the good work of Bible translation and distribution.
• Pray Bibles for China continues to have opportunities to do the work they’ll called to—that roadblock and logistics would be eased, so they can continue to put Bibles in the hands of those who desire them.
• Pray God would soften the hearts and attitudes of those in China who are making decisions around distribution.

Header photo courtesy of Bibles for China. 

Eric Burklin with China Partner says, “We just need to stay faithful at this time… stay faithful and stay connected with our brothers and sisters inside China and with our pastoral leadership there.”

The Chinese church continues to do gospel work, and a pastor in Beijing told Burklin, when government restrictions close doors, God opens windows.

(Photo courtesy China Partner)

Burklin says the pastor’s message is, “We’re going to do whatever we can within the system to serve Christ and to stay faithful and reach as many people for Jesus Christ as we can.”

By reaching out to pastors and seminarians through WeChat and by text messaging, China Partner aims to stay involved with the Chinese Church through Key Leadership Engagement.

In Burklin’s regular communication with church leaders in China, he says one professor from a Wuhan seminary asks for continued prayer and appreciates the connection.

“Every time I text her,” Burklin says, “she just sends me back a smiley face, basically saying, ‘You know we are still doing what God has called us to do. I’m so grateful that you’re still doing what God has called you to do.’”

As China Partner waits to do direct ministry in China, the team will continue to visit in person as well.

Practically, visits to the brothers and sisters in China will now be very low-key.

(Photo courtesy China Partner)

Where China partner teams used to visit local churches, seminaries, and Bible schools, now they would need permission to meet. Burklin says the plan now is to go to cities and invite the leaders to visit hotels for conversations they will not be required to report.

Even with the crackdown on churches, Burklin says the government is trying to attract foreigners for visits on tourist visas, and China Partner is going to use that open door.

Please pray that this will continue and that the communist government leadership will not restrict this and will recognize the mutual need between China and the rest of the world.

Pray also that ministries will find creative ways to minister in China.

Please pray for government leadership in China and across the world.

Burklin now prays for Xi Jinping once a week and says, “It’s been a neat spiritual journey for me. So many of us have a negative reaction to powerful leaders whom we deem as evil or anti-Christian, and yet they’re men and women whom God has created in His image. So I have just started to pray for him, and I sense more of a love for him and a concern for his soul, rather than just reacting to his policy changes.”

Pray also for the China Partner team as they prepare for an upcoming trip to China to visit church leaders in Jiangxi, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

Pray that God will give the team wisdom to respond well and ably while there, abiding by the law openly. Pray that the trip would be an encouragement to local church bodies, strengthening them to continue in the good work they are doing.

(Photo courtesy China Partner)

Kurt Rovenstine with Bibles for China says, “It’s a big deal if you’re Chinese, or know anybody that is from China or has Chinese heritage. That is a major celebration. The country shuts down. Everybody goes to visit family… It’s a time of great celebration, but it’s also an opportunity for ministry and outreach. Just to maybe if someone in your circle is Chinese to reach out and wish him a happy Chinese New Year and kind of strengthen that relationship that you have with him.”

Christians in China

Unfortunately, the changing year in China likely won’t mark a change in the attitudes toward Christians. Rovenstine says the church continues to face a tightening of reins. For many, the current restrictions bring to mind years where the older generations faced significant opposition to church activity.

“There is an opportunity within the church where there’ll be some kind of coming together. People who experienced some of the freedom of 2000 to 2016, ’17, ’18 – in there, when things seemed to be opening up – maybe are now having to step back and ask those who went through more difficult times, ‘How do we manage this?’”

(Image courtesy of Bibles for China)

In the West, that discussion can be a difficult one. Many times, it is challenging to get information passed between generations. However, in China, Rovenstine is hopeful the cultural differences will work to assist the younger generations.

“One of the wonderful dynamics of the Chinese culture is that respect for the past and the elders that have gone through things that younger people have not. So there’s a culture there that is very conducive to that kind of passing along with wisdom. I think we need to be praying for the church that wisdom does get passed on.”

Rovenstine is hopeful that the New Year celebration will be a time for some of that wisdom to be passed on. In addition to discussions within the church, Rovenstine says that with all the traveling and family time, the Chinese New Year is a great opportunity to give a truly meaningful gift.

Sharing Scripture as a Gift

One of their partner churches requested Bibles to pass out as part of their church celebrations. Rovenstine encourages Christians in or outside of China to consider making that part of their New Year celebration as well.

“For somebody that has a friend that’s of Chinese heritage, or recently come from China, to be able to acknowledge that significant celebration in that individual’s life and culture, and then to provide a gift of this children’s Bible to them that they could use, either in their own reading or maybe to take back to China.”

