As Christians celebrate the printing of 50 million Bibles in China this weekend NSW's Bible Society head is asking Sydney Anglicans to support this valuable work.
On September 11, 2007, the 50 millionth Bible rolled off the press at Amity Printing Company in Nanjing, China.
A celebration will be held in Nanjing on December 8 to celebrate this major achievement in Chinese Bible production.
However, Bible Society NSW CEO, the Rev Daniel Willis says Bible Society funds cannot meet the demand for copies of the Chinese Bible.
While official estimates put China's Christian population at 22 million, Mr Willis believes there are 100 million Christians in China if one includes those in unregistered churches.
"That means there are still 50 million Chinese Christians who don't have Bibles," Mr Willis says.
"The current press prints five million Bibles a year, but this is not meeting the demand."
While the Chinese government forbids the importation of Bibles and Mr Willis discourages the illegal practice of Bible smuggling, he says the government has been reasonable in allowing the Amity Printing Press to print the amount of Bibles it does.
"They have never prevented the Bible Society printing number of Bibles we have requested," Mr Willis says.
"The only thing prohibiting us printing more is the amount of money we can raise to subsidise the paper."
Mr Willis who has visited the Amity Press around half a dozen times is encouraging Sydney Anglicans to give more to fanatically support the work of the Amity Press.
He is also encouraging them to join a twice-yearly visit to China to participate in a Bible distribution program.
"We take Australians on a trip where they participate in the distribution of Bibles throughout remote rural areas which don't otherwise get the Bibles which are more common in the cities."
Mr Willis says the Amity Press has bought a new block of land and almost completed the expansion of the press which now covers the area of nine football fields and will expand Bible production to 12 million copies a year.
"It will be a new challenge for the Bible Society to raise enough funds to support that much printing. We need your help," he says.
The view from China
"Just 40 years ago during the Cultural Revolution the Bible was banned and all copies were confiscated," Mr Kua says. "But today there are more Bibles than any other book in China "” it is unofficially the best-selling book there. Only God can make a thing like that happen." The Amity Press was established in Nanjing 10 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution and the first Bible came off the Press in Nanjing on October 14, 1987. Over the past 20 years, more than 50 million Bibles have been printed at the Press with 42 million copies being distributed in Mainland China and 8 million being exported to more than 60 different countries around the world. Jesus film on DVD in eight languages In partnership with the Campus Crusade Asia (CCA), UBS have helped the Church in China produced the Jesus film on video CD in Mandarin and English packaged with a Luke's gospel booklet. Over 290,000 sets of the video CD and gospel portion have been distributed in recent years. The CCA have now supported the China Christian Council in producing their first ever Jesus film DVD, also packaged with the Luke's gospel booklet. The DVD comes in eight languages and dialects: Mandarin, English, Korean, Mongolian, Lisu, Chaozhou (Teochew), Guangdong (Cantonese), Minnan (Hokkien).
