Blog Faculty

Dr. Jonathan Zderad Visits Chinese Villages

By Melissa Brookman on Friday, August 31, 2018

Mathematics professor Dr. Jonathan Zderad spent part of his summer bringing the Scripture to remote villages in China. In June he spent one week with a ministry called Bibles for China. The goal of the ministry is to provide Chinese pastors with Bibles for their congregations.

According to the ministry, Bibles for China “provides God’s Word legally and without cost to Christians often living in rural mainland China, where a great need for Bibles exists.”

In previous generations, people in China could not read Bibles due to communist authorities restricting access to religious texts. However, people are now allowed to own Bibles and this ministry recognizes their desire to learn more from God.

“Many people we serve in rural China already know the love of God, but for most of them, their income cannot purchase anything other than basic needs. Because of their location and lack of monetary resources, they simply do not have access to Bibles. Their Bible reading is restricted to pages they have copied, passages they have memorized, or tattered Bibles shared among the village,” said the ministry.

Dr. Zderad is passionate about helping the villagers discover God’s word. He said his favorite part of the mission trip was seeing the people’s hunger for God’s word.

“Many Christians were able to have a Bible for the first time in their life,” said Dr. Zderad.

Bibles for China has partnered with 28 countries to purchase Bibles written in Mandarin. Amity Printing Press prints the Bibles for $5 each in China. They are then distributed through the Chinese Christian Counsel and other teams to the villagers.

Dr. Zderad admits that he speaks very little Mandarin, but he is no stranger to China. This was his fourth trip to the Far East.

“In 2010, my wife April and I went to China to adopt our daughter Libby. In 2012, my wife April and I went to China to adopt our daughter Noelle. In 2016, I went to China with Bibles for China,” said. Dr. Zderad.

More information about the ministry can be found at www.biblesforchina.org.