Massive shortage of Bibles in Vietnam
A bid to distribute tens of thousands of Bibles in Vietnam has been launched by the Scottish Bible Society.
There has been a rapid growth in the number of Christians in the country over the years, but a massive shortage of Bibles.
The Scottish Bible Society, along with other Bible Societies, has funded work in the past 12 years translating the Vietnamese Bible into modern Vietnamese.
The Old Testament has been available since 2004, but work on The New Testament was only completed late last year.
Scottish Bible Society Chief Executive Elaine Duncan said the Scottish Bible Society had launched the appeal to raise funds to print and distribute the revised Bible across Vietnam.
“The church is growing rapidly yet lacks the basic tool, the Bible, in sufficient quantities to strengthen existing and new Christians in their faith. This is where we need help from Christians in Scotland!” Elaine added.
As part of the Vietnam Partnership, the Scottish Bible Society will help in two projects that aim to distribute Scripture.
The first project, Good News for a Thriving Nation, plans to print and distribute 32,000 Bibles and 15,000 New Testaments among other Scripture material across the country.
Meanwhile, the second scheme, Growing up with God’s Word (Scripture for Youth), will see 30,000 children’s Bibles, 10,000 Bibles and 115,000 New Testaments produced and distributed to the young people of Vietnam.
Elaine explained: “By making Scripture available to the churches in Vietnam, we allow each Christian to own a copy of the Bible, and also give them the opportunity to reach out to others with the Word of God.
“The old Bible translation used outdated language and was difficult to understand by the young generation, particularly those who encounter the Bible for the first time.
“Now that the work has been carried out on the modern translation, it is important to produce and distribute it to the growing number of Christians in Vietnam. To reach as many as possible, we need help in raising the funds to do so.”
She added that following a recent visit to Vietnam, she met Christians who used their Bibles to cling to their faith after the end of a brutal communist regime that persecuted Christians,
Elaine said: “One of those women, Thi, suffered terribly and said she would never have coped without her faith, the certainty of salvation and her Bible.
“She told me that she longed for her people to have easy, affordable access to the Bible.”
