Help us print 25,000 in multiple languages!
During a trip to our CLC ministry in Chiang Mai, Thailand last year, I was struck by how few Bibles were available for children in the Thai language. I knew that we had to do something about this lack of materials for different age groups for our precious children. As I spoke to some colleagues, we realised that this was a problem in many countries.
These are typically countries with relatively small evangelical populations and where the print runs are small. One of the problems is that the costs for a print run of only 700 or 1,000 copies is very expensive, thus making the Bibles unaffordable in some of our countries. Another difficulty, especially for Africa, is that the Bibles may already exist in French and in English, and even be very affordable in France, the UK and the USA, but in the African context they are simply unaffordable. The retail price is already too high and, in addition to that, international transport and importation costs need to be added. Yet, should that stop us from wanting to supply affordable Bibles for children?
We have pinpointed the following countries where CLC ministers that have a need for children’s Bibles for different ages and that have limited resources to print or to purchase them: Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, India, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Myanmar, Pakistan, Portugal and Thailand. Costs include obtaining foreign language rights, translation fees, printing and shipping.
The project will undoubtedly take several years to complete. We are collaborating with publishers like Copenhagen and David C. Cook to obtain the rights for translation. Each Bible costs between $2.50 and $5.00 to print, depending on the size. Shipping costs are extra.
Please consider helping us put 25,000 age-appropriate Bibles into the hands of children in the countries listed above. Many parents and grandparents read the Bibles to their children, thus whole families can be impacted by the Bible stories. Please see the page 27 if you would like to make a donation for this amazing project to reach children with Bible stories. Thank you!
Gary Chamberlin
- CLC International Director