A flood of requests for Bible lessons in Africa has prompted a plan to print 14 million individual Bible lessons in five languages to help meet the demand. The massive print project was driven by an overwhelming response in Africa to Sow 1 Billion--a Seventh-day Adventist Church global effort to distribute 1,000 million invitations to study the Bible.
Kurt Johnson, director of the "Voice of Prophecy Bible School" and Bible School coordinator for the Adventist World Church (General Conference), says the demand for Bible lessons is a "good problem" to have. The church in Kenya, for example, received nearly 400,000 requests for Bible studies after distributing 2 million of the Sow 1 Billion invitations.
Each Bible lesson set provided for Africa has a potential "ripple effect," adds Johnson, as people share the lessons with others. "This ripple effect from just one Bible study often results in multiplied decisions for Christ from other family members and friends," he explains.
In total, six containers loaded with Bible lessons -- in English, Portuguese, Luganda, French and Kiswahili -- will be shipped to Africa in the coming months.
Light Bearers Ministry (LBM), an independent Adventist organization based in Washington state which is located in the Northwest of the United States and is undertaking this extraordinary printing effort. LBM runs both a television and publishing ministry. Over the past 25 years, Light Bearers Ministry has published gospel literature in 35 languages and circulated more than 350 million publications free of charge around the world.
Ty Gibson, president and founder of LBM, says his organization feels "privileged to be called upon by the world church to provide Bible studies for the people of Africa in support of the Sow 1 Billion project. Our hearts beat in unison with the mission of the world church."
Much of the funding for this Bible lesson project has been provided by Go One Million -- a world church initiative to train and equip Adventist church members for personal witness.
Bettina Krause, an assistant to the world church president, says church members in Africa urgently need these Bible lessons as they continue with the Sow 1 Billion project. But, she adds, without the willingness of Light Bearers Ministry to print at a below-cost rate, a printing effort of this size would simply not have been possible. "We are indebted to Light Bearers for their extraordinary support of this project."
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Saw 1 Billion
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A plan to distribute an unprecedented 1,000 million Bible study invitations around the world over the next 12 to 18 months is shining a spotlight on the Adventist Church's capacity to respond to Bible study requests. The program was officially launched in September 2003.
The Sow 1 Billion challenge has galvanized the church's Bible Correspondence School system over the past year, according to Pastor Kurt Johnson, world Bible School coordinator. "There are 145 Bible schools around the world in 130 countries," he says. "And we have been meeting with these Bible school leaders and directors and talking to them about the need to print Bible lessons, and the need to train church members to work together and be ready for all the requests we receive for Bible lessons."
