Anchor Books for China (article)

Article 23 of 26 from the Ponder This - 2005 series

June 2005 – ANCHOR BOOKS FOR CHINA by Ray Pritchard During our trip to China in January, God arranged the circumstances so that we met a man who has a license to legally publish Christian books in China. That in itself is unusual since China is still officially atheistic. But things are changing and long-closed doors are now opening. Although no one knows the exact numbers, everyone agrees that the Christian church in China is growing at an explosive rate. From 2-3 million believers in 1949, some estimates now range as high as 100 million. Despite decades of persecution, the house church movement continues to flourish. Communism as an ideology is basically dead. The rapid economic growth in recent years has raised the living standards for many people. It has also created an enormous spiritual vacuum that no amount of material wealth can satisfy. Christian publishers are scrambling to provide good material for millions of new believers and for the large number of seekers who want to know more about the Christian faith. That’s where Calvary comes in. A few years ago God opened the door for us to print and give away hundreds of thousands of copies of An Anchor for the Soul to prisoners, members of the Armed Forces, missionaries, and for disaster relief efforts. We now have a chance to make this book available in China. The total initial cost of the project is $27,000. I’m happy to say that we have already raised $15,000. Part of that came from an estate and part of it came as a donation from Moody Publishers. We need to raise $4,000 more to complete the translation and $8,000 beyond that to fund the first 20,000 copies. The publisher plans to make An Anchor for the Soul in Chinese available in a “notebook”� format that will incorporate the text of the book plus application and discussion questions. This version of the book will be printed in Chinese and will be made available through a variety of distribution channels including bookstores, registered churches, house churches, Bible study groups, Internet orders, Christian ministries in China, and so on. I am amazed at how God has opened the door to take this simple presentation of the gospel and make it available in China with its population of 1.3 billion people. The publisher has a license to work not only with Christian bookstores, but also with the Chinese equivalent of Borders. Did you know Wal-Mart is already in China? The publisher can place his books in the Chinese Wal-Marts. This was simply not thinkable as recently as ten years ago, but God has opened a wide door. No one can say how long the door will stay open. We must go through this door while we can. Next Sunday you will find special “Anchor for China”� offering envelopes in your pew racks. Please make any checks payable to Calvary Memorial Church, using those special envelopes. Everything given in those envelopes will go toward this project.