The Bible Contest

The Child Development Program Bible Contest started a few months ago as a challenge for the older kids at one of the homes we work with. In order to answer questions and fill out worksheets during small group time, they had to look up different Scriptures. The problem, however, was that there just wasn’t enough Bibles to go around. So, we started bringing Bibles to the home whenever we’d meet for small groups, and then all the kids were asking to keep them. Mariel told them she’d gladly give them one of their own–but they’d have to earn it. If they could name all 66 books of the Bible, she would bring a new Bible for them to keep.

Since then, we’ve extended the challenge to all the kids participating in the Child Development Program, even the smallest ones. Over the past several weeks, the children from three different orphanages have been working hard to learn the names of all the books. It is especially exciting to see their faces light up when they receive their Bibles, because it is so rare that they have anything new that they get to keep for themselves. The children who have already completed the contest have been doing a great job of helping the others study, and they all cheer and clap for the kids who earn their Bibles each week. So far, forty kids have been able to say all the books. That means that one third of the kids in the program have brand new Bibles that they can call their very own!