BOOK STRATEGY I
A n ideal situation!” “ So attrac tive!” “ Is it for everybody?” “ Is it free?” These were comments from eager visitors at the opening of the new Book Shop and Library in Akola, Bombay State, India, by the Christian and Missionary Alliance. For 22 years the mission book shop operated in the secretary’s office, pri marily as a service to missionaries. The gradual rise in literacy along with the phenomenal increase in Marathi Christian l i t e r a t u r e de manded a new building. Constant re quests from college students and other well-educated non-Christians con firmed our conviction that a reading room was also urgent. If we did not meet this challenge, the Communists certainly would. The site chosen was a comer of the mission compound which had long
been sought after by a big oil com pany for a service station. Two doors away is the main post office. Almost opposite us is a college of law, science, and arts. Along the busy thoroughfare in front of the bookroom are the only two parks in town plus two large col leges under construction. Truly it is a strategic location! Within the first five days of opening 700 people had come to read and in quire about Christianity. The first day brought an owner of a large ice fac tory who donated six books to the library and asked for information on Christ in return. The following week 800 came into the book room. After four weeks in business, nearly 3,600 had come to share the reading-room facilities. Mill owners, pharmacists and government servants come regu larly, many of them reading diligent ly from the Word of God. Our reading-room attendant, Joseph
Inside the reading room of the Alliance bookshop men gather to read current publications and religious books. The mission is careful to make certain that an evangelist ( standing) is handy to talk to those who come in and to see that proper materials are given them. Two God-given tools have been placed in the hands of missionaries today: radio and the printed page. N ever before in the history of man has there seemed to be such an insatiable desire on the part of peoples everywhere to learn to read. Communism makes certain that free literature is available; the cults do not hesitate to print their false ideas in every known tongue; can evangelical Christians afford to do less when we are commanded by our Lard to proclaim His glorious Gospel to the ends of the earth?
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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