If you would like to share a Chinese Bible with someone who needs one, request one here. If you want to support the ministry of Bibles for China, click here.

Header photo is a representative stock image courtesy of Bruce Emmerling via Pixabay

“I just got another letter from a pastor in Nanchang,” Erik Burklin of China Partner Ministries says.

“They had a special Religious Affairs Bureau group come to their seminary to educate them on these new regulations.”

(Photo courtesy China Partner)

These regulations are part of a broader effort to control religious life nationwide.

Churches are allowed to operate if they register with the government. Authorities troll and restrict online content like sermons, and the state expects all churches to act in alignment with the Communist Party.

If believers resist, they’re detained or prosecuted. Yet, at the same time, “There’s positive news in China,” Burklin says.

“Churches are continuing to grow, even though the government is very restrictive.”

Lessons from Mao’s era

Things were worse for Christians under Mao Zedong in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Christianity was first viewed as a “foreign” influence, and believers were pressured to cut all Western ties, such as connections with mission-sending organizations.

Then, during China’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, all religion was deemed incompatible with communism.

Burklin’s grandparents served as missionaries during this tumultuous time. “My grandparents were kicked out of China because of Communism taking over,” he says.

“People were hiding Bibles. They were meeting secretly in homes. Those were dark days, and yet the Church survived.”

Burklin adds, “Not only did it (the Church) survive during those 30 years, it thrived. It grew.”

(Photo courtesy China Partner)

How to help

Ask the Lord to strengthen and encourage house church pastors.

“Many house church leaders are under more pressure. They’re deemed illegal because they haven’t registered, and many government leaders are after them,” Burklin says.

“[Pray] that God would just sustain them during this tough time.”

Pray for fruitful outreach in February during the Chinese New Year. “Christians are using this Chinese New Year as a tool to witness to their neighbors and family members,” Burklin says.

“Pray that God would have another surge of new spiritual birth during the Chinese New Year.”

Header and story images courtesy of China Partner. 

Erik Burklin with China Partner Ministries says, “In countries like China, that are considered more restrictive towards the Gospel, Christians use that event to share the Gospel with those who don’t know Christ.”

This year, outreach activities ranged from large Christmas events in Beijing to home visits and the provision of care items for elderly people. More about that here.

“One church used that Christmas season to go door to door visiting old folks in the poor parts of the interior of China, to make sure that the elderly were taken care of,” Burklin says.

“People would ask questions like, ‘Why would you take care of me?’ And they probably answered, ‘We do this because we love Christ.’”

Sharing Christ often leads to persecution in China, but Christmas provides a Gospel opportunity. One church in Beijing’s university district used Christ’s birth as a springboard.

“This church is using Christmas to share the Gospel with many people that otherwise would never hear it,” Burklin says.

“They preach Jesus Christ coming to earth so that He could die on the cross, so that we could have salvation and eternal life through Him.”

Belief is only the starting point in the Chinese Church. “They have a very strict way of how they call somebody a Christian,” Burklin says. “They believe that you are not born again until you’re baptized.”

(Photo courtesy of China Partner)

Now, months of discipleship are underway. Pray for new believers as they grow and mature.

“A lot of these churches are very well-equipped to follow up with these individuals. Many of them have baptism classes or discipleship classes,” Burklin says.

“Somebody believes in Christ. They say, ‘Okay, that’s a good first step. Now we need to disciple you, teach you what it means to be a Christian, and then that leads to baptism. Once you’re baptized, that’s when we call you a Christian.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Robert Thiemann/Unsplash.

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.

.

Header photo: Guard in Nanjing (photo courtesy of Abderrahmane Habibi via Pexels).

Mission Cry had four containers in process to go out by the end of 2025, each containing used Bibles and Christian resources. One of those was bound for Hong Kong, where Jason Woolford, president of Mission Cry, says the organization continues to have favor with a few businesses.

“Obviously, I can’t go into great detail on that, but we’re able to send these to those businesses,” says Woolford. “Those businesses then strategically get them to our team on the ground, and then from there, they make their way in through Hong Kong and then strategically into Shenzhen and mainland China. So God continues to give us favor in that area.”

The other three containers were being sent to Uganda, Malawi, and Ghana. Each container is worth approximately half a million dollars in Bibles, Christian books, and seminary materials, plus the $11,000 it costs to send the container out and get it to its destination, according to Woolford. However, the spiritual value is even greater.

“God’s word’s the only thing that doesn’t return void. That’s the greatest Christmas present that we could give anybody.”

Pray that Mission Cry’s containers would continue to be delivered safely and that people would come alongside and sponsor more containers, as well as on behalf of Mission Cry’s state coordinators, missionaries, and everyone who makes the distribution of these Christian resources possible.

