In 1979, to mark the International Year of the Child, ACN decided to publish a Child's Bible as a gift for the children of the Third World. On the occasion of the third Latin American bishops' conference, in Puebla, Mexico, Father Werenfried offered the assembled bishops a Little Bible, as an aid in their pastoral work. "Children need something like a children's Bible", he told them, "so that the image of Jesus in their hearts becomes a living one. But for many children in this world such a Child's Bible remains an unfulfilled wish... Many children are simply so poor that they could never afford such a book".

His offer was enthusiastically accepted, and that same year ACN funded the publication of 1.2 million copies of this Child's Bible - in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. The demand was overwhelming. Before long the first editions were being printed for Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and the Child's Bible campaign developed rapidly into one of the largest projects undertaken by our charity. By now the Child's Bible has been published in 156 languages and in a total of more than 45 million copies. Since 2003 the Child's Bible is being published with an additional chapter on the Wedding Feast in Cana and 31 new illustrations. The highest printings have been in Spanish (with 12,9 million copies) and Portuguese (10 million copies). Both are intended above all for Latin America. For the countries of Central and Eastern Europe a total of 3.8 million copies have now been printed, in no less than 18 different languages.

Every day brings us fresh proof of the continuing need for this Child's Bible project. Daily we receive letters, often in a painstaking child's hand, asking for a little Bible. Their requests do not remain unanswered and, thanks to the generosity of our many benefactors, we can continue to help the poorest of the poor in this way.

Often this little Bible is the only book that such children have access to. In many remote settlements of the Amazon region the Child's Bible has been greeted with special enthusiasm by children and adults alike. Indeed, as Bishop Heim of the diocese of Itaituba in the north of Brazil, writes to us: "for many of them this is the first time they have ever seen a book".

In Africa too the book is of great service in teaching basic literacy. And so our Child's Bible, "God speaks to His Children" is not only a valuable pastoral tool but also an aid in the advancement of local civilisations and in developing a sense of cultural and linguistic identity.

Not only is the text of this little Bible appealing and accessible to the reader, but the illustrations too have a strong impact and are thus an important aid in the transmission of the Faith.

Because of the tremendous demand, we are planning further new editions and reprints for next year. And we continue to look to our generous benefactors to support us in this wonderful project. For there is no way we can turn down requests like this one:

Since summer 2002 the Child's Bible is also available as multimedia CD-ROM. The illustrations accompanying the individual chapters have been cleverly animated and accompanied by appropriate music. The initial version is in German, but others are already in preparation, including English, French, Spanish and Dutch versions. This project represents a completely new type of contribution by ACN to the New Evangelisation in the widely secularised industrial nations of the Western world.

Reference:
003 - 304 Child's Bible