A Christian ministry based in Illinois announced that they will provide thousands of Bibles and discipleship materials to immigrants in Texas' Dallas Forth Worth area.
The Christian Post said the evangelical Bible League International, which focuses on witnessing to worldwide communities as well as church leaders' training, have conveyed plans to help in the distribution of the Bibles in line with the International Day of the Bible.
In a news release dated October 11, the Bible League International (BLI) will be "embarking on a new faith outreach" focused on "the heart of America's own Bible belt" on November 21. The BLI said the tens of thousands of migrants who crossed the border into Texas last month "are crying out for a message of hope in the midst of the pandemic, political turmoil, and financial stress."
BLI explained that they intend to conduct the outreach at two Spanish-speaking church in the Dallas-Forth Wort area by sharing the Bible to resident and migrant children and adults. Accordingly, one in every five residents of the area are "foreign-born." Their goal is to make the Bible easy to read and understand by studying it with them in a language native to them. They also want to help those in the area who want to "go deeper in their faith."
Bible League International CEO Jos Snoep revealed in the news release that 42% of the 1.3 million Dallas residents are Latino-Hispanic who primarily are Spanish-speakers.
"Bible League International takes the Bible to 'the world,' but now 'the world' has come to America. Dallas-Fort Worth is a microcosm of that. The current migrant crisis is the perfect opportunity for churches in the area to respond with the one book--the Bible--that offers good news and changes lives," Snoep said.
"Dallas might be the 'buckle' of the Bible belt, but there are hundreds of thousands of people living here who've never read any of the Bible, heard the gospel, or experienced the love of Christ. We need to reach them with the 'good news'," he added.
"DFW is a major hub for immigrants and refugees from all over the world. Churches have a sea of micro-communities right here and we're offering to come alongside them with the tools to help them share their faith and open up the Bible in a way that all people can understand, no matter where they're from," he stressed.
In addition, Bible League International Regional Training Director Harold Trujillo said in an interview with The Christian Post that the Dallas-Forth Worth area is an important place to work in the evangelization of various ethnic groups. He underscored their mission to engage people in the Bible and provide them all the resources for it.
"To reach out to those people who really are in need of help and in need of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially some of those people who travel from different countries, Dallas has become one of the hubs in the southern belt where the people (are) coming across," Trujillo said.
"Our mission is to engage them with the Bible and use the local churches. And we train the local churches, and we equip them, and we provide them with the materials they need to reach them," he added.
BLI, which offers a free downloadable version of the Bible in Spanish and other languages, has provided more than 920 million Bibles since it was founded in 1938. The ministry has also trained at least 550,000 people to teach the Bible and assisted in the establishment of 6,000 new churches globally.
For the Dallas-Forth Worth area, Trujillo estimates that 500 copies of adult Bibles will be given out along with 2,500 materials each on discipleship and evangelization.
