Study Bibles for Africa: A Great Need

Today on Renewing Your Mind… Dr. R.C. Dr. Sproul shared her passion to get the Bible into as many hands as possible. This was the last Bible campaign that Dr. Sproul initiated before he went home to be with the Lord in 2017. And as our conversation got underway that day, I asked R.C.

to explain how the partnership between Ligonier Ministries and Rosemary Jensen came about. Oh, well, it came about through the history of our relationship initially, and I don't know exactly how many years I've known Rosemary, but it's a lot of them. More than 30.

Yeah, absolutely more than 30. I call her my mother, even though she was only 10 years old when I was born. But we've known each other a long time. I've known her back in the days when she was the head of Bible Study Fellowship and then, of course, the Rafiki Foundation, and she's a woman of extraordinary vision and indefatigable in her ability to serve the Lord. And I've always been in awe of her stamina, her ability to just travel the world over. And she has always had this burden for Africa, and she knows that the most powerful tool that you can hand pastors and people in Africa is a study Bible. And so she's had the vision of working with Ligonier to provide Reformation study Bibles for the African Church. And we're delighted to be able to tell our listeners about this effort to distribute literally thousands of Bibles in Africa. But before we do that, Rosemary, would you give us a little background of your work in Africa? It's been over a number of decades.

How did the Lord bring it about? Well, my husband and I went out to Africa. We left the U.S. in 1957, and I've been working there ever since. So we're talking about 60 years of working and being, living or working for the African people. And I love them.

And so that's how it all began. My husband and I were missionaries there for a number of years. Besides that, I've just continued to work with them and visit them and get to know the people. And that's why I'm able, by the grace of God, to do what I can do now, because I have many, many wonderful relationships, particularly with the churches in Africa. And what is the greatest need of Christians in Africa? Well, the biggest need I see in Africa right now is for the truth of the Word of God. And there are reasons why these Bibles are so needed in Africa. And, you know, one of the reasons is the fact that they don't have Bibles.

I'm talking about in seminaries or teachers. Our goal is to give to Bible teachers and pastors, or at least seminary students who will become pastors in Africa. But they don't have study Bibles out there.

They're not available. And the seminaries don't actually, they don't provide Bibles for their seminary students, because they can't afford to do that. And so the students have to get their own.

And that's hard for us to conceive of here in the United States. Most of us have more Bibles in our homes than we can count, and you're telling us that that's not the case in Africa. And I tell you, the thing that's even saddest is the fact that even the faculty, they want these Reformation study Bibles. And when I show them to them, they are just thrilled with this kind of Bible. They have nothing like this out there, even faculty of the seminary. Rosemary, what about the Reformation study Bible excites them?

Why do they want that particular one? They recognize in this Bible that it is a whole course in theology. If you were to read the whole thing, it would be like you have been to seminary. And so they love all the notes. They love all the explanations of the doctrines.

They love those kinds of things, and they're just totally thrilled with them. Like you said, you might have five or six Bibles lying around your house, but to provide a Bible, a study Bible with the notes and the theology lessons and all of that is like providing a seminary course for these pastors. And it's like a treasure when you give it to them. And this is one of the greatest returns on investment from a financial perspective that you can have in Christian outreach to provide Bibles like this for these folks in Africa. Well, we're going to let our listeners know how they can partner with us in this strategic effort to distribute literally thousands of Bibles in Africa. Rosemary, as you hold that Reformation Study Bible, and as you look at it, would you describe for our listeners the kind of person that would be using that Bible on a regular basis, appreciating it for what it is? Well, the person who's going to be using this to begin with is mostly going to be a student who is in a seminary. The seminaries—we work with 25 different seminaries in 10 countries.

And the seminaries now, some of them are three years, some of them are four years, which is very good. But they have so limited resources and to be able to give them this—and by the way, I'm just going to tell you, it's very different from here, as you have already recognized. Not only do we have loads of Bibles and so forth, we have everything here. And when you get a Bible is given to you, even like this one, it's not appreciated as much. It's not recognized as the great treasure that it is. In Africa, they see this as the greatest thing that they can possibly have. And they—they're going to make covers for it that are waterproof so that if they have to take it back and forth in the rain, it doesn't ruin the Bible.

They see it as a huge, huge treasure. And so these people are the ones who are going to be the pastors, because right now the pastors have very limited resources. As I say, some of them not even Bibles. How can you preach without the Word of God to preach? And it's not that they don't want it, but they just don't have it. Can you imagine what it is like to be a preacher with almost no resources?

None. I mean, so you get nothing except what kind of comes to their heads. And yes, they may have been to seminary, but they don't have the ongoing study that they can do. I'll just tell you one of the heads of the denomination in—actually, it was in Uganda. And he was visiting here recently, and you met him. You saw him. They have now about six and a half million members of the Anglican Church in Uganda alone.

And that's huge. And he said, well, but they have very few in theology schools or seminaries. But he said, do you think you could get these Bibles for my clergy? I said, well, what do you mean by that? And he said, well, the pastors that are out there already trying to teach. I said, well, I don't know. I said, how many are you talking about? And he said, four thousand. I said, well, yes. And who were you thinking about when you said yes?

