Teddy James
AFA Journal staff writer
May 2016 – Thirty-year-old Abasi came to believe in Jesus five years ago. Since that time, he has learned much about the One who saved him. He prays without ceasing, yet he has never read a single verse from the Bible. It is not lack of desire; it is because he doesn’t own one.
Defining the need
Africa is four times the size of the U.S. It contains 54 countries, and it is home to over one billion people.
Currently more than 600 million Christians populate the continent and the number is growing by about 25,000 converts daily. But for every 14 Christ-followers, there is only 1 Bible.
“Part of the reason for this disparity is corruption,” Michael Woolworth told AFA Journal. “Other reasons include religious majorities forcibly stopping Bible shipments where Christians are the minority.” Woolworth is senior director of broadcast media for Bible League International.
“Another reason is poverty,” he added. “Many of the countries BLI serves do not have access to running water or paved roads. So the idea of going to a Christian bookstore to pick up a Bible is impossible in many of these areas.”
One evangelist with BLI traveled to Mozambique to disciple local pastors. He asked one pastor to open his Bible to Genesis only to see that the book was so worn that the binding had released about 75% of the pages. Fortunately, it still held the Gospels.
Meeting the need
“We hear these stories all the time,” Woolworth said. “Then we are able to supply these pastors and many of their congregations with personal, complete copies of God’s Word.”
BLI does not simply hand out Bibles and hope people read them. They train Christians through Project Phillip, a discipleship course in which African believers are given a copy of Scripture and taught the Gospel of John.
The project name comes from the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. The eunuch asks how he can understand what he is reading unless he is taught.
“This reflects our origin story,” Woolworth said. “Bill and Betty Chapman bought 1,000 Bibles in 1936 and went door to door in their hometown of Walkerton, Indiana. When their neighbors came to the door, they asked if there was a Bible in the home. If the answer was no, they offered a free Bible on the condition the recipient would promise to read it.” The Chapmans’ ministry in a small Indiana town was the beginning of BLI, now a global ministry.
Woolworth concluded: “Africa is a dry and weary land, so let’s open up the floodgates and saturate the continent with God’s Word.” 
Open the floodgates
To help meet the need for Bibles in Africa, American Family Radio is partnering with Bible League International calling Christians to:
1. Pray for Christians in Africa who are spiritually thirsty and often in danger of severe persecution.
2. Make a financial gift. BLI can print and deliver a Bible to an African Christian for $5.
The Open the Floodgates campaign will be promoted on AFR May 2-27 with a goal of delivering 15,000 Bibles to Africa. AFA Journal readers may give at afr.net or by calling 800-YES WORD (800-937-7673).
