In Your Own Words
Dear friends,
The Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8:2638 had access to Scripture—he just couldn’t comprehend what it meant. “How can I understand it,” he asked, “unless someone explains it to me?” And so God sent Philip to help him.
I believe we can all agree that God’s Word not only needs to be shared but explained if people of all nations are to know and experience a personal relationship with Christ,
grow to be more like Him, and serve in a local body of His family. This is our vision and the aim of our mission to make the life-changing wisdom of the Bible understandable and accessible to all.
This mission drives the efforts of Our Daily Bread Ministries to produce and distribute resources that help people draw closer to God through His Word and encourage them in their walk with Him.
Our ministry work in the Asia-Pacific covers 15 territories: Australia, Hong Kong, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. Our resources currently cover 20 languages and dialects, but there are many, many more language and people groups that we have yet to reach. In Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar, for example, there are over 100 different ethnic tribes, each with its own culture and dialect.
It is a great challenge for us to minister to so many different language and people groups across the region. We must contextualise and develop content to meet their spiritual needs, and find new channels to distribute our resources to them. Apart from printed material, we also need to develop more ways to share God’s Word with them, including digital, audio, and video media. We thank the Lord that we are not doing this alone; He has provided key ministry associates who volunteer their time and effort to serve with us.
We need their help— and yours.
We need people who can help produce and translate our resources, and distribute them in various forms through different media, whether print, audio, video, or online.
If you are a missionary or know of people in the mission field who share our passion to reach others with God’s Word, do get in touch with us. As we work together to spread God’s Word to everyone, everywhere, let us remember that, like Philip, we are called upon not just to share the Word, but to explain it.
Reaching others together,
Christopher Tan Senior Vice President Global Ministry Operations, Asia-Pacific
Our Daily Bread is available in the following languages and dialects in the Asia-Pacific:
1. Bahasa Indonesia
2. Bahasa Malaysia
3. Cantonese
4. Chinese
5. English
6. Falam Chin
7. Japanese
8. Kayin
9. Korean
10. Lahu
11. Lai Chin
12. Laotian
13. Myanmar
14. Sinhala
15. Siyin Chin
16. Tagalog
17. Tamil
18. Teochew
19. Thai
20. Vietnamese
(Languages in italics are translated by ministry associates.)
MONGOLIA
A Christian NGO translates, prints, and distributes
Our Daily Bread in Mongolian.
ACROSS THE ASIA-PACIFIC
MYANMAR
Churches translate our resources into Kachin, Laichin, Mizochin, and Siyinchin, covering 4 of the 100-plus languages spoken.
INDIA
Kohima Ao Baptist Church translates Our Daily Bread into the spoken language of the Ao Naga tribe.
How Partners Have Supported Our Mission in 2015
PHILIPPINES
SOUTH KOREA
Hallelujah Church distributes the Korean version of Our Daily Bread. C3TV/GoodTV and Christian Global Network broadcast our TV programs with Korean subtitles.
SRI LANKA
The Rock Foundation broadcasts Our Daily Bread in English, Sinhala and Tamil on their TV station (Swarga TV) daily.
MALAYSIA
The Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference Information Communication Board records Our Daily Bread audio readings in Malay and selected Discovery Series titles in Chinese.
SINGAPORE
LEGO® enthusiast
Gene Tan breathes new life into the David and Goliath story with a comic book for younger readers.
NEW ZEALAND
Churches, ministries, and individuals distribute special resources commemorating the 100th anniversary of ANZAC and 200th anniversary of the arrival of the gospel in New Zealand.
Second and third largest English newspapers, the Manila Bulletin and Philippine Star print Our Daily Journey and Our Daily Bread articles respectively.
HONG KONG
Alliance Broadcasting and Holistic Good News Network broadcast Our Daily Bread audio readings in Cantonese.
TAIWAN Good News
Broadcasting Association records and broadcasts Our Daily Bread audio readings in Chinese.
INDONESIA
Readers and individuals financially support distribution of 196 audio players, preloaded with Our Daily Bread readings, to pastors in remote areas. Overall goal is to reach 5,000 pastors in remote areas with Our Daily Bread Ministries resources.
AUSTRALIA
Resources by Bible teachers
David Cook and Mike Raiter target local readers (e.g. ANZAC Day). Rejoice Chinese Christian Communication Centre broadcasts Our Daily Bread audio readings in Chinese.
After war broke out between North and South Korea in the 1940s, David Kim fled his home in Pyongyang. He was just 11 years old. He had been persecuted for being a Christian, but held on to his faith. Arriving in the United States, he was determined to help others hold on to theirs.
When David became a pastor, he realised that his congregation needed spiritual food beyond the weekly Sunday sermons. Touched by the encouragement he found in Our Daily Bread devotionals, he started translating them into Korean for his fellow countrymen. These proved to be so popular that when David was invited to pastor Hallelujah Church in South Korea, he recommended the resource to the congregation. He started giving out some 4,000 copies in 1990.
Today, Hallelujah Church maintains a fulltime staff member and more than 100 volunteers to print and distribute 650,000 copies of Our Daily Bread per quarter. It also oversees online and mobile resources, radio and cable TV broadcasts, and even translations into other languages.
We can’t do this on our own; we need the help and support of thousands of ministry associates, outreach partners, and volunteers.
The work and achievements of ministry associates like David, and subsequently Hallelujah Church, play a critical role in Our Daily Bread Ministries’ continuing mission to make the wisdom of God’s Word understandable and accessible to all. Every year, we distribute more than 60 million resources in 150 countries, covering more than 50 languages. We can’t do this on our own; we need the help and support of thousands of ministry associates, outreach partners, and volunteers. They help to produce, translate, publish, and distribute our resources, and some, like David, even lead ministry efforts in their own countries.
This support from all our partners has been especially important for us this year, which has been a busy, yet fulfilling, one.
Starting with a name change in January, from RBC Ministries to Our Daily Bread Ministries, we have been working hard to expand our various ministries. Our partners have helped us to produce more resources and distribute them through the Internet, mobile apps, radio, television, and printed material, while new media partners have come on board to help us reach more readers, viewers, and listeners.
We are grateful for the many churches, ministries, and individuals who have come alongside to help us roll out a wider variety of resources reaching out to more people. We thank God for their help and support in bringing God’s Word to people across the Asia-Pacific.
Watch the video interview here: https://youtu.be/2k4gETbcf-Y
The Year Ahead
In 2016, we aim to produce more evangelistic resources as well as resources catering to local readerships in the Asia-Pacific. These include:
• Evangelistic resources. Help! I Can’t Face Tomorrow reaches out to people who are worried about the future or feeling lost amid pressures of today, while Where’s My Dream Job is written for fresh graduates who are job hunting or established workers who are feeling dissatisfied with their careers.
• E-book store. An e-book store app that will make more Christian literature available electronically to our readers, helping them feed their souls with God’s Word and fostering growth and godliness in the lives of God’s people.
We invite you to pray with us as we strive to make God’s Word understandable and accessible to all. Write to the Our Daily Bread Ministries office nearest you to receive our ministry updates and prayer requests.
How is Our Daily Bread Ministries Funded?
We are not funded or endowed by any group or denomination and are grateful for the support given to Our Daily Bread Ministries. Many people, making even the smallest of donations, enable us to reach others with the life-changing wisdom of the Bible.
Pray with us that God will continue to provide through His people the needed funds to support our work.
Visit us online at ourdailybread.org/donate for more information.