She didn't have to think about anything. The answer to the question like that is always going to be yes. It's going to be yes, because if I can give the Bible out to Africa, I want to give out, you know, thousands and thousands of them. That's the goal.

What could be better done than that? Remembering that every one of those pastors is going to have a church, and they will have at least five hundred, at least some of them up to thousands. And think of all of them, and they're going to get the gospel, getting it right. I think I heard that somewhere. Yes, that's right.

Well, that really does underscore the need for this when you're saying that you want to get this into as many hands as possible. You can't compare that with how things are in the West, with the way churches have gone away from the Bible. These people have a hunger for Scripture. And not only that, RCC, and what you're talking about, these are evangelical churches. They doctrinally are right in line with us, all the denominations that we work with, and they are dealing with Pentecostalism, which is a huge problem in Africa. They have so many, their churches are called winners' chapels, and it's a whole group of churches. And what they say is, you just give us your money, and we will make you winners. That's what it's all about.

And they're dealing with that. The prosperity gospel is out. Prosperity gospel.

And so that's a huge problem that they have there now. The prosperity gospel is insidious in as much as that it's based upon a whole principle as health and wealth and prosperity. You know, you come to Christ and you'll be rich and all of that, and you'll never get sick. And that's just not true.

But people are exploited in that kind of an area. But you have a groundswell of conversions going on in Africa, and yet we understand that our mission in evangelism and in the Great Commission is not simply to make converts, but to make disciples. To make a disciple means a disciple is a learner, as a student. And the early church gathered together every Lord's Day to study the teachings of the apostles. It's the apostolic truth that's set down in the Scriptures that needs to be distributed and taught so that people can grow in a sound way into the maturity of Christ. Because Paul had to deal with the Galatians and with almost every church he planted, every time he'd preach the truth, somebody else would come along and teach a lie and then mislead the people. That's what Satan does all the time.

He's a liar. And so what you need to have is truth. Jesus said, you know, I came into this world to bear witness to the truth, and those that are of the truth hear my voice. And so when you get the Scriptures, you're getting the truth, and we want to get the Scriptures so that these students are learning and these pastors who are teaching them are learning not bad theology. You have to have some theology. Everybody's a theologian. The question is not whether you're going to be a theologian. The question is whether you're going to be a sound theologian, whether you're going to tell the truth. And so what we want to do is provide information and instruction that's based on the truth of Scripture. So there's a vacuum that needs to be filled with sound theology? We shouldn't be sitting here talking about sending thousands of Bibles.

We should be talking about tens of thousands of Bibles. Right, right. As I said. We're going to do that. You're talking about an investment that has long-lasting impact in the lives of people. You touch one of those pastors and let him really be grounded in the Scriptures that immediately goes to 500 more people.

Right. I was going to ask you, R.C., could you imagine as a young pastor preparing each Sunday or each week to deliver a sermon on Sunday and not have the resources that you need to prepare? We just can't believe how blessed we are to be in the affluence in which we live and how readily available books are, even just on iPhones and stuff like that.

And books are within reach any minute. And I do believe that the next great awakening of this world is just waiting for us in Africa. In Africa, yes. Africa is now the epicenter of Christianity. Everybody knows that. People go to church there.

They're wide open. All the countries that we're working in are English-speaking countries. And we're talking about millions and millions of people there, of course. But I think we need to remember that not only do they not have Bibles, they don't have other written resources. And they don't have, in many of these churches, they have no electricity.

They don't have access to the Internet. Rosemary, is there a language barrier to overcome in distributing these Bibles? Do the study notes, for example, carry over well? All the countries, the ten countries that I work with, English is their official language. And so, you know, we teach English to them as well.

They have English classes that we give in our refugee schools there. Rosemary, can I go back to something you said earlier? When you were speaking to that person and they were wanting to know if you could get those thousands of Bibles into their hands, and you said yes, did you immediately think of R.C. and say, ìWell, I know somebody we can work with to get this done?î See, whether Ligonier did it or not, God is going to see that it will go. So I told him yes.

I didn't know exactly how. Of course, I thought, ìWell, Ligonier, they are going to do it because they want the Bible out, too.î Whatever she says to God, God says yes, too. Well, itís His Word. Yes, thatís right.

Iím sure you have a good case. And if He calls me to do this, Heís done it all my life. If Heís called me to do it, Heís going to give me the means to do it.

Thatís it. Isnít that what trust is all about? It sounds like your entire ministry has been lived out in faith that God has promised Heís going toó Well, not enough. Not enough, of course.

Absolutely, definitely not enough. But Godís gracious. See, Heís gracious. And Heís merciful to little old ladies like me.

Poor meek little old ladies like this. When she read that Jesus said the meek would inherit the earth, she took Him at His Word. I just haveóGod has given me good friends.

