12 Prayers, 12 Weeks

Cuba: Children's Bibles... and more...

Church members absolutely thrilled with their own copies of the Bible! No longer any need to share one Bible for a whole group!

Bible Society ministry in Cuba is carried out by 'The Bible Commission'. They work closely with all the Churches in Cuba where there is such hunger for the Bible. One of the big issues for Cuban churches are the huge numbers of children who come alone to church.

Alain and Joel from the Bible Commission shared the following:

"When you give a Bible to a child, you're giving a Bible to the whole family. Many of these families do not go to church, the only one attending is the child. They bring the Bible home to the rest of the family who often become interested. It is really common for three generations to live together in the same house. And sometimes also an aunt or an uncle. Because of this, the Bible we give to the child will benefit the whole family. Children share what they've got with the rest of the household in a most natural way."

This effort to reach children with the Bible is part of the ongoing 'One Million Bibles' project throughout Cuba. Alain estimates that about 35% of the Bibles distributed in total will be children's Bibles. This project is ambitious indeed and not at all easy, yet all efforts are being made to see it realised. The Bibles are produced in several different countries: China, South- Korea, Brazil, and Colombia. Transporting Bibles is not without its trials and requires rather a lot of logistics and patience! Distribution once they have reached Cuba can also be rather tricky, particularly for churches in more rural areas. This has been made considerably smoother in recent months with the setting up of 16 regional distribution centres which act as hubs for churches.

Churches need Bibles. Something we take for granted is still a luxury for many in Cuba. The Communist years have certainly left their mark. Praise God for this open window of opportunity.

Praying for Ministry in Cuba

Pray for the team who are working hard to make God's Word available to all Churches in Cuba and for Alain who leads the ministry.

Ask God to continue to generously provide for the needs of this ministry, so that all who follow Jesus will soon have Bibles of their own.

Pray too for the outreach efforts from churches - that many will be drawn to Jesus and that the Scripture resources they need will be available.

Week 3: 18 October 2016

A Box of Bibles

Alain speaks of the reaction of pastors to the distribution of Bibles.

"In one area (Pinar del Rio), they were very excited when they saw something they had never seen before; a whole box with bibles. Earlier they had seen two or three bibles at once, and now they had seen for the first time a whole box, due to the local distribution centre of bibles."

After so many years of sharing Bibles in groups - maybe even one Bible between 10, or more - seeing a whole box of Bibles must be somewhat overwhelming.

Another young couple are planting a church in a district of Havana that has never had a church presence before. They shared how they had the joy of baptising 14 people in recent weeks. They didn't have enough Bibles to give to each new convert, so they had given away their own! This couple were so thrilled to be given a Study Bible. They comment on the great lack of Bibles in Cuba. In their church, about 40 people - just half the congregation - possess a Bible of their own. Furthermore, they add, there is considerable interest among people they know outside the church, who have not yet come to faith. So the real figure for people who would like to own a copy is even higher.

Such joyful people!

Bible Society NI, 27 Howard Street, Belfast, BT1 6NB

TEL: 028 9032 6577 - www.bsni.co.uk

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