The Church of Scotland Gaelic Committee recently launched the Gaelic version of the Lion Share A Story Bible for children and a Lego Christmas story video, and now they have created its free audio book version.

The audio version is narrated by well-known Gaelic broadcaster Angus MacDonald from Point on Lewis, and it can be accessed by a QR code included in the book.

The aim of the initiative is “to encourage families to read the Bible stories together, helping the youngest members learn and grow”, said the Gaelic Committee.

With the audio version they seek to “supplement the written page. It allows parents, grandparents and guardians who are learning Gaelic along with their children, to both enjoy what the book teaches, in terms of the story, but also learn the language at the same time”.

Primary School children's help

Students at Uig Primary School helped with the project by inserting QR codes into copies of the Bible for the Gaelic Hub at their local church.

“It was amazing to see the children from Uig enthusiastically learning about QR coding, after which they placed slips and inserted QR codes into 700 Gaelic Children's Bibles that will now be shared with children elsewhere in Scotland”, pointed out Rev Hugh Stewart, minister of Lochs-in-Bernera and Uig.

He added that “the completion of the audio book has been transformative”, and publicly thanked “the original author Deborah Locke and Christian publisher SPCK for granting wider copyright permission, which allowed the audio book to be completed”.

The Scottish Bible Society made around 1,500 copies of the Gaelic children's Bible, free for anyone who requests it. 550 copies have already been distributed with requests coming from all over Scotland as well as Canada and Spain.

Intergenerational, biblically-based Gaelic resources

The Christmas story video, part of a series of Bible tales told through Lego animation, is also available in English with a Scottish accent. Both version are free, thanks to funding from the Church of Scotland.

The video comes with teacher's notes in Gaelic and English, “enabling teachers and school chaplains to incorporate the short film into lessons or a school assembly”. As a bonus, it also comes with instructions on how to create a Lego stable.

The Lego video and the Bible are part of the Gaelic committee's Project Pentecost, an initiative to “provide intergenerational, Biblically-based Gaelic resources to help tell the Christian story”.

“These initiatives are only a beginning but our prayer is that they will be blessed to young native Gaelic speakers and learners throughout Scotland”.

In 2024, they expect to release more animated Lego videos retelling the stories of Jonah, Lazarus, and David and Goliath.