Scripture Soothes a Hurting Teenager’s Heart in Cambodia

This article was adapted from one originally posted by the American Bible Society.

Excited to have her own Bible, a 15-year-old learns more about God...

Doeun Chin Lan has experienced a lot of loss.

"My mother died when I was little," explains the 15-year-old. "I don't even remember her face. All my older siblings left me to work in Thailand. My father is very elderly and poor.…I want to see my whole family together again."

When the message of God's love came to the small village where Doeun lives, her heart finally began to heal.

"I am very happy that God loves me," she says. "Whether I am in the countryside, in the forest or anywhere, God still loves me."

Doeun says she enjoys hearing stories about God at church. "But sometimes I don't understand," she admits. "When I heard they were going to give out Bibles, I was very happy."

"My Bible is small and easy to carry around and the writing is easy to understand. I believe this Bible will help me know God better. My father can't read so I want to read to him so that he can also put his faith in God."

For many Cambodians, especially poor farmers living in rural areas, obtaining a Bible requires much sacrifice. It takes months to save money for a Bible. But thanks to generous donors, Doeun and others have Bibles of their very own!

Please pray for others like Doeun who still need to know about God and engage in His Word in Cambodia. Ask that Scriptures will be made available in different media so that the entire population, especially the youth, will understand and experience the love of God.


Two Pioneers, One Bible Mission

This article was first published in the December 2013 issue of Word@Work.

A Rich Heritage

Sir Stamford Raffles, Supporter of the Bible Mission

An appeal for Bibles by soldiers drew the immediate attention of the British and Foreign Bible Society (BFBS) to Java back in 1813. This request brought about the introduction of the Society’s work to the then Lieutenant Governor Stamford Raffles.

BFBS resolved to send 500 Dutch Bibles, 1000 Testaments, 300 English Bibles and 500 English Testaments to Raffles with a letter, in the care of three missionaries from the London Missionary Society (LMS). The letter dated 22 November 1813 requested that “His Excellency will have the goodness to give directions that they be placed in the hands of proper persons to distribute the same….”

On 10 March 1814, Rev William Milne from LMS, who later assisted Rev Dr Robert Morrison with the complete translation of the Chinese Bible, arrived in Java. Milne had the opportunity to meet Raffles and secured his help to “do all they consistently could to forward” his cause. Raffles even granted him the use of the Government Press. Raffles’ support for the work led to him being appointed as the President of the Java Auxiliary Bible Society on 4 June 1814.

As the Lord would have it, Raffles’ interest in supporting the work increased when he returned to England in 1817. He had the opportunity to correspond with the Society even more. Letters from our Society archive showed that Raffles was all for supporting the Malay translation work and he personally leaned towards a preference for the translation to low Malay.

Upon his return to the region as Governor of Sumatra, Raffles personally offered to bring Bibles with him. He wasted little time in setting up an office there, becoming the first President of the Sumatra Auxiliary Bible Society in 1818.

Rev Dr Robert Morrison, Pioneer of the Bible Mission Work in Singapore

We thank God for His Sovereign hand that guided Raffles to establish the settlement in Singapore in 1819. Just four years later, it was reported to BFBS that,

“Dr Morrison has communicated … the cheering information, that 1,000 Chinese New Testaments had just been applied for by the missionaries of a new settlement formed at Sincapore in the year 1819.”

This started the Bible mission work in Singapore and one could also say, the distribution of Chinese Scripture here.

BFBS granted Morrison and other missionaries in Malacca the 1000 pounds needed to print the Chinese Scriptures.

Singapore’s Strategic Location for the Storage of Bibles

The work of distribution of Bibles grew rapidly due to Singapore’s strategic location. By 1825, it was recognised that a Bible depot was needed to store and facilitate the distribution of the Scriptures to the region. The early Bible depot was moved to several places, until it found its permanent home in 1907 at Armenian Street.

Bible Mission History Woven Together with Singapore’s Institutions

Both Morrison and Raffles were pioneers in many different areas, including education. In April 1823, Raffles spoke to Morrison about his vision for a ‘Sincapore Institution’ and convinced the latter to move the Anglo Chinese College from Malacca to Singapore. What was not often written about was the motivation both these men had behind the setting up of this centre of learning – it was to advance the Bible mission.

‘India beyond the Ganges and Eastern Asia, at no former period seems to have been pregnant with greater changes than at present … we should look out whether a knowledge of the languages and characters of the people ought not to be cultivated, in order that we may have Agents prepared to act whenever safe openings occur. Instead of one or two persons learned in Chinese should we not at least have  a dozen? The Siamese and Cochin-Chinese are populous and I am not away that any Protestant Missionary has ever been among them.’ 
- Statement of Sir Stamford Raffles as reported in the 22nd Annual Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society (1826), p 122

Raffles reported the formation of the Sincapore Institution with its aim for the ‘cultivation of the language in Eastern Asia’. This Institution was to become Raffles Institution and a library, with the collection of books and papers that would spawn into our National Library.

