The Bible Society of Egypt has three main goals: to make the Bible affordable (so that anyone who wanted a copy could get one without money being an issue), available (they are creative in making it accessible to the people who want it... including services like free home delivery, a hotline number, and 12 bookstores), and understandable (making the Bible available in the language of the people and in simpler forms, like audio and video, that can be understood by less-literate and illiterate customers).
These are the Arabic Christian materials I came home with to be able to have on hand for friends in Austin who might want one: 6 different children's books about Jesus; 3 mini-books about the parables of, teachings of, and encounters with Jesus; the Jesus film; an Arabic New Testament; and an English-Arabic parallel Bible. I will pray over these materials until God shows me who to give them to.
Our team stopped to visit the Bible Society headquarters and took a tour. We were truly kids in a candystore.
Earlier in the day, we volunteered for the Bible Society at the Annual Cairo Bookfair. They had three different booths where they were selling their matierals. One booth was in the educational books section, one booth was in a Christian-only section, and the third booth was in the used books section of the fair. The Bookfair is a huge event that runs for two weeks out of every year and attracts people from all across the Middle East. It takes place at a giant convention facility that spans several acres and includes many large event halls (It reminded me of Fair Park in Dallas). I was stationed at the booth in the used book area and we saw lots of traffic (I'm thinking because of the economy, everyone was looking for the deals). Some of our team would stand out front and smile and wave at the women passing by, inviting them to come in, and some of our team would stand in the booth itself to help customers and make them feel comfortable asking questions and shopping. Mostly, we served as pray-ers for all those faces we saw come in looking for a Bible. We had many veiled and skull-capped customers that were nervously buying their (I'm assuming) first Bibles, and plenty that were bold and confident as they made their purchases too. To be sure, God's Word is a gift to be treasured and you could tell that many of the shoppers were so excited and grateful to be able to buy their own copy of the Bible!
At our booth, you could buy a copy of a New Testament AND a Jesus Film together for 2.50 Egyptian pounds (the equivalent of 50 CENTS U.S.)! Generally, the Bible Society sells their materials for less than half of what it costs to produce them. So they are always losing money, but they fundraise from non-profits to make up the difference (see last paragraph for details).
Above is a picture of the indoor hall where they had an "all-Christian" floor (the second floor)... so that if you knew that's what you were looking for, you could easily find it. The part of our team that worked this booth said they had just as many non-Christian shoppers as they did Christian... and you knew those people were aware of what section they were in. It was no mistake, they were choosing to seek out Bibles. Awesome!The Bible Society has been in Egypt for 125 years and they are expanding their methods to try and get a Bible in the hand of every Egyptian! Join them by praying for this goal to be reached. You can also help support the Bible Society by "buying" 10 Bibles a month... by donating $35/month, you can help support the costs to sell 10 Bibles to seeking customers. Or if you want to give even more, for $350/month you can Adopt-a-Bookshop, just like you would support a missionary overseas. You get monthly updates on the store and its staff and all the latest projects they're involved in. It's a great way for you and your small group to invest in an overseas project together! To read more about all their programs, check out their annual report online.
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