To those interested in financially supporting Mission Cry’s work, Jason asks, “before you write that check or make your giving, that you would go before the Lord and not do what you can do, but do what the Lord would have you do.”

Learn more about partnering in their mission at missioncry.com.

Header photo courtesy of Mission Cry.

“They’re being cautious, trying to just keep [at] minimum going out,” says Annabel Muscarella. She serves as Trans World Radio’s International Director of Latin America and Caribbean Hispanic Ministry. 

“[On] Sunday, some churches didn’t have services. But most people just went out to buy food and medicines and some gas, [so] that they can be ready for anything that could happen.”

(Stock photo courtesy of Luisana Zerpa via Unsplash)

Things moved swiftly in the US. On Monday, Maduro and Flores pleaded not guilty to drug and weapons charges in a New York City court. Their next hearing is set for March 17. 

On the same day as the first hearing, the United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting in New York City. Delegates from China, Russia, and Colombia condemned the U.S.’s military actions as illegal. Other members of the Security Council emphasized the importance of upholding international law. 

Meanwhile, in Venezuela itself, “You have to be very, very cautious because there isn’t a clear understanding of who is running the country,” says Muscarella. “We know there is a vice president [Delcy Rodriguez]. We don’t know exactly what is going to happen in the next few days. That’s the feeling you can sense when you talk with people that live in Venezuela.”

Find your place in the story

Pray for wisdom for political leaders to make just decisions. Pray for peace in Venezuela, says Muscarella. “For now, praying for their safety and [for] people to stay calm and peaceful, I think that will help this situation.”

(Photo courtesy Radio Trans Mundial de Venezuela)

Pray also for strength, wisdom, and discernment for churches and their pastors in Venezuela. “I have many, many friends — pastors, friends — there. They don’t stop. They don’t stop sharing the gospel,” Muscarella says. 

Gospel ministry continues at Radio Trans Mundial Venezuela, a Spanish branch of Trans World Radio. “There is that freedom still in Venezuela to share the good news with kids and their parents,” says Muscarella. 

“Don’t wait to help,” she adds. If you feel led to send a message to communities in Venezuela or even to send financial aid in some way, she says you can reach out to Trans World Radio. “That helps, because we are in contact with them [Venezuelans], and we can on your behalf help them.”

Header photo: Caracas, Venezuela (Stock photo courtesy of Bona Lee via Unsplash).

Fighting increased along the Cambodia-Thailand border earlier this month, and clashes continue today, making it the deadliest bout in years. “Many people die. Many children run for their lives,” A3’s Country Director for Cambodia, Pastor Meng Aun Hour, says.

“Many, many people need to leave their homes and run for a safe place.”

More than half a million people have been displaced by the skirmish, which stems from long-standing territorial disputes. “Cambodia had a lot of temples along the border, and right now, Thailand claims that they belong to them. That’s why they want to fight,” Aun Hour explains.

“Cambodia had a lot of temples along the border, and right now, Thailand claims that they belong to them. That’s why they want to fight.”
(Photo courtesy of Neat chanmanith/Pexels)

Civilians flee as airstrikes intensify

Few Cambodians are unaffected by the clashes, especially those who live near the border with Thailand. “Everyone is having a hard time right now. Those living along the border just run for their life,” Aun Hour says.

“Children cannot go to school; normal people cannot go to the rice field. For example, right now is the time for harvesting rice from the field, but they cannot go to the field and harvest their crop because of the bombing,” he continues.

“F16s are bombing the school, hospital, and houses, especially the temple, the Buddhist temple.”

Cambodians are united in their support for their soldiers. “They try to do fundraising, collecting food, collecting donations, whatever they can give, they give to those who are at the front line,” Aun Hour says.

Even society’s most vulnerable are contributing. “Street children collect the garbage, and they sell it. They can get around 50 cents,” Aun Hour says.

“Normally, they use that money to buy their food, but this time, I saw them give that money away to support soldiers.”

(Photo courtesy of Engin_Akyurt/Pixabay)

Church leaders call for prayer, provide relief

Meanwhile, churches strive to meet the needs of newly displaced families. “We are encouraging A3 alumni to take a special offering in their churches, and we are collecting that,” Aun Hour says.

“We use it to buy [supplies], and we give it to 1,000 refugee families. We go and give them some rice, noodles, dry fish; things like that.”

Now that you know, how will you respond? “Pray for peace. That is number one. We really need it,” Aun Hour requests.

“We went through many difficulties in the past, like we went through the killing fields and the Civil War. We don’t want war anymore, we want peace.”

Secondly, “pray that needs will be met, especially for the refugee. We want to support them with food so that they can survive for a while.”

Pray that Cambodians who do not know Jesus will meet the Prince of Peace through this outreach.

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Gökhan Tahincioğlu/Pexels.