Chinese press prints
20 million Bibles
By ChristianWeek staff
 COURETESY OF THE CANADIAN BIBLE SOCIETY A Chinese man grins after acquiring a new Bible from a local distribution centre. |
TORONTO–Greg
Bailey can scarcely contain his enthusiasm. Fresh
back from a trip to China, the national director
of the Canadian Bible Society was thrilled to
join with his colleagues from around the world to
celebrate the 20 millionth copy of the Bible to
roll off the Amity Press in Nanjing. In operation since 1988, Amity Press is a printing house in China founded and supported by the United Bible Societies to produce Bibles. "Printing Bibles on the Chinese mainland was certainly a revolutionary idea back in 1986 and it took a lot of prayer and diplomatic work by the United Bible Societies to make it happen," explains Bailey. Because of restrictions in the officially-atheist country, "there have always been those opposed to the idea of operating a press legally," he says. "But we believe the Bible tells us to submit to the established authorities. God has honored his word and look at the results–millions of Chinese Christians now have Bibles in their hands." |
As head of the Canadian Bible Society for the past two years, Bailey had wanted to visit Amity Press for himself and to speak directly with Chinese Christians about how easy it is buy Bibles, and to ask whether ordinary Christians were concerned about secret police observing their purchases. Taking his questions to Christian believers, students, pastors and people on the street, he discovered little fear.
"This doesn’t seem to be the China of the Tiananmen Square days," he says. "People are very open and talk freely."
Bailey acknowledges that he saw only a small part of a huge country. "But I do know that we are doing the right thing," he says. "We are working openly among the population, printing and distributing Bibles to a church hungry for the Word of the living God."