Over 87,000 Bibles in 22 languages will be distributed to offer the hope of Jesus to families receiving surgical care at a global network of children’s hospitals, thanks to a new partnership between two prominent international Christian ministries.
CURE International has partnered with Biblica, a ministry that ensures Bibleless people worldwide receive the Scripture in a language they understand, to distribute the Good News to families at its eight hospitals across Africa and the Philippines, which provide free surgical care for children.
The pediatric hospitals provide surgical care at no cost for children with disabilities such as spina bifida, hydrocephalus, and other treatable conditions. Since its founding in 1996, CURE International has performed over 330,000 surgeries and reached 2.1 million people with the Gospel.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
“One of the things that our founders were really focused on was this balance between providing world-class medical care to kids and also world-class ministry care,” Justin Narducci, president and CEO of CURE International, told CP.
The founders, he said, based the organization’s mission on Luke 9:2, in which Jesus tasked his disciples with sharing God’s word and healing the sick. Narducci added that Jesus not only physically healed people, but He also offered them the opportunity for a spiritual awakening.
“We have 60 surgeons across our network doing surgery every single day, and part of what they’re doing is high-quality surgery for very complex disabilities,” Narducci stated. “And that’s part of our Gospel witness, just really good healthcare for kids that they couldn’t get elsewhere.”
The partnership between CURE International and Biblica, which was founded in 1809, has been in the works for years, Narducci said, but the two organizations just needed to hammer down the logistics first.
The two ministries will split the cost evenly between Biblica’s donors and CURE International’s donors.
The cost of shipping, distribution and other additional expenses resulting from the partnership was around $500,000, according to Narducci, funds that CURE International was able to raise through its donors.
“Kingdom collaboration is at the heart of everything we do,” Geof Morin, Biblica’s president and CEO, said in a statement provided to CP. “To deliver life-changing Bibles to those who need them, we depend on strategic partners serving as the hands and feet of Jesus on the very frontlines of gospel mission.”
“That’s why we’re so excited about this new ministry partnership with CURE International,” he continued. “They are providing compassionate, Christ-centered care to children and their families who desperately need to experience the healing love of God. We pray that this new supply of Bibles for children and adults will bring the comfort and love of Jesus to thousands in their hour of need.”
According to Earnest Kioko, CURE International’s chief ministry officer, who oversees the operation of the organization’s hospitals, 75% of the population the nonprofit serves has a Bible in their heart language due to the partnership with Biblica.
One of CURE International’s goals involves something that Kioko described as “intentional spiritual ministry,” which is helping children come to Christ while receiving treatment from one of the organization’s hospitals. After leaving the hospital, the ministry ensures they have completed a Bible study and are connected with a support system, usually a pastor within their local community.
“[The patients] go home with a tool that can help them in their new journey of faith,” Kioko told CP. “And therefore, of all the things we can give our patients as a gift, but also as a spiritual tool for their growth, is the Bible.”
One of the challenges that the ministry faces when treating disabled patients, particularly in some parts of Africa, is that many within the patients’ community believe that they are cursed.
Some mothers will come to the hospital with protective charms for their children, Kioko explained, because they think that their child has been bewitched.
“And these are scenarios that I have faced many times, where now you have to battle between the mother believing, ‘I have to continue protecting my child,’ and then here we are telling them, ‘Please, trust the God we serve,'” Kioko said.
In most cases, Kioko said that when the parents remove the charms and see that their child is still healthy and alive, a change is noticeable.
“Then now, the reality comes that there is more power than the one that I used to believe,” Kioko said of the parents’ realization. “And I think that is one way where, when you combine the medical and the ministry efforts that CURE has, you kind of confront many beliefs that don’t seem to hold water at the end of the day.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
