In This Issue

A Report on the 2025 Cairo International Book Fair

“Surely You are a God who hides Himself” (Isaiah 45:15) was truly the experience of the serving ones during the 2025 Cairo International Book Fair (CIBF). In contrast to our human concept, the Lord sent the sons of peace to the booth mainly during quiet and low-traffic times for some quality, divine appointments. On the contrary, when there were large crowds, there were not many visitors to the booth.

According to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, the 56th annual CIBF witnessed an exceptional public turnout of over 5.5 million visitors, which was a new record compared to the previous years. The final day alone attracted nearly half a million visitors. In the light of these numbers, the CIBF continues to be considered the largest literary event in the world.

Al Jadwal Al Haii (AJAH), the Arabic literature center in Cairo, participated in the 56th annual CIBF from 24 January to 5 February 2025 at the Egypt International Exhibition Center in New Cairo. The slogan of the 56th CIBF was “Read…In the Beginning Was the Word.” God in His sovereignty directed the administrators of the fair to decide on this slogan, and we trust that He indeed used it to bring many to Himself as the Word of God. In fact, the slogan was a good way to open conversations with customers who were not from the same belief. AJAH was given a corner booth, covering 18 square meters, featuring about 95 titles in Arabic.

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A New Series in Affirmation & Critique

Living Stream Ministry is pleased to announce a new series in Affirmation & Critique (A&C) entitled “The Words of This Life.” Affirmation & Critique is a journal of Christian thought that seeks to make the riches of this ministry available also to those not meeting in the local churches. In this new series we will consider certain key words that signify important aspects of our Christian life and our church life that are common to all believers but have been variously understood by Christians through the centuries. The first word, covered in the 2025 issue, is faith.

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Biblical and Ministry Words That We Love: Blending

The word blending is used in the Bible and in the ministry publications primarily in relation to the blending of the members of the Body of Christ. To blend means to combine into a more or less uniform whole. The Greek word translated ‘blending’ occurs twice in the New Testament and means “to mix together, commingle; to unite…[causing] several parts to combine into an organic structure, which is the body…1 Cor. 12:24” (Thayer). The Greek word also means to temper, compound, adjust, balance, and harmonize.

Brother Witness Lee first introduced the notion of blending in 1949 with his exposition of 1 Corinthians 12:24: “God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked.”

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