Literature and other publishing ministries

Books

It may surprise some that Spanish is currently probably the second most important publishing language in the evangelical world. The revival in Latin-america, together with the large number of Hispanics in the United States means that most of the American publishing houses have a Spanish language division. Most of these are centred in Miami. However, on the more conservative side, several Spanish publishing houses, particularly CLIE, are significant in this business world and providing Spaniards with a large number of excellent tools for study and evangelism.

However, there is a problem. Spaniards on the whole don't read much! The average number of books is not so low, but this is because some Spaniards read a lot. You can see them reading novels in the Metro (subway/tube) on their way to work (much easier to handle a novel on a train than The Times!) But do evangelicals read? The pace of life is fast for many and when you add the local church reqirements to attend meetings most evenings it's enough to stop people even starting. We really need to pray for this.

Videos and tapes

But we can also get our information from easier to handle means. Virtually every Spanish household has a video (VCR) and many now a DVD player as well. And there are a good number of films, such as The Cross and the Switchblade and Joni, dubbed into Spanish, as well as more educational films. Tapes and CDs also exist for those who wish to learn while they drive or do the ironing. Again, it's a question of doing so! Decision has a good variety of films (and other material) available.

Distribution

Perhaps one of the remaining subjects to be addressed, however, is that of distribution. Evangelical bookshops barely pay and thus there are not enough of them, particularly outside the largest cities. Some, such as CLC, resolve the problem by relying to this day on missionary support. And several distributors seem to have the whole thing closed to outsiders, making margins even narrower. Internet could be a new form of distribution, but again, this would hit the local bookstores hard. And the concept that most local bookstores have is to be not just a provider of evangelical books to evangelicals, but also to be a witness to the local community, an open door to those who just might enter a store when they would never dare to cross the threshold of a church.

Evangelistic Literature and Tracts

There is a considerable amount and variety of evangelistic literature available, from leaflets to serious apologetic works. In the past, leaflets (tracts) prove a good way to present the Gospel. Today, these mostly end up on the floor if not in the bin without having been opened. Evangelistic ministries such as Every Home Crusade and Cursos Biblicos por Correspondencia, a Brethren Bible correspondance course for seekers, which grew out of OM, now look to new means to achieve take-up of their courses, such as advertising in national newspapers, Internet and so on. A full page in the national daily El Mundo, for example, costs as much as a million leaflets and comes and goes in a day, but is probably read by more people than the leaflets. Evidently, the problem is that the normal pace of leaflet distribution is spread over a long period and can be covered by gifts in a different way.

An increase in the general level of demand for evangelical books, through greater reading among a larger evangelical community, would begin to solve some of these questions. Pray on!