On May 18, 2008, Amity Printing Company (APC) unveils its new logo to mark the opening of its new plant at No. 99 Dongmo Road, Jiangning District, Nanjing City, People’s Republic of China. The newly completed printing company has 37,000 sq m built up space on 66,700 sq m land area. The modern facility holds some of the most advance printing equipments, giving APC the capability to produce at a stunning speed of 2,900 copies of Bibles/hour, and a total of 12 million copies of Bibles/year. It is also capable of handling 500,000 realms of colour printing. APC currently provides employment for 450 workers and has plans to increase staff strength to 500 in 6 months’ time.
Creating History, Witnessing for God
Archbishop John Chew, Primate of the Anglican Province of Southeast Asia, said, “What we are witnessing today is truly a miracle of God….On hindsight, it is my personal conviction that the establishment of APC is one of the significant decisions made in the history of modern China.”
Revd Dr Miller Milloy, General Secretary of United Bible Societies, said, “And this is the reality behind the opening of this factory today – the demand for God’s Word throughout the world including here in China. People searching for that word of meaning and significance for their life.”
Photo: Revd Dr Miller Milloy presenting a gift to Mr Qiu Zhonghui, Board Chairman of APC.
By UBS/ Yeo Tan Tan
Revd Dr Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of World Council of Churches, in his letter also affirmed, “This is nothing short of God’s miracle and a great mile stone in the history of Chinese history.”
Great efforts and careful planning has been put into the disassembling cleaning, packing and transporting of the old machines to the new plant. A month was taken to re-locate, re-assemble, tune and test the production machines. “It is a miracle that the relocation happened with no decrease or stop in production”, said Mr Zhu Dan, the Vice-Chairman of APC Board.
The Board, management and staff of APC together with leaders from Amity Foundation, United Bible Societies, national Bible Societies, Churches, Christian organizations, and government officials, came together to give thanks and dedicate the new APC premise to God.
Photo: Group photograph of leaders of Amity Foudation, UBS, national BS, Churches, Christian organization and Government officials.
By UBS/ Yeo Tan Tan
A Common Mission – Guiding People to Know God
Rev Cao also praises God that APC has printed more than 50 million Bibles. “Most of the Bibles are distributed within China, guiding people to know God.” Thanking the Lord for moving brothers and sisters in the Bible Societies fellowship and other Christian organizations to support the Bible ministry in China. Rev Cao prayed that “The Lord will continue to bless APC so that more Bibles can be produced to allow more people to have the chance to read God’s Word, understand your truth, know you and obey.”
Elder Fu Xianwei, the newly elected Chairman of the Three-self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches in China said, “I also want to give my heartfelt thanks to the United Bible Societies and national Bible Societies who have given their long term-effective support to form a constructive partnership in the APC project.” He praised the model of cooperation and fellowship that Bishop Ting, Dr Han and leaders of UBS, and with the support of national Bible Societies, Chinese Church and overseas Churches, have formed over the last 20 years. “Abiding by the principles of being legal, open and aboveboard, our cooperation and relationship has deepened and strengthened”, said Elder Fu.
Archbishop John Chew also affirmed that APC represents a global partnership that is beyond human understanding and planning. The level of cooperation is unique. Elder Fu further stressed that, “Printing Bibles, spreading the Good News not only is the goal of the United Bible Societies but also the responsibility of the Chinese Church. Guided by this common vision, our future , cooperation will be most effective and beneficial to the development of the Chinese Church.”
Written by:
Ms. Yeo Tan Tan, Program Manager
United Bible Societies, China Partnership
