Vietnam Children’s Bibles Making Huge Impact

The Illustrated Children’s Bible (New Testament) in Vietnamese was first published in January 2006. Ten thousand copies were distributed and each church received one or two Bibles. About 30 children shared one copy. After the second printing last year, 50,000 copies were split between the registered and the house churches. They are asking for 60,000 more.

Bible for All Ages

Still, the numbers fall short of the need. “The vision is for each child to have a copy of the Bible stories,” said Thanh (not his real name), a member of the Children’s Bible Translation (CBT) committee which Open Doors supports. In Vietnam, there are 10 million children under the age of six, or, 12 percent of the country’s population.

But the impact of the book, thus far, is beyond any doubt. The stories it contained has moved the hearts of both Christians and non-Christians, and it has reached a wide spectrum of audience, not just children. 

“In Hanoi, there was a man who wanted to kill himself. He went to a Christian neighbor’s house and saw this book (CBT Bible) on the table. When he opened it, he saw a picture of two roads: one leading to heaven, and another leading to hell. He wanted to know more about those pictures; later on, he asked Jesus into his life,” said Truc in a recent meeting with Open Doors.

Truc’s wife teaches in a government school. She gave copies of the CBT Bible to her students. “During the break time in school, the children would continue to read the book. One time, the head teacher took one and read it. There were non-Christian parents that came to the school, wanting to buy some copies, but my wife said that the books were gifts; they’re not on sale.”

“My other daughter, who is 12 years old, saw a schoolmate with the book. She asked ‘Are you Christian?’ to which the child said, ‘No, but I like it. I borrowed it from my friend.’ My daughter said, ‘If you like it, I can give you a copy; my mom wrote them anyway,’” said Dorcas, whose other daughter, an 8 year old, has started a second reading of the CBT Bible.

Like No Other

At the onset, the translation team was convinced that the illustrated Bible they were envisioning for the Vietnamese children would only work if they wrote the stories themselves. CBT Chairman Rebecca commissioned her team to come up with a few New Testament original stories in Vietnamese, instead of translating the English version. Then, she invited children to read them and they responded well. “Children’s books here in Vietnam have been translated from English to Vietnamese. That’s not what we wanted to do.”

Cover of the Children's Bible

When a draft of the CBT Bible (New Testament) was finished, copies were provided to pastors and church leaders from different denominations, and their comments were sought. “We’ve been in the ministry for many years now, but there has never been a book like this before,” said a church leader.

Joe was one of the translators on the Vietnamese Children’s Bible Translation project. Though the CBT Bible was intended for children between 5 and 10, his four-year-old son loves to hear the stories every night and the kid remembers them well.

United for a Single Vision

“I have been following God since 1987. I notice that although there are many books for Vietnamese children, there is none for the Christians. Then, I began to have this dream of producing a children’s book about the Bible,” said Rebecca, who worked for a government agency on education. The CBT project committee was established in 2005, with Rebecca as its chairman.

The CBT team is a conglomeration of church workers coming from different denominations. For Dorcas, Thanh, Truc, and Joe, to come together for a single vision, was nothing less than a miracle. “If we do it alone, we accomplish nothing. God can use many people from many places. Day by day, we sat together and worked on the stories. God gave us an artist from another denomination, whose illustrations were suitable, so we used them,” explained Dorcas, the committee’s storywriter. Dorcas has been serving in the children’s ministry for 20 years.

Truc is a house church pastor, working for the CBT project as a biblical consultant. “I made sure that the stories written were consistent with Christian theology. We have writing experts who check on our work,” said Pastor Truc. He tried sharing the gospel to Vietnamese children for many years, but only a few accepted the message. With the CBT Bible, he hopes that more children will understand who Jesus is.

From a page within the Illustrated Bible

“We have not worked together before. When we started, we came with lots of ideas! When we discuss them during our meetings, God teaches us humility,” said Thanh, also a children’s ministry worker in his church.

The CBT Bible came about with as much sweat and tears, as the acclaim it has so far received. “First, we started meeting once a week, which turned into several days a week, and at each meeting, we worked from morning ‘til evening,” Thanh said. He became Christian in 1990; he has worked with children since.

What the Future Holds

The team has finished the Old Testament stories, and they will be printed as a separate storybook from the Illustrated Children’s Bible (New Testament). Together, there are 365 stories. “So that children will have one different Bible story to read each day,” according to Dorcas.

“We are editing the Old Testament stories and are just waiting for the illustrations to finish,” said Rebecca.

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