Tuesday, OneHope reached its billionth child—a young girl in China—with a relevant gospel message. The moment was broadcast live for OneHope partners around the world to celebrate the occasion.
“It’s incredible to hear a number like 1 billion,” says Rob Hoskins, president of OneHope. “But our focus isn’t on big numbers. We desire to affect individual lives with the message of hope found in God’s Word.”
The event was even more momentous when people realized the significance of the person who handed Liu Chunxue her Book of Hope: a man named Dima. Almost 22 years ago, Dima received his own copy of the Book of Hope as a teenager in Russia, and it changed his life forever. Dima was immersed in a culture where drugs and alcohol usage was the norm, but after receiving his Book of Hope, he gave his life to God. Today, he is ministering in China.
“I think about the power of a book, of getting into a country and giving that book to children,” Dima says. “My life was transformed, and for the first time, I knew real joy.”
Dima and Liu Chunxue are just two of the now more than 1 billion children who have received the gospel message through OneHope, and the organization is already on its way to reaching another 100 million children with the gospel this year.
“We have always believed that if we could share God’s Word with every child, the world would be drastically different,” Hoskins says. “Since 1987, we have been working closely with local partners and churches to create relevant Scripture materials that speak to the specific needs of young people in their community.”
From storytelling programs to books, films, virtual worlds and apps, OneHope uses mediums that resonate with young people. Not a one-size-fits-all organization, OneHope uses its research to identify the heartfelt needs of the young people in every country where it works before creating Scripture programs to address those specific needs.
As an outcome-based ministry, OneHope builds its programs with the end in mind—measuring and evaluating each program to make sure it is as effective as possible. In late 2013, OneHope launched the Bible App for Kids, a free Bible storybook app that was downloaded more than 1 million times in its first week, in partnership with YouVersion—creator of the most popular Bible app of all time.
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