from New Wine Magazine - July 1982
"When God wants to communicate the gospel to men, He rarely uses angels. He uses men. In the book of Acts we read that God sent an angel to Cornelius to tell him to ask Peter to preach the gospel to him. Why didn't the angel himself just preach the gospel to Cornelius? Because that is not the way the gospel is spread. The good news is preached by men and as we men have the burden to publish the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our motivation as publishers - whether of magazines, newsletters or tapes - is to communicate God's truth.
We believe that God has entrusted us with a truly significant ministry, and because of that we want to enlist your prayers and your support. Our vision of the work we have to do can be outlined briefly by ten observations concerning the significance of the printed word in ministry.1. The published word prepares the way for personal ministry.
As the members of the Educational Board have travelled in ministry over the years, we have discovered a greater degree of preparedness among audiences in areas where our literature has gone before us to pave the way for the spoken ministry.
2. The published word greatly extends personal ministry.
The written word can reach a much broader audience than the spoken word. I began to realize this truth 3 weeks after "Face Up with a Miracle" was published when I received a letter from a missionary in Thailand who said that the book was being used to help foster a tremendous spiritual revival there. Almost overnight, my ministry had extended halfway round the world.
3. The published word refines our personal ministry.
When we first present the word of God in a spoken setting, it is usually at the developing stage. But by the time the word is published, it has been refined, clarified, distilled and matured.
4. The published word perpetuates personal ministry.
In other words, the published word becomes permanent. We can be grateful for that because if all we had was the oral tradition of Bible times, much that God said to His people probably would have been lost. The vast volume of literature that is our heritage exists because the revelations given by God to inspired men through the years have been put in a permanent record and widely distributed.
5. The published word is extremely portable.
Books, tapes, newsletters and magazines will go into places that a person would never be able to go.
6. The published word seems non-threatening and disarming.
Often people in need of ministry may feel threatened by a church or other group setting. In such a situation, a publication can often get into a home or any other setting and bring about a revolution.
Although the published word is innocent in appearance it actually has the power to change lives.
7. The published word is comparably inexpensive.
We can distribute a great deal of significant truth over a vast area for a relatively small amount of money.
8. The published word can be distributed in tremendous quantities.
With the proper resources we can blanket an area, a nation or even the world with the truth of the gospel.
9. God anoints the published word just as He does the spoken word.
We continually recieve testimonies about how God used the things that have been written and recorded. People's lives have often been dramatically changed by what they have read - even healings have taken place when God anointed someone's use of the material. I once received a letter of testimony from a young housewife who had polio and been on crutches for six years. She had been sitting in her laundry room reading "Face Up With a Miracle". Without realizing that God had touched her as she read, she got up, walked over to the washing machine and was emptying out before she realized that she had left her crutches behind.
The Lord had healed her as she sat in the chair reading the book, God will anoint the published word just as He will anoint personal ministry.
10. Finally the published word preserves and provides a record of God's revelation to His people in our day.
Every generation has a responsibility to record it's own heritage of God's dealings with them. The published word preserves our heritage and leaves a legacy for generations to come.
We believe that by God's grace He has given us a unique ministry. The five of us - Charles Simpson, Bob Mumford, Derek Prince, Ern Baxter and myself - who by His design were joined together more than a decade ago, certainly don't have the only message God is speaking today. But we believe that He has given us a unique and distinct message, and we feel a deep responsibility as stewards of it. We have come to see that one way God can extend, bless and use our message is through the published word. So we ask your prayers and support to help us be faithful in the presentation of the ministry that God has entrusted to us.
