Good News for Greece

Good News for Greece
By Nico Bougas, Special to ASSIST News Service
GREECE (ANS -- June 28, 2015) -- Over the last few years a movement has spread through the length of mainland Greece and its many islands. It is a movement to get copies of the New Testament in modern Greek into the hands of the people of Greece.
Greece has gone through some turbulent times since the triumphant days of Alexander the Great. Now it faces the prospect of economic meltdown and the collapse of this once powerful and proud nation.
Amidst the gloom and pessimism Hellenic Ministries has launched a project to bring hope and light to a nation sinking in despair.
The Psalmist assures us that the entrance of God’s Word brings light, it brings understanding to the simple. God’s Word is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged-sword, it is like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces and like a fire that burns up the chaff.
It is a movement that started during the Athens Olympics in 2004 when HM President, Johnathan Macris, had a vision of distributing 1 million Bibles in Greece. Since then copies of the New Testament in modern Greek, plus and audio version of the NT and literature explaining the way of salvation have been placed in over 700,000 homes and hundreds of Greek people’s lives have been impacted.
A task of such magnitude doesn’t just happen. It has taken many months of dedicated labor by the HM staff in Greece. It has taken perseverance and dogged determination by upwards of 350 volunteers each year to get the Bibles out to so many homes. But with it has come a wonderful sense of teamwork and fellowship and young and older people have come together with a common purpose and zeal. There has been a collective motivation to get the Word of God out to a needy nation.
Johnathan Macris, says, “We stand in awe at what God has accomplished through our small band of workers. In the past evangelicals have been regarded as a minority cult. But now there is a sense of shock and awe as we have moved through the country, beginning with the islands and now sweeping across the mainland. People are seeing us as a powerful movement. They are sitting up and paying attention.
From July 8 through to July 16 volunteers from all over the world will again gather for another “Operation Joshua.” They will be covering an area near Thessalonica, not far from where Paul and some of the early church leaders were accused of turning the world upside down. (Acts 17.6). And not far from where the early believers received the word gladly and searched the scriptures daily to confirm all that they had said. (Acts 17.11)
Operation Joshua will continue in their footsteps and may this part of the globe be turned right side up. For more information about Operation Joshua and how you can participate or support this ministry, check: www.operationjoshua.org  or email: info@operationjoshua.org
Photo captions: 1) Door to door delivery of Bible bags. 2. Johnathan Macris, President of HM. 3) Nico Bougas.
About the writer: Nico Bougas is the International Development Director for Hellenic Ministries. He has a master's degree in communication from Wheaton Graduate School and M. Div and D. Min degrees from Trinity Theological Seminary. He is the author of five books. He previously worked for Youth for Christ in South Africa and was Editor of In Magazine and Christian Living TODAY and currently serves as Consulting Editor for JOY Magazine and a Trustee for Radio CCFM and was one of the founders of Sports Outreach Africa. He previously served on the national executive of the SA Association of Evangelists and as a Trustee for the Bible Institute of South Africa and on the advisory board for the South African Theological Seminary and on the executive of The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund (SA). For further, information contact: nico@bougas.info
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