This is one of them. Ercy, what excites you most about this project? Well, you know, one of the most exciting things Iíve ever done in my whole life was the Bible Study Project to prepare to being the general editor for first the New Geneva Study Bible and then the Reformation Study Bible. And I knew from the time I was in seminary how impactful study Bibles can be in the world. And so to be able to have been involved in the project like that, it wasnít my idea. Some publishers came to me and asked me to head up that project. And we got scholars from all over the world the best we could find to produce the study notes for that Bible.

And itís been a labor of love for me. And to see the worldwide really global distribution of that resource is just so radically fulfilling to me. And knowing how Rosemary works and her focus on those ten countries, and you have to have people who really care about this kind of a mission, who will follow up and make sure that it happens. And even though, yes, itís obviously the providence of God, we know about that, that God uses people who care and people who have a vision for this kind of thing.

And Rosemary is just a beating heart for this. And so to be able to partner with her in any way that we can do to help from the Ligonierís perspective or the Reformation Trust, I want to do anything we can and everything we can to help make this a reality. How important is, as our listeners on Renewing Your Mind, for example, are listening to this strategic effort that weíre engaged in? How important is their involvement in this? Well, you know, you talk about resources and ministry.

Thereís a link. You canít do any more ministry than the resources allow. To put it simply, if you have $100 worth of resources, you can waste them, and you can do $5 worth of ministry and spend the rest wastefully. Even if youíre good stewards, if you have $100 worth of resources, you canít do $105 worth of ministry. So Iíve seen all my life that the biggest restraint on the worldwide outreach for the things of Christ are the limits of resources that we have. From the kingdom of Godís perspective, Godís people provide the leverage necessary. You know what our committees say, ìGive me a lever long enough and a place to put it that can move the world.î And thatís what weíre looking for, people who give us the leverage to deliver on these products, not to make money for us, but to be able to make the resource available to all these people. And itís multiplying ministry.

It just keeps multiplying and multiplying and multiplying. And of course the goal of all of this is to distribute as many Bibles as possible. And thatís where you, our listeners, come in. Weíre beginning a new campaign to raise funds for these Bibles. Thatís because the need is still there, and in particular for a Bible like this one, the Reformation Study Bible.

As R.C. was fond of saying, itís almost a seminary education in one book. And when you provide a Bible to a seminary student or a pastor, youíll help not only that pastor, but also an entire congregation. When you provide a financial donation today, we will send a Reformation Study Bible through the Rosemary Jensen Bible Foundation to Africa. The number to call to donate is 800-435-4343.

Or if you prefer, you can give online at renewingyourmind.org. Iím joined now by the president of Ligonier Ministries, Chris Larson. And Chris, in that interview you could really sense the passion that R.C. and Rosemary have for this initiative. Lee, weíre drawn by their passion to be able to see the Church of Jesus Christ grow, not just numerically, but also in their depths and their understanding of the historic Christian faith. And to be able to offer a resource like the Reformation Study Bible, itís something that we know will pay dividends for decades and decades to come. We talk a lot about fostering a new Reformation through the outreach of Ligonier Ministries. And what Dr. Sproul has set for us as an objective is to be able to take the Word of God to as many people as possible. And then to have someone like Rosemary Jensen, this person who has developed relationships throughout all of Africa, weíre able to take the resource of the Reformation Study Bible and to put it into her hands and we know it is going to get to the right people at the right time.

And hereís the beautiful thing. Being able to put this in front of the listeners of Renewing Your Mind is something that we can all do together. We are in this kingdom work together. We cannot do what God has called us to as a ministry without the listeners coming alongside of us as well to be able to get these Study Bibles going into Africa. You heard Dr. Sproul talk about how heís not looking about getting thousands of Bibles to Africa. He wants to get tens of thousands of Study Bibles to Africa. And then you hear Mrs. Jensen talk about how if God calls His people to a task, He will give the resources to accomplish that task.

Jesus Christ said that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We know that the greatest ammunition that we can give to Godís people is Godís Word. And so weíre asking listeners to come alongside of us and to equip us to be able to put this Bible into the hands of thousands and, Lord willing, tens of thousands of church leaders and Bible students throughout Africa over the next 10 years. This is an ambitious project, but we believe that we serve a great and sovereign God who is going to equip His people to accomplish this task. We ask you to pray for this task and we also ask you to give to this task. We are in this together, and we cannot do what we need to do as a ministry without your help.

Well, the number and quality of scholars who have contributed to this Reformation Study Bible makes it literally a theological library in one volume. And before we go today, Iíd like for you to hear a final thought from Dr. Sproul. Iím really excited about this project from Ligonierís perspective, and I wish everybody thatís out there listening to this would get the vision and contribute and make a significant contribution for this project of reaching the people of Africa with the unadulterated, pure version of the Word of God. If you would like to join us today in this effort to send the Reformation Study Bible to Africa, call us at 800-435-4343 to make your generous donation. And on behalf of all of my colleagues here at Ligonier Ministries, thank you. And thank you for joining us today. We hope youíll make plans to be with us again tomorrow for Renewing Your Mind. Thank you.