Colombia (MNN) — A youth-focused ministry says it's impossible to reach every child with the Gospel unless you reach every tribe. That's why Book of Hope International is translating the Book of Hope, a harmony of the Gospel, into other languages. Book of Hope's Richard Luna says Colombia has been the most-recent recipient.
Just last year, more than 1.2 million kids between three and nine years old received the Book of Hope. Over 230,000 people saw the Godman, a 3D animated film on the Life of Christ. But Luna says something stood out. "We've given out the books to various natives–20,200 as a matter of fact–but it's always been in Spanish. We just came to the realization that reaching every child also means reach every tribe."
So they began translating the Story Edition of the Book of Hope into the first eight languages of the tribal people of Colombia. "For three of them–ithe Kogui, the Wounaan, Wuruti–it is their first-ever engagement with Scripture. It is the first translation of Scripture being done. And the neat thing about this translation is that the translators themselves are church planters."
Book of Hope is teaming up with a ministry alliance called Crisalinco in Colombia. Luna says, "They've set up a goal by 2015 to reach every tribe in Colombia and to establish and plant a church there."
To date, they've established 65 churches in the last seven years. Luna says because they're translating it, they'll be more effective in communicating and distributing the message. "Many times what happens with translations is that they'll sit in the warehouse because a translation project is done by experts, and it's disconnected to the distribution. In this case, the translators themselves are people from the tribes. And, that just gives ownership and distribution to the project from the get go."
Your help is needed to help provide copies of the Book of Hope to Colombia and other places around the world. Your gift of $50 will provide the Book of Hope to 150 kids. Pray that many will get involved in this outreach.
