By Pete
When you meet someone who is interested in exploring Christianity and reading the bible, its important to make sure they have access to a bible they can read. Although they may like to read in English, its important they have access to the bible in Chinese language, since that is the language of their heart.
We can give them a printed bible, however, Chinese or bilingual bibles can be difficult to find and expensive. Most younger Chinese like to read on their phone so the best option is to help them find a good bible app that they will be able to use. Even if you give them a printed bible, it is still a very good idea to help them get a good bible app on their phone.
It’s important that we help them with this, because if the search themselves they may not find something helpful. At various times, a search for “Free Chinese Bible” comes up with the Jehovah Witness, “New World Version” as the first suggestion. Most Chinese would not be aware that this could be problematic.
YouVersion
YouVersion is a very popular Bible app in most western countries. It does have the bible available in many language including Chinese. However most of the other resources and the YouVersion community are in English. If the ministry they are a part of uses this version then it’s probably helpful for them to get it, so they can be part of the ministry activities. You need to remember that this app will probably encourage them to read, think and reflect in English. This will not prepare them to return to China and join a Chinese church where everything will be in Chinese. YouVersion also requires an active internet connection to work properly so it is problematic to use inside China.
WeDevote 微读圣经
This is a Chinese language bible app that includes different languages and versions of the bible. The app is also a platform and community with bible reading plans, encouraging articles, podcasts and videos. It also includes a Chinese audio bible so you can listen to the text. You can open different bibles on the screen at the same time. WeDevote has the following advantages:
- The app is aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
- WeDevote have partnered with various Bible publishers to include multiple translations of the Bible in Chinese and English, respecting copyright laws and paying royalties. Some other apps in China do not have copyright permission to use the texts.
- To ensure the app could weather the unpredictable Chinese internet service, the designers made the features downloadable so the app could function offline. You can’t download the app inside China, but you if you already have the app on your device, and have downloaded the bible texts then the bible reading function should continue to work.
There is an English interface so we recommend that you download this app on your own phone and learn how to use it. When you recommend it to interested Chinese, you can show it to them on your own phone – this is a strong recommendation for the app.
When someone is returning to China, wherever possible, get them to download this app and the bible texts they plan to use, before leaving so they have a bible to read.
For some background on the WeDevote app see this story https://world.wng.org/2019/09/an_app_in_exile
WeDevote Bookstore 微读书城
We devote also have an online digital bookstore with a large collection of good Christian books in Chinese. Some are original Chinese works, many are translations of good quality English language books. You need to download their free eBook reader app in order to read the books which can be purchased from the store. Although the store is not accessible inside China without a VPN, any books already downloaded can still be read. You might like to show them this website at the link below.
Image by Lubos Houska from Pixabay