The Would Bible Translation Centre (WBTC) in the Middle East announced encouraging news that 50,000 Arabic New Testaments were distributed in the region over the last six months.

Since ongoing wars broke out, the social and political stability of the region has been seriously disturbed. Many Christians, who are a a tiny minority in the religious make-up in the Middle East, are being persecuted and some Government policies have also violated their human rights.

In some countries such as Iraq, Christians are being forced to flee because of targeted violence against them. For those who choose to stay, many are forced to meet in underground house churches similar to the situation in China. They risk their safety every time they gather and many are forced to meet in secure sites and in underground facilities, chancing economic and even physical retribution.

Evangelism is very hard at this moment, however, the massive project of distributing the Bible throughout the Middle East by WBTC would help spreading the word of God and strengthening Christians. Acknowledging the fact that nearly 87 percent of the Egyptian population is Muslim, WBTC’s "easy to read" Arabic New Testament was introduced at the Cairo Book Fair in January and has experienced a wonderful reception from the Arabic-speakers in North Africa.

The simple Arabic text makes it easier to minister to people in regions who are not native speakers, and ministry leaders in Sudan even wrote letters to WBTC to request more Bible.

The Sudanese government has been putting pressure on its citizens to learn Arabic despite the fact that many of the people are native African tribals. WBTC plans to print an additional 50,000 Arabic New Testaments and distribute in Sudan, Egypt and Jordan.

Currently financial support is very crucial to support the ongoing Bible distribution. WBTC's Director of Distribution John Anderson says, "We are only hindered from printing and distributing thousands of texts by the money it takes to do the job."

After the next 50,000 are printed, another 150,000 are in the planning stages. The cost to print and distribute a New Testament is less than £1. WBTC also wants to put the Bible on CD-Rom for distribution in Arabic-speaking countries.