Over 500 Million Christians Struggle to Access God’s Word

This report looks at 106 countries around the world, “identifying both places where Bible access is explicitly restricted and countries where people face socioeconomic barriers that prevent them from obtaining Scripture.” And what they found was that over 500 million Christians—our brothers and sisters around the world—“face Bible access restrictions, as laws imposed by governments hostile to Christianity and socioeconomic barriers prevent many who would like a Bible from having one.”

The nations with “maximum restrictions”—the strongest restriction label—include:

• Afghanistan
• Yemen
• Somalia
• North Korea
• Eritrea
• And Mauritania

Of course, those are just the most extreme examples—sadly, the report listed many, many other nations that also have severe restrictions that keep them from accessing God’s Word.

But it’s not just the government that keeps Christians from accessing the Bible. The study also found that many countries suffer from Bible shortages—there just aren’t enough Bibles available—most acutely in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and India, “each of which has a shortage of more than 10 million Bibles.” Many other nations also have Bible shortages, ranging from 500,000 to 10 million.

And the report highlighted other restrictions to accessing God’s Word, including “socioeconomic barriers such as poverty, poor infrastructure, illiteracy, lack of electricity and limited internet access.”

The Bible Access List co-creator Wybo Nicolai shared, “We often hear that the Bible is more accessible than ever, but we must not confuse availability with access. . . . Persecution-related Bible access restrictions can make accessing Scripture difficult or dangerous, while socioeconomic barriers can put a Bible beyond people’s reach. . . . Even where Scripture is available digitally, limited internet coverage or unsafe online environments can still prevent people from accessing it.”

We need to continue to work as a church to ensure believers around the world have access to the precious Word of God.

This report is a reminder that we need to continue to work as a church to ensure believers around the world have access to the precious Word of God—the only authoritative foundation for our thinking. I encourage you to find and financially support a trusted Christian ministry putting Bibles into the hands of believers.

It’s also a reminder of how blessed we are here in the West—not only do we have unlimited access to the Word of God in our own language but we also have access to in-depth teaching on God’s Word in our local churches and at our fingertips. Sadly, even with such access readily available, many are not reading the Bible!

We also have the opportunity to attend a Christian college or to send our children there. What a blessing. And if you’re looking for a solid Christian school (college/university) to send your children to or to attend yourself—one that upholds the truth and authority of God’s Word—I encourage you to consider Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC.

BJU is grateful to be able to publicly partner with Answers in Genesis and works hard to ensure everything they do and everything they teach is done through the lens of a biblical worldview.

BJU is a liberal arts school that “exists to grow Christ-like character that is scripturally disciplined, others-serving, God-loving, Christ-proclaiming and focused above.” It’s truly a great school with a solid mission.

Check them out at BJU.edu.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.