As fighting between various armed groups in the Central African Republic intensifies, a Christian charity is planning to print thousands of copies of the New Testament in a local dialect for the people, to provide “a way toward conversion of hearts.”
Aid to the Church in Need told journalists it would like to help by giving $56,000 to print 30,000 copies of the New Testament in the local Sango dialect for the people of the Central African Republic.
“Reading the Bible offers hope in a seemingly hopeless situation,” Edward Clancy, Director of Outreach for Aid to the Church in Need told Crux.
“It offers a message of self-sacrificial love. It is on this intimate level that the Bible has impact. It provides a way towards conversion of hearts. A slow tireless campaign of affecting one person at a time, but the change happens. The Holy Bible opens the door to forgiveness and mercy while presenting that all people are created by God and have hope of conversion,” he said.
Crux reports that Clancy empahised the prominent role the Catholic Church has played in the peacemaking process of the country.
While the Church is vulnerable to attacks from both sides, according to the Christian Post, it has protected hundreds of Muslims by allowing them “to have safety within the walls.”
Christians make up about 80 percent of the population of the Central African Republic, and Muslims about 15 percent.
In 2017, 2,100 Muslims were housed at a Church owned seminary in Bangassou so as to protect them from a reprisal attack waged by anti-balaka militias.
Clancy told Crux the Church has remained the most consistent supplier of food and comfort to the suffering poor of all beliefs.
Clancy explained to the media outlet that the Bibles will first be distributed to Christians, but “that won’t be the final destination.”
“As much as reading Sacred Scripture is a deeply personal communication, it also calls for action and sharing. The Bibles can and should be used by all. Holy Bibles are not tools of proselytization but rather learning and discussion. But, for a Muslim to learn, they cannot be restricted from possessing and reading the Holy Bible like in many Muslim-dominated countries,” he said, according to Crux.
The Archbishop of Bangui, Cardinal Dieudonné Nzapalainga told the website translated versions of the Bible into the local Sango language will be essential to strengthen and renew the hearts and consciences of the people.
“The country only has hope for a future if hatred is overcome and a new leaf turned over through reconciliation and forgiveness. Believers must also gain a deeper understanding of the Good News of Christ,” the cardinal said.
Nzapalainga said the religious community needs to focus on an appeal to people’s consciences.
“We do not have any weapons. Our weapon is the Word of God. We are men of the Word of God. We go and knock on the gate to the hearts of these men and women,” he said, according to Crux.
“The people can either accept this or not. It is our job and duty to tell them: Thou shalt not kill. And this is what we do when we see people who are killing,” the cardinal continued. “We say to them: No, you don’t have the right to kill. God doesn’t want you to kill. And we have to say this to them and tell them to put down their weapons. We try to disarm their hearts and minds.”
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