My long-time colleague and friend in France, Dr. Pierre Clement, recently wrote about the unique advantages of gospel literature. Through the years we have referred to these messages as “paper missionaries” because they are instruments sent on a mission.
In his article Pierre used the word “missionary” to bring to life the ministry of written words. He imagines EHC leaflets, booklets, and tracts as world travellers who can discretely cross barriers and borders, and quietly do what people aren’t allowed to do in many nations.
With this creative approach he skillfully describes decades of EHC’s ministry work and underscores with clarity the great advantage of written messages, whether delivered in printed or digital formats.
Here is an excerpt I think you will appreciate.
I’m sure you already know me. In fact, I am an Olympic-class distance runner. Over the years, I have visited more than 200 nations around the world. Some were closed to my team, but friends smuggled me in. I have quietly crossed many barriers, even an iron curtain, and further away a bamboo curtain. In a conflict in the Middle East, in the middle of a revolution somewhere else, or in a tribal war in Africa, I am there! I’ve passed on my flame in the Solomon Islands, in Nepal, Bolivia, Basse-Terre and Paris. I even went to the forest areas to meet pygmy families who welcomed me very warmly!
My message is always simple and short. It is clear and precise in order to directly address all those who approach me. I speak the language and dialects of each country I visit. If however, I find myself faced with illiteracy, my digital cousins in EHC, which we call the Internet and social media, immediately take over.
I am accessible to everyone, from presidents to the simplest citizen. I adapt to those who live in prisons, refugee camps, or on boats. I enter barracks and hospitals in the hands of chaplains without any problem.
Do you know why nothing stops me? It is because I am supported by the prayers of Christians around the world.
Sometimes I am mistreated. I remember the fate that met me in India and in Mexico where more than once I was tossed. Since I carry the message of God’s love, I simply moved on. Once, a mafia gangster got so angry when he saw me that I was almost crumbled. Now he has discovered the Lord and is preaching the gospel in two churches in the Antilles.
Sometimes my ministry provokes fanatical hatred. In a town in Nicaragua, those who opposed the message I was bringing tried to terrorize Christians who were helping me spread the Good News of Christ. One day, two horsemen suddenly entered a church brandishing their machetes; they could not however destroy my work in people’s lives.
I regularly go to almost all the republics around Russia or China. I have thousands of cousins there. Indeed, while I was in the Caucasus, young people copied my message in order to recopy it and give it to others.
I am without prejudice. I speak to Hindus, Buddhists and Jews, as well as animists and atheists. I am very active in the largest Muslim blocks in the world: India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, without forgetting of course Niger, Mali, and several large countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
Every day I can speak to thousands of people around the world. Many of them have enrolled in an EHC Bible program since my last visit.
I preach Jesus Christ wherever men, women and children live. You see, you do know me. I am an EHC gospel leaflet!
You can visit the regions where I go every day if you’ll join me. I would like to be your missionary, if only you will send me.
The method is simple, but the message is profoundly transformative for people who receive it and take it to heart.
Gospel literature has been key in opening people’s hearts to the salvation message all over the world. To date EHC workers have reached over 2.6 billion homes and followed up more than 300 million responses across the globe.
Written messages have a permanence that speech does not have. We realize it every time we pick up a Bible and read the written Word. For this reason, we continue to provide people with written gospel messages, whether on paper or in digital format.
For the sake of the gospel, for the sake of those who are lost, let’s not lose sight of the importance of literature.
If you would like to use our gospel literature and resources in your personal witness, please visit us online at ehc.ca/resources, or send us a note by mail or email. Our contact details are below.