Giving Tuesday 2025: How Your Donations Put Bibles in Persecuted Christians’ Hands

Thanks to your generosity this Giving Tuesday, thousands of believers and seekers around the globe will receive Bibles of their very own. With your help, we raised $374,666 — enough for 74,933 Bibles.

That's 74,933 physical and audio Bibles that will transform the everyday lives of persecuted Christians, including those who have never before been able to read the Bible for themselves or hear it in their heart languages. Think of the families gathering together to listen to the gospel. Think of the believers who will be strengthened and encouraged by the Word of God. Think of the impact they'll have on their communities.

This year, believers across the globe have benefited from receiving their very own physical Bibles and audio players. This includes believers like Samuel in Chad, who finds encouragement by listening to his audio Bible whenever he can. Christians in Nepal, where evangelism is illegal, are seeing the faith grow despite persecution, thanks in part to audio Bibles. Even in parts of the Middle East where smuggling Bibles is very dangerous, your donations have aided in the distribution of thousands of physical and audio Bibles.

In the state of Chiapas, Mexico, one pastor has been able to reach believers and seekers with Bibles of their very own. His story is just one of thousands, as God is working in Mexico through the distribution of His Word.

How Pastor Antonio Serves God in Chiapas

As a church planter in Chiapas, Pastor Antonio is living out the words of Romans 10:17: “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.”

“My role is to see the need where there is no church established, and to carry the word of God,” he says. “In my case, here in the community, there was no church. So I brought the word of God here.”

Antonio not only plants churches, but also distributes Bibles to persecuted Christians and others in need. Although he has been met with backlash—including repeated imprisonment and death threats—he has also seen how the Bible changes the lives of those with ears to hear.

When Antonio felt called by God to plant churches and go into dangerous places, he initially resisted. He asked God to be with him and chose to walk “with the Holy Spirit.”

“God gave me strength,” he says. “Despite the blows and all that, God began to sustain me. And that's why I continue until now. I will continue until God calls me in his presence.”

The pastor has faced antagonism and threats from hostile neighbors, including from people who burned his father’s house and tried to kill him. Nevertheless, God was with him in his darkest hour.

“When I was in prison, I was praying,” Antonio says. “God manifested there, inside the prison. Little lights started to come out, like little Christmas lights. I didn't understand what was happening. But when the Lord told me, ‘I'm with you like Peter and John. Don't worry.’ I cried with joy, because God never leaves us, despite the hardest situation. God was with me. God is with me, always.”

Meeting a Need with Audio Bibles

One of the challenges that this church planter in Mexico encounters regularly is illiteracy.

“There are many who do not know how to read and write,” Antonio says. “So even if you give them the Bible, they cannot read it.” 

In the southern state of Chiapas, the illiteracy rate is 13.6%. But among the 70% of the population who speak an indigenous language, 55.24% are illiterate. Even many pastors have trouble reading and writing, Antonio said. He worked with a seminary to train pastors to study the Bible, so that even if they cannot read, they can listen and preach what they learn.

Audio Bibles have proven to be another useful tool in sharing Scripture with those who cannot read, or do not have access to Bibles in their native languages. These solar-powered devices come equipped with SD cards filled with the books of the Bible, which can be shared discreetly and allow large groups of people to hear the Word together.

Among speakers of Tzotzil and Tzeltal, which are the most commonly spoken languages in Chiapas, roughly one-fifth speak only one language and cannot communicate in Spanish.

“With the audio Bible, they can hear the Word of God,” Antonio says. “And not in Spanish, but in their own language. So it is a great support.”

“God acts through His Holy Spirit, and He's going to transform them,” he adds.

Antonio stressed the importance of actually engaging with the text of the Bible, rather than only hearing teaching from others.

“It's different when you listen to the Word of God, for you to know the impact of what the Bible is,” he says. “In my case, no one talked to me about Christ, but what I did want to read was a Bible. And when the Bible came into my hands, that's where I met Christ, where I accepted Christ.”

He sees enormous potential in the power of audio Bibles to reach people who may otherwise never hear the Gospel.

“With those audio Bibles, many souls will be transformed,” the church planter in Chiapas says. “It's going to impact communities, cities, countries and the world. Why? They're going to listen. Those who have a vision problem, they're going to listen. Those who don't know how to read and write, they're going to listen.”

Antonio has seen this firsthand. He gave his mother an audio Bible and watched as she became emotional hearing the Bible in her own heart language.

“My mother was a witch,” he says. “She doesn't know how to read or write. So, when the audio Bible arrived, I gave her one. She listened to the Word of God in her own tongue. And she started crying. That impacted me a lot.”

He encouraged those who have donated to provide audio Bibles for persecuted Christians in places like Chiapas.

“They are not wasting their resources, but they are investing well in audio Bibles,” he says. “People are going to be transformed through their donations. To fulfill the Great Commission we have to sow, so that one day we can see the harvest.”