ARPA’s “Bibles Project” is more than halfway to its funding goal. Executive Director Mark Penninga says the organization is committed to seeing this through, for several very good reasons. “Beneath the legal and political battles of our day, there’s the age-old spiritual battle. It’s what Ephesians says about our struggle being against not flesh and blood, but the rulers and authorities and the powers of this dark world. And although a vast majority of ARPA’s efforts involve trying to communicate Biblical truths in a way that’s intelligible to a secular audience, there’s also a time to share God’s word directly with our leaders.”
The project is in recognition of Canada’s 150th birthday and the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The goal is to distribute a Bible to every MP and provincial politician in the country; that’s a total of about 1,200 Bibles. The total budget for the project is about $20-thousand dollars. So far, ARPA has raised more than $11-thousand dollars in donations from about 80 individuals and families, most of them in northern British Columbia. Penninga is hoping some other ARPA chapters take up the challenge to finish the fundraising. The plan is to distribute the Bibles by the end of October.
