New Bible Resource Centre Opens in Kuwait

KUWAIT — The growing demand for Arabic Bibles and other Arabic Christian material by churches of all denominations has prompted the Bible Society in the Gulf (BSG) to open another Resource Center in the region.

Responding to a request by the Arabic language congregation of the National Evangelical Church in Kuwait (NECK), the BSG opened the new Arabic Resource Center on December 9. A dedication service was held that evening, attended by many believers and church leaders of different denominations.

Main source

Located in the Evangelical Church compound, the Center will serve the needs of all denominations, and will be the main source of Arabic Scriptures and other Arabic Christian resources in the country.

It will complement the role played by the Catholic Resource Center, opened in July 1998, which mainly serves the Catholic Church – Kuwait’s largest Christian community.

Speaking at the dedication service, Hrayr Jebejian, BSG Executive Secretary, emphasised the importance of partnership in the new millennium. He said that the new Center was an affirmation of how the Bible Society can work with the churches to spread the Word of God.

The Rev Amanuel Ghareeb, senior pastor of NECK, added that the new Center would play an important role in the life of the church by providing Scriptures in different formats and in languages which are particularly needed.

Congratulations

The Catholic Bishop of Kuwait, His Eminence Francis Mickalef, congratulated the churches and the BSG on opening the new Center. Congratulations were also received from other Bible Societies who sent telegrams to be read out at the dedication ceremony.

Following a sermon by the Rev Lucien Accad, General Secretary of the Bible Society in Lebanon, the congregation said a prayer of dedication. A hymn of praise was then sung by the choir.

Afterwards, the congregation left the church and watched as Mr Accad and Mr Ghareeb cut the ribbon outside the new Center. Everybody was then invited inside to explore the range of Bibles and other Christian material on display. (WR 349/17 - 03.00) [PHOTOS]

Gaza Bookshop ‘A Testament of Love’

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Bible Society Bookshop which opened here almost a year ago has been warmly welcomed by the people of Gaza, reports the Bible Society in the West Bank (BSWB).

Despite the deliberately low-profile presence of the bookshop, the BSWB has already been called upon by various organisations to participate in key cultural and educational events.

“We did not go on a big advertising campaign, aggressively promoting the bookshop,” said Labib Madanat, BSWB Executive Secretary. “But we found that the initiative is coming from the other side.”

Invitation

Almost as soon as it opened, the bookshop received an invitation from the Ministry of Culture to take part in book exhibitions in Gaza and Ramallah and to be part of the Palestinian section at other bookfairs in the Arab world.

Accepted

The Ministry of Education has accepted an initiative by the BSWB to put together Bible Knowledge packages which will be presented to the libraries of Palestinian public schools in Gaza. This will take place at the end of March.

"What surprised me was the request of Ministry officials to include the West Bank schools in the project," said Mr Madanat. "This brings the number of schools benefiting from this project to almost 500."

Requests

In addition to this, the Bible Society has been asked to help establish a Christian section in the library of the Islamic University. Similar requests have been made by a social club and a lawyers’ association.

At Christmas, the bookshop co-ordinated a major outreach, distributing Christmas gifts to hundreds of families with the help of local Christians. “Our presence in Gaza through the bookshop is giving us lots of opportunities to connect to the people of Gaza,” said Mr Madanat. “It is not about the bookshop in Gaza, but rather about the Bible in Gaza society.”

The fact that the bookshop has been so active in its first year of operation indicates an openness to the Bible which has surprised the BSWB.

Wrong

“We expected Gaza to be the most difficult place to establish a Bible bookshop, but we were wrong,” commented Mr Madanat. “We also thought that the people of Gaza would be opposed to the Bible, but we were wrong.

“Now, after a year of implementing our Opportunity 21 programs, we have experienced a very friendly attitude from the people and the authorities to our operation.

Difficult

“Our program in Gaza has been the easiest to get off the ground, and Bethlehem has proved to be the most difficult, which is exactly the opposite of what we expected.”

The Gaza Strip has always been thought of as a problem area. Tensions run high among the nearly one million people who live in very cramped conditions in an area measuring only 25 miles (40 km) long and four miles (7 km) wide.

Isolation

In addition, in their isolation, the people of Gaza feel that they have been forgotten by the outside world. But many local Christians feel that the opening of the Bible Society bookshop marks a turning point for Gaza. George, a member of the Baptist church in Gaza City, describes the bookshop as a “testament of love to our people.”

Searching

“The people here love to read the Bible, but it is not available to everyone,” he said. “Many people are searching for the truth and the Bible Society bookshop is helping to meet this need.”

For a long time, the only place that stocked Bibles was the Culture and Light public library at the Baptist church. Most people were not aware of this, however, and Isam Farah, who runs the library, was glad when the bookshop opened.

Hope

“By making the Bible available to our people, the Bible bookshop has brought them hope,” he said. “Now the Holy Spirit can do God’s will among the people.”

Another man who rejoiced when the bookshop opened was Munir Ayyad. “For a long time people’s minds have been closed tight against Christianity because they have had no contact with the outside world,” he said. “Now at least they see the Bible Society Bookshop sign hanging in the street, and realise that there is another religion in Gaza.”

He added that the presence of the bookshop has encouraged him and other Christians to continue living out their faith in their daily lives.

