Churches work together to bring the Bible to Armenia’s schoolsYEREVAN, Armenia — Reaching the Gegharkunik region of eastern Armenia requires considerable patience and determination. Centred around Lake Sevan, one of the highest freshwater lakes in the world, Gegharkunik has great natural beauty. However, the region remains underdeveloped: there is little industry and many people continue to rely on basic agriculture for their survival. Travelling to towns in Gegharkunik involves slow journeys on roads which have been neglected for years, as has much of the region’s other infrastructure. Indeed, drivers often have to abandon the normal rules of the road and swerve from side to side to avoid potholes big enough to leave a car stranded.
For United Bible Societies (UBS) Management Consultant Chris Dale, making the long journey to Gegharkunik was certainly a test of patience and stamina. However, what was far worse for him and those with whom he travelled was the knowledge that, despite the efforts of the Bible Society in Armenia and its partners, there is still a huge unmet demand for Scriptures in the region. Mr Dale spent two days in June visiting three towns in Gegharkunik with representatives from the Bible Society and the Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches. This visit was made under the auspices of the Bible Society’s Bringing the Bible to Schools program, which aims to forge ongoing links with educational institutions, teachers and students. With the history of religion due to become a compulsory element of the school curriculum in September, this program is placing particular emphasis on ensuring that schools have copies of the Bible and appropriate textbooks. Television stationThe first stop was in Gavar, the regional capital, where the delegation met local religious leaders, politicians, school principals and Sunday School teachers and handed over Bibles and textbooks. This visit attracted the attention of the local television station, which covered a meeting in which Vahagn Hakobian, the Governor of Gegharkunik, expressed his gratitude to UBS and the Bible Society and called on the school principals to ensure that the Bibles and textbooks are put to daily use. Leaving Gavar the next day and heading for the even more remote towns of Martuni and Vardenis, “the roads became worse and the people became poorer,” according to Mr Dale. The local people had not heard about the Bible Society before, but they responded warmly to the materials brought by the delegation. Rashid Mherian, the Mayor of Martuni, displayed his new-found enthusiasm for supporting the Bible Society in a very practical way, promising to make a personal financial contribution to its work. EncouragementThe Bible Society welcomes the opportunity to bring encouragement to people living in difficult circumstances, according to Arshavir Kapoudjian, secretary of its board of trustees. What is also particularly valuable about the Bringing the Bible to Schools program is that it is a collaborative venture with the three main churches. “The Bible Society of Armenia feels itself encouraged to be with the people of God as a sign of solidarity,” Mr Kapoudjian says. Mr Dale, too, highlights the importance of the churches’ working together to at least make a start on meeting demand for the Scriptures in Gegharkunik and similar regions. He left the region reflecting that seeing so much unmet demand for Scriptures is far more distressing than practical difficulties associated with travelling. ‘I’m sorry’“The worst part of these all too short visits … is having to say over and over again ‘I’m sorry’ to Sunday School teachers who don’t have their own Bibles and to school principals who ‘just want another one or two more’ Bibles for the teachers and the children in their schools.” Reports about previous Bringing the Bible to Schools visits can be found in World Report 374/27 and World Report 377/5. (WR 379/12 - 9.03)
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