Source: United Bible Societies,\u00a0July 27, 2015<\/p>\n
What I enjoy most about my visits to Algeria are the Christians from all walks of life who I get to meet, and their love for the Bible. Earlier this year I met a Catholic priest who is a frequent visitor to the Bible Society. He told me how he provides New Testaments or Bibles to people who come to his church to request Scriptures.<\/p>\n
\u201cFather B\u201d isn\u2019t a typical priest here, where the Catholic Church is very wary of being accused of proselytism. He explains that when he first arrived in Algeria, he asked his bishop for Bibles for those who requested one. He was told: \u201cLet\u2019s wait a little\u2026\u201d Then the people who had requested a Bible looked everywhere for one on the Internet, and some ended up receiving one from a cult abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince then, it is agreed that I can give a New Testament or even a Bible to whoever requests one,\u201d explains Father B. \u201cThe Bible Society is the only place in Algeria where we can buy Scriptures and, despite the long drive, I regularly go to Algiers to bring some back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali Khidri, General Secretary of the Bible Society in Algeria, nods with a big smile: Father B is a regular customer at the Bible Society and they get on well. It is so good to see a Catholic priest and a Protestant pastor collaborate with such enthusiasm. It is true that the first Protestant \u201chouse church\u201d is many miles away from Father B\u2019s parish\u2014but, really, the concept of competition is the last thing on his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cA young man who became a Christian several months ago and who is doing Bible studies with me was baptized last week by a Protestant pastor he also talks with from time to time,\u201d he says. \u201cI was delighted! There is no competition between us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00bb Read full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb We\u2019ve run out of space in this edition! If you\u2019ve got time, though, check out Amazing Peace in a Region of Iraq<\/a> (World Evangelical Alliance) and Fighting for the Forgotten Pygmies<\/a> (Mission Network News).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: United Bible Societies,\u00a0July 27, 2015 What I enjoy most about my visits to Algeria are the Christians from all walks of life who I get to meet, and their love for the Bible. Earlier this year I met a Catholic priest who is a frequent visitor to the Bible Society. He told me how … Continue reading ALGERIA: \u201cNo Competition\u201d between Churches<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-briefs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5796"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5797,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5796\/revisions\/5797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/missionscatalyst.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}