Share

“God has created us in this area to live and grow and share the very aroma of Christ to those around us,” he said. While Bibles and other Christian materials are very popular and selling well, many of those who visit the bookshop are what Mr Madanat describes as “seekers after the truth” – people who would like to find out more about Jesus and the message of the Bible.

Fruits

“Since the bookshop opened, we have not only seen the Word go out amongst the people of Gaza, but we have witnessed the first fruits, and we rejoice at this,” said Mr Madanat. “In Gaza, thought to be a symbol of the Palestinian tragedy, we are seeing the most beautiful impact of God’s Word in individuals’ lives.” (WR 349/18 - 03.00) [PHOTOS]

A New Battle

JERUSALEM, Israel / West Bank — Jack Sara was an angry man. He had been in prison many times in his young life for political activism, but despite his sacrifices, nothing seemed to change.

As he sat in his dark prison cell, he thought about how he had been fighting to better the lives of Palestinians who, like him, lived lives of hardship and frustration in Israel. But he also started to wonder if he was fighting in the right way.

Inner peace

Slowly his thoughts turned to God and he remembered one of his neighbours who was a Christian. This neighbour seemed to have an inner peace that Mr Sara could not understand, but desired.

He contacted the neighbour and over the next few weeks, Mr Sara listened as he told him about his faith. The neighbour also introduced him to a pastor who often came to the prison to answer Mr Sara’s questions.

However, it was when he began to read the Bible that he finally found the peace he was searching for. As he read about the life of Jesus, his struggle against the authorities of the time, and his message of hope, Mr Sara realised that there were other ways to help his people. When he was released from prison he joined a church in the Old City and continued to study the Bible.

Dedicated

Now, at the age of 24, he works as a part-time teacher at the Bethlehem Bible College. He is also an assistant pastor, preaching Jesus’ message of peace. Having given up the political struggle, he has dedicated himself to a new one.

“This city has a lot of spiritual heaviness and Satan has a very strong hold over it,” he said. “There are lots of drugs and alcohol, and people working with witchcraft.

Spiritual battle

“You could say that this is a spiritual battle for the hearts of the people. I want to help bring them to the Lord because only salvation can bring them real peace.” But peace is a virtually unknown concept for those living in the politically volatile situation in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza.

Many Palestinians are like Mr Sara in his earlier days – they see themselves as prisoners in their own land, unable to move without the permission of the Israeli state. They also feel that they are forgotten by the outside world.

Labib Madanat, Executive Secretary of the Bible Society in the West Bank (BSWB), is only too familiar with the hardship of the lives that many people lead. One taxi driver told him that he was working at two jobs, seven days a week, just to feed his family.

Dog’s life

“On top of that, I am not even free,” the taxi driver said bitterly. “A dog’s life is more dignified than mine.”

The Bible Society has priority programs to reach people like this taxi driver – people who are living under great strain. Often, they turn to fundamentalism and terrorism in their frustration. But many who have heard God’s Word are remarkably receptive to it.

“I think they see Jesus as somebody who challenged the authorities and paid the ultimate price, yet rose from the dead,” explained Mr Madanat.

Victim

“That is an incredibly powerful message – that we are not just victims of circumstances. We have freedom because God has involved himself and is waiting to come into our lives.”

Because of this, Scripture distribution among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza is a priority for the BSWB. Using the income generated by sales of the popular olive wood-covered Bibles in European languages, the BSWB is able to take the Word of God to people who have never had a chance to own a Bible.

Families

Much of the work in the West Bank is the distribution of Arabic Bibles to Christian families. This is done with the co-operation of other Christian organisations such as the Catholic Patriarch schools and the Latin Patriarchate, which have both played key roles in this process.

A few years ago only a handful of families owned a Bible, but today, with the BSWB’s distribution program, nearly every family has a Good News Arabic Bible.

Difference

In this way, the Bible Society staff hope that the Bible will make a difference to people like Mr Sara and the taxi driver, and all those people in the West Bank and Gaza who live difficult and frustrating lives.

“The encounter with Jesus through the message of the Bible is an encounter which can bring real change in the lives of a broken nation,” said Mr Madanat. “The message of the Father can give people a sense of hope, for their life here and for the future, which many other sources fail to give them.” (WR 349/19 - 03.00) [PHOTOS]

JERUSALEM, Israel — It was during his national service in the French Army that John* began to feel a strong calling to go to Jerusalem. For months he spoke to his friends about this, but they did not understand.

“There is so much good work to do in France,” they told him. But he could not shake the feeling that he was needed elsewhere. So John did something that he had not done since joining the army – he prayed. One night when all the men in his unit were out, he knelt down in secret to ask for God’s guidance over his future.

He then took his Bible, and began reading. It had fallen open to Isaiah 62, and the first words that he read were: “For Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet.” For John the message was clear – God wanted him in Jerusalem. “It was like a guiding light from the Bible,” he said.

The very next day he went into town and booked a seat on a flight to Israel, leaving five days after the end of his national service. He felt both excited and apprehensive, having no real idea of what God wanted him to do once he got there.

Nevertheless, he made a promise that he would stay in Jerusalem for a year and look for a chance to do God’s work. That chance soon came along in an unexpected form – he found a job working as a male nurse in a children’s hospital.

As he cared each day for these suffering children, John began to realise that this was where God had been leading him all along. Today, many years later, he continues his work amongst sick and injured children in Jerusalem, demonstrating in a practical way the great love that Jesus has for them. (WR 349/20 - 03.00)

* Name changed