BIBLE FOR CHILDREN

New Languages

A dear brother in Africa continues to locate new translators as he travels to various countries of that great continent. We just received Bible stories in five more languages.

They are: Ndebele (over 1 million speakers in South Africa); Swati (over 2 million speakers in South Africa and Swaziland); Tsonga (over 13 million speakers in South Africa and Zimbabwe); Sepedi (over 14 million speakers in South Africa); and Sotho (over 14 million speakers in Lesotho, South Africa and Zimbabwe).

We now have 35 African languages, with a total of 126 languages for around the world.

Africa is probably the least advanced technologically, but as this situation changes, BFC will be right there in the forefront.

Please keep on praying for more translators and more languages, and thank you for your encouragement and prayers.

Thanks for Praying!

We recently shared our great burden and desire that Bible for Children could be offered in more and more languages so that more and more of the world's children could be reached for Jesus.

We asked for much prayer as we approached a secular organization in Africa that is creating reading material in many African languages. Praise God, we have had some good dialog with this group, and it seems we will be able to supply our Bible stories to them. There are some important technical issues to solve, and it will require extra work for us (and for them). But we are willing to do whatever is necessary, as this could help our stories get to many more children.

BFC App

We may have a BFC App in time for Christmas! The programmers are working hard, and we are evaluating the App as it develops. The App will work on Apple tablets and phones, as well as Android devices (Samsung, etc). It will then be brought into the Windows world.

We expect that the App may double (or more) our downloads. And we already have plans to add voice recording in the next version. Please pray for the two programmers, Richard and Mike, for wisdom and ingenuity.

2016 - First Nine Months

We are pleased to report 3 million Bible stories downloaded in the first nine months of 2016. We present the Top 50, so you may see the rise of the Asian languages. As usual, English and Spanish are first, with Portuguese a strong third:

English 758,687
Spanish 623,812
Portuguese 307,731
Indonesian 133,998
Chinese traditional 124,766
French 115,888
Tagalog 81,072
Dutch 73,818
Arabic 71,952
Telugu 50,650
Tamil 33,440
Chinese simplified 33,333
Hindi 24,747
Japanese 23,714
Afrikaans 23,383
Finnish 21,481
Hungarian 20,888
German 20,103
Russian 18,989
Romanian 17,241
Hebrew 16,377
Bulgarian 15,350
Vietnamese 14,139
Korean 12,650
Ukrainian 12,627
Thai 11,958
Turkish 10,218
Kannada 9,605
Polish 9,580
Malayalam 9,061
Bengali 8,560
Estonian 8,518
Low German 8,049
Bhojpuri 7,042
Albanian 6,308
Marathi 6,241
Serbian 6,224
Odiya 6,072
Armenian 5,924
Welsh 5,432
Punjabi 5,281
Icelandic 5,079
Malay 4,409
Chhattisgarhi 4,183
Malagasy 3,794
Zulu 3,594
Uzbek 3,575
Hakha 3,449
Mongolian 3,241
Rongmei 3,139

Mail from Around the World

Country Unknown: (Translated from Spanish.) I am teaching English classes from pre-School to middle School. I'd like child Bible to use with students because it is a Catholic school. Which do you suggest? Could you send some short Bible stories for which I decide? Thank you. Ana
France: (Translated from French.) I would like to receive all the Bible stories for children in French for Sunday school. Therese

Ivory Coast: (Translated from French.)
Looking for bibles for children, your site caught my attention. I am a member of an Evangelical Church "Vessels of honor" based in Ivory Coast. This year the focus will be on evangelism to children and I wish to actively participate in this program by providing bibles for children. So I want to know if you can supply. Adélaide

Peru: (Translated from Spanish.) I need 2000 copies of brochures for children. Thank the Lord and may He continue to bless you. Cinthia
England: (translated from French.) I am a teacher of the Bible for children, Francophone, I live in England. I also am in Francophone Africa. I need material for children. Kembia
Mongolia: How can I get books for our church children as a Christmas gift? How many can I get? Thank you . Tugsuu

Indonesia (Translated from Indonesian.)
Shalom. I am from Eastern Indonesia, an area of hundreds of islands/villages. And many of the sons of God cannot read. The Church needs Bible material to learn. If acceptable we ask for books and other learning materials. Terima

Heart to Heart

God’s Word declares, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). For me, the time has come to retire from the position of Director of Union Gospel Mission and commence fulltime ministry with Bible for Children. Lord willing, from May 1st, 2017, I will be working on behalf of BFC from my home computer. Isn’t it wonderful that, even if the ministry involves travel, I can work on a computer from anywhere!

My wife is not sure what it will be like to have me at home all day J Unfortunately, MaryAnne is not a ‘computer’ person. She excels when we represent BFC together at Mission events, but otherwise, considers ‘computerland’ my realm.

Of course, the Lord may require us to travel to other places as we seek ways to find translators and promote Bible for Children. There are many opportunities to pursue as we look to advance the Bible stories. New technologies are being developed and, for the sake of the world’s two billion children, BFC needs to be right on the front lines. Please pray for clear leading from the Lord as we enter this new phase in our lives.

May we also take this opportunity to sincerely wish you and your loved ones God’s richest blessings as you celebrate the humble birth of the King of Glory, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Greg and Mary-Anne.

BIBLE FOR CHILDREN, INC.
PO BOX 3, WINNIPEG, MB R3C 2G1, CANADA

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Editor: E.D. Hughes.