How Global Christian Book Fund is bringing God’s Word to the forgotten faithful of Central Africa.
There is something most Christians in North America rarely think about: the Bible sitting on their shelf, or the app on their phone with a dozen translations at their fingertips. For believers in places like the Central African Republic (CAR), that kind of abundance is unimaginable. Many faithful Christians there have never held a Bible of their own.
That is about to change.
Global Christian Book Fund has committed to printing 100,000 Bibles — and sending 20,000 of them directly to the Central African Republic. For the Church in CAR, these Bibles are an answered prayer.
A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
The numbers tell a sobering story. A recent report from Oasis International found that 1.7 billion Bibles were printed worldwide over the past two decades. Yet only 7.1% of those Bibles reached the African continent — despite Africa representing 27% of the world’s Christian population. The Bible is being printed. It is simply not getting to the people who need it most.
In the Central African Republic, the barriers run deep. Two decades of conflict have devastated communities, destroyed churches, and left the country among the poorest in the world. Sixty-five percent of the population is illiterate, and most families survive on less than $5 a day. For many believers, a Bible is not just difficult to find — it is financially out of reach. Pastors who have given their lives to leading their communities have been left without the very Book they preach from, some watching their Bibles burned during years of war.
A Voice From the Ground
François Ngoumape knows this reality firsthand. As a Seminary President and Professor in the Central African Republic, he has dedicated his life to training pastors and strengthening the church in one of the world’s most challenging environments. His message to believers in the West is simple and direct: your brothers and sisters here are faithful, they are hungry for God’s Word, and they need your help.
“Thank you for your love of the Lord and of us,” Professor Ngoumape says, “and thank you for your partnership with us.”
His vision — and the vision driving this effort — is deeply biblical. Like the Bereans in the Book of Acts, who searched the Scriptures daily to test what they heard, believers in CAR want to read and study God’s Word for themselves. Local churches are already offering literacy classes, and people are eager to learn to read specifically so they can open the Bible.
20,000 Bibles Going to CAR
The 20,000 Bibles headed to the Central African Republic are more than printed pages — they are a lifeline for pastors trying to lead without resources, for new believers trying to grow, and for communities slowly rebuilding after decades of war.
Peace is returning, however fragile. Churches are opening. People are gathering. And now, for the first time in a long time, there is hope that every pastor who stands before a congregation on Sunday morning will have a Bible in hand.
How You Can Help
The remaining 80,000 Bibles in this print run will reach other regions across Africa facing the same crisis of scarcity. Your partnership makes this possible. For just $5, a Bible can be placed into the hands of a believer who has waited — sometimes for years — to hold one.
This is not about sending surplus. This is about closing a gap that should not exist in the global church — ensuring that the same Word that strengthens your faith every day is finally within reach for the forgotten faithful halfway around the world.
Will you help us get these Bibles there?
Help equip the global church
Stories like this one are made possible by donors who believe Church leaders and believers everywhere deserve access to sound theological resources. Consider partnering with Global Christian Book Fund to help put books and Bibles into the hands of those who need them most.