Sydney Rector Roger Chilton has taken a break from his Pymble parish to help plant 10,000 Gospel seeds in remote Chinese villages.
The Rev Chilton was part of a bold Bible Society endeavour that ventured into the back-blocks of four Chinese provinces.
Accompanied by a team of Australians, Mr Chilton spent two weeks handing out Bibles printed at the Nanjing-based Amity Printing Company.
"It was a humbling experience. People were genuinely overwhelmed by the fact that other Christians would travel all the way to China to bring bibles to them," Mr Chilton says.
The Bible Society team trucked their way into parts of Inner-Mongolia and on into the mountains of Sichuan province, visiting village churches and distribution points.
Bible Society NSW CEO the Rev Daniel Willis says the response to the joint project with the United Bible Societies was overwhelming.
"We were amazed at the response we received. In some villages, we were welcomed with street parades, singing and dancing and the hospitality of these very poor people was extraordinary," Mr Willis says.
Mr Chilton says Chinese Christians believed the Bibles they received were not just for them, but for introducing someone else to Christ.
"Several people said, "This Bible will save someone's life!'" he says.
"Some of them had been waiting eight or nine hours for us to get to their village just for a chance to get a Bible."
Mr Chilton says the Chinese government's positive response to the mission was the result of a good relationship with the Bible Society built up over the past 25 years.
But Mr Willis says the approach taken by some officials was nothing short of remarkable.
"At our meeting with a Religious Affairs Bureau official in Ba Zhong County, he told us that although he was an atheist, he wanted to "help the Christians build more churches because of the impact they were having on the community by caring for the elderly, feeding the homeless and caring for children and orphans'," he says.
The Bible Society is now aiming to raise money to purchase a warehouse in mainland China and another van for Bible distribution.
More information can be found on the Bible Society website.