We see Morrison’s desire to spread the good news from the following report in BFBS’ documents.

‘The Anglo Chinese College is about to be removed from Malacca to Sincapore, a situation which will afford several facilities for the distribution of Scriptures; for by the many native vessals which visit that port, copies may be sent to Cochin-China; and, perhaps, to Japan itself.’
- 20th Annual Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society (1824), p. lviii

These two men also advocated strongly for a permanent Agent to be sent to Singapore to advance the Bible Society’s work here. While an Agent was not appointed until 1882, the work continued to flourish as it was not dependent on any one person. The early Bible mission work was supported by men and women from various parts of the body all working in unity to spread the good news through the work of translation, publishing, distribution, literacy programmes and engagement.

It is heartening to see that by God’s grace, 190 years later, the work of The Bible Society of Singapore continues today, not only to make the Word Available (through Translation and Publishing) and Accessible (through Distribution and Literacy Programmes) but also to show that the Word is Credible (through Engagement and Advocacy).


One year after Nepal earthquake ‘Christians have remained strong’

This article was originally written by United Bible Societies.

Nearly a year after three earthquakes devastated Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, and surrounding areas, Tej Jirel, General Secretary of the Nepal Bible Society, has been reflecting on how Christians have coped with the tragedy.

“I was in the middle of preaching at a church on April 25 when the first earthquake hit,” recalls Mr Jirel. “I stopped preaching, held onto the pulpit and prayed for the earthquake to stop. Some people dropped to their knees in prayer, and others stood to call out to God.

Shaking really violently 

“That first quake went on for a while. The pulpit fell over and hit the Communion table. The pillars in the church were shaking really violently. As soon as it was over we evacuated the whole congregation and made sure everyone was standing safely away from the building.”

The congregation joined hundreds of people who had come out onto the streets. Some were weeping as aftershocks continued. Mr Jirel and other church leaders reassured people as best they could.

“I felt that, in the midst of all this, we should honour God by going ahead with taking Holy Communion, as we had intended. Between aftershocks, some of us went into the church to bring out the Communion table. So there, outside the church and beside the river, we took Communion in remembrance of what our Lord did for us.”

Powerful and memorable moment

For those present it was a powerful and memorable moment, and typifies the reaction of many Christians to the tragedy caused by the earthquake. Scores of churches were damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, and there were around 500 Christians among the 9,000 people who died. Those who survived have remained strong in their faith, according to Mr Jirel and his team, who have travelled to many of the affected districts.

“Church services in all the affected districts resumed almost immediately, despite the fact that they had nothing to shelter under,” comments Mr Jirel. “A lot of them still haven’t yet been completely rebuilt, due to lack of funds, and services are held with no roof, using tarpaulins or roofing sheets to protect worshippers from the sun or rain.

“But people are holding onto their faith. I remember one elderly man I met, Padam Bahadur Bhujel, who had been buried alive, along with other worshippers, when their church building collapsed on them. They were all eventually rescued. Mr Bhujel told me he’d remained calm because he had complete faith that God would save them. He said, ‘If you have great faith in God, He will do great things for you.’ I felt very inspired by that.

“It was quite a shock to see that church reduced to rubble, along with the rest of the village. We’d run two programs there a few years back, one for leaders and another for youth and career development, and I remembered how nice the church building had been. When we visited after the earthquake we found the pastor and his family living in the middle of a field, with no proper food to eat.”

Having witnessed the urgent humanitarian needs of people in the various affected districts, the Bible Society began working to bring them the items they most needed. Over the past year, they have helped provide roofing, tarpaulins and other materials to hundreds of families who lost their homes, most of them non-Christians.

“We as a Bible Society are seen as a neutral platform, and we had excellent co-operation with all sorts of different churches, parachurch organisations and government officials,” notes Mr Jirel.

Much of this material was delivered to people living in remote areas that are hard to access, with Bible Society staff and volunteers walking up mountainsides with the materials on their backs, or transporting it across rivers on small rafts.

“So many people were thankful for the help we brought, because they hadn’t received any other relief materials like this,” says Mr Jirel. “I remember one widow in particular, who thanked us with tears in her eyes. We told them we were Christians. We pray that one day all these people will come to know and accept Christ.”

In addition to offering practical help to everyone who needs it, the Bible Society has also been helping Christians to replace the Scriptures that they lost in the earthquake. Many hundreds of Bibles, Children’s Bibles and Scripture booklets have been distributed to churches and individual Christians.

“We didn’t want Christians to be without their Scriptures as they came to terms with what had happened,” says Mr Jirel. “They greatly appreciated the Bibles and other materials we brought them, which helped them to hold onto hope in the midst of their grief and struggles.

“Without God there is no hope, and we continue to pray for the many people in Nepal who still don’t know Him. Please join us in praying that many good things will come out of this disaster, and that many more people will come to know the true God and Creator.”