At LittWorld, we have benefited from rare opportunities to hear the contextually unique challenges Christian publishers face.
In China, Christian publishers face extreme difficulty getting manuscripts approved by the government for publication. The rejected manuscripts represent great financial loss. One publishing house reports that 10 manuscripts were rejected just this year.
Also, some Chinese Christian leaders believe that Christian literature should be distributed at no cost in accordance with “free grace.” Our speaker at LittWorld, however, clarified that “Jesus’ salvation is free grace, but to deliver that grace God’s son paid the price on the cross.” Those who bring God’s message around the word also pay a price in their obedience.
In one African nation, a government ministry removed the name of the Christian publisher, crediting the government for its publication. The publisher eventually accepted the injustice for the sake of spreading the message contained in its literature.
In a Muslim-majority country, a group of devoted individuals forced a Christian publisher to incinerate all the thousands of copies of a recently published book for containing an alleged misquotation of the Koran.
In a time of near defeat, one of these above-mentioned publishers sensed God telling him
that although the people were not ready for the Gospel message, his work did not involve seeing its reception, but rather preparing the way for a greater acceptance to come.
Let’s continue to pray for our brothers and sisters whose ministry prepares the way.
What challenges do you face particular to your publishing context?
By Natalie Maust, originally published on the STAMP Kenya blog.
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