The Chief Missioneer of Christian Network for Africa Mission, Evangelist Edwin Ebeniro has urged churches and Christians generally to begin to embrace the use of audio Bible for evangelism especially to disadvantaged people group who don’t have access to western education.
He believes that is one of the most strategic ways to reach them with the gospel.
Ebeniro made the call in a statement just as the mission body plans to formally launch the audio Bible device on August 8 at the Yaba Presbyterian Church in Lagos.
According to Ebeniro who said he got inspiration to go into production of audio Bible in 2019 during a conference in Uganda, ‘the device breaks the language barrier completely and makes it easy for people to be reached with the gospel because they will be hearing the word of God read to them in their own language.’
Beyond this, Ebeniro said , the audio Bible has capacity to reach many people at the same time unlike when the written word of God which can only be read by one person at a time.
‘we cannot overemphasise the need for such a device which by God’s grace we have been able to put together. It is the first locally assembled device.
The beauty of it is that users can listen to the Bible while they do other things. It is unlike when you read the hard copy Bible which compels you to shut down other things you’re doing.’ He said.
Ebeniro reasoned further that the audio Bible breaks the barrier of literacy. ‘its not a question of I cannot read. The device makes it easy for the illiterate to access the word of God. It is also good for people that are visually impaired. That is why we are campaigning and asking churches to invest in its production.”
He said the Body of Christ is being mobilised for the August 8 event at the Presbyterian Church in Yaba Lagos. ‘We are going to formally kick off the campaign and encourage churches to begin to subscribe to the device to aid their evangelism and also for their personal spiritual growth.
The peculiarity of the device is that it could be used without electricity. ‘What we have could be powered by solar. And it could also be recharged with electricity”.
On the impact of the device, he states, ‘it has been a great blessing to users. People get excited when they hear God’s word being read in their language. It tend to resonate with them more than when it is read in a language they are not familiar with. Many lives have been transformed through the audio Bible.’
According to him, it cost about N8000 to produce a copy of the audio Bible.
He added, ‘So far we have been giving out the device free of charge to the users because it is for evangelism purpose. But people who have understanding of mission pay for its production.
“There are people in the church who have been bearing the cost. Our intension is to continue to make the device free. Last year we produced 5000 copies of the device and it was distributed across Nigeria and the whole of West Africa.
“We have a centre in East Africa that takes care of demands in that part of the world. This year our goal is to produce 24000 copies of the device that will be distributed to unreached places in Africa and Asia.’
The August event
He expressed confidence that the August 8 event will be the springboard for more awareness for the use of the device.
The chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, Lagos Chapter, Bishop Stephen Adegbite and a host of other top church leaders including the Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and chairmen of other arms of CAN like AOIC, ECWA/TEKAN, CPFN, CSN, are expected at the formal unveiling of the audio Bible device.
