What do you do as a new believer hungry for God’s Word? In the U.S. it’s as simple as driving to the local bookstore to buy a Bible, downloading it on your phone or even ordering it on Amazon to be delivered to your door. But in rural, poverty stricken India none of those are an option. Most rural villages do not have a bookstore, and if they do, the Bible is not a book they carry. So for most new believers, like Chandran, their only option for hearing and studying God’s Word is Sunday morning service.

“I was born and brought up in a Hindu family,” recalled Chandran. “I was worshipping idols without knowing the real Savior and Lord. I had the chance to know about the Lord Jesus Christ through a church planter during his village visit to our home a couple of months back. This event brought a turning point in my life.

“Without having my own Bible I struggled a lot to get to know the doctrines and the teachings of Jesus Christ and the rest of the Bible. Through the pastor’s preaching on Sundays I have learned a few things about it. Though I get information regarding the Bible and its teachings on Sundays, I had a great thirst to know it thoroughly. I was praying for the Lord to provide a new Bible to learn more about the Living Word. As a result of my prayers, the Lord has provided me a new Bible!

“After getting the valuable living book, my spiritual eyes were opened to see the treasures in the Bible. I am really happy to read and meditate on the Bible in the morning before I go for my daily work and in the evening after coming home. It helped me and my family to have a strong fellowship with the Lord Almighty.”

Last year, over 141,000 villagers like Chandran trusted Jesus to be their Savior through IGL churches. Yet, we estimate 97% of them do not have a Bible! So this summer we are making a special effort to place Bibles in the hands of new believers so they too can enjoy the privilege of knowing God more deeply. A Bible in their own language will allow them to study and meditate on the words of Jesus, read the letters of Paul, draw lessons from the history of God’s people, share wisdom from the Proverbs with their children and pray along with the Psalmists. It will also allow them, like Chandran, to choose and memorize favorite verses! His favorite Bible verse is Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.”

Most importantly, we want to help new believers build a firm foundation in their faith in Jesus Christ so that they are able to stand against the schemes of the enemy who wants them to fall back into their old, deeply rooted, superstitious practices. In the Lord they can be victorious, but to do so, God’s Word will need to become engraved on their hearts!