Audio Bibles and Covid aid bring joy to Malaysia

Audio Bibles and Covid aid bring joy to Malaysia. As well as vital aid, Open Doors partners are taking audio Bibles to rural indigenous communities in Malaysia – and it’s sparked demand for many more Bibles.

Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Malaysia, and rural villages are particularly badly affected – not just because of the virus, but because the limited healthcare infrastructure is extremely overwhelmed. There are even cases where entire villages have needed to check into a quarantine centre simultaneously.

Many indigenous people live in these villages, and they are often overlooked for healthcare – including not being offered the vaccine. It takes a long time to travel to these remote areas, some of which are situated deep in the jungle. Healthcare managers often don’t think the trip is viable.

But Open Doors partners are courageously and sacrificially making these long, dangerous journeys.

Food, masks and audio Bibles

Open Doors local partners, together with other Christians, started a relief programme for the indigenous communities and Christians in these villages. The relief aid consists of food, clothing, masks and sanitisers – and audio Bibles for Christians.

“Many have expressed that they are very happy that we put the spiritual aspect alongside with the social aspect for the indigenous people,” says an Open Doors partner. A lot of the indigenous believers have not previously had such easy access to Scripture, and most of the community are illiterate.

Having seen the impact of audio Bibles in other areas, Open Doors partners knew the importance of sharing this gift with the indigenous people and the Christians in the village.

More Bibles in more languages

And it doesn’t end there. Others are now asking for the Bible – directly as a result of this trip, a local partner has received an order of 500 new audio Bibles to distribute in the area. A further two churches have decided to adopt the use of audio Bibles for their own ministry to indigenous people, as has a group working with refugees. Six other groups are also potentially interested – praise God.

“We are now planning to have a training for trainers on the use of audio Bibles,” adds an Open Doors partner.

Seeing the high demand for these audio Bibles, Open Doors partners are looking into translating the Bibles to other indigenous languages. That way, those who aren’t as fluent with Malaysia’s national language will be able to hear God speaking to them in their own local language – getting all the nuance and meaning from Bible verses.

Open Doors partners are working with different Christian leaders and local organisations to meet these demands. They’re hoping that the audio Bible will continue to impact many more individuals and families, so that God’s word will spread across rural parts of Malaysia like wildfire.

Malaysia is number 46 on the World Watch List. Converts from Islam to Christianity experience the most persecution, as every ethnic Malay is expected to be Muslim. These believers are often forced to hide their faith and meet in secret.