The first ever Heroes Bible Trivia Game Competition was successfully held in November 2021, withgamers who were both affiliated and unaffiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The competition was hosted by the Digital Evangelism & Communication Department of the Korean Union Conference (KUC), and supported by the General Conference and the Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD). The goal of the competition was to encourage participants “study the Bible in a familiar way through smartphone games and making digital missions seep into daily life.” The organizers said the ‘Heroes Bible Trivia Game’ had recorded over 600 pre-registration and 2,000 downloads through the game promotion website and KakaoTalk channel.
With successful digital marketing, anyone who was interested could have downloaded the game app and participated in this competition that drew a large amount of attention; so much so, that even the Korean monthly protestant magazine, The Modern Religion, published an article about it.
Due to the pandemic, the awards ceremony was held online on December 30th.
Soon-ki Kang, President of the KUC, sent a congratulations message and encouragement to the winners through a video. “Your amazing skills and active participation in this competition were truly impressive, it will [provide for] a bright future in… digital evangelism.”
Kim Woo-jin, who took first place in the Best Record category, said, “The Heroes Bible Trivia Game is where you can learn the Bible, and enjoy it without feeling [a] burden of guilt. It is easy to use and accessible to any age or gender.” Kim also ranked fifth place in the global ranking among tens of thousands of users around the world.
The youngest winner, who took second place was Hyung-rok Lee, a middle school student. He said, "I found myself reading the Bible to answer a quiz about Bible characters that I didn’t know. Through this competition, I found myself getting closer to the Bible and gaining knowledge. For me, it was a starting point [in] my Christian life.”
Choi Kyung-sook, who took first place in the Maximum XP category (the participant with the highest score during the competition period), said, “It was so good to learn the Bible easily. I would recommend this game to adults who have free time. Also, if it is used by teenagers who are prone to indulge in harmful games, it will be of great benefit.” As a housewife, she emphasized, “I was able to get closer to the Bible in my daily life through this app.”
Deacon Lee Jae-ho, who took second place, said, “When I [noticed that] the quizzes matched with the Bible verse I read every morning, it was a great help understanding God’s word. I hope that this game will be more distributed in the world, [to] help many people to believe in the Bible message, and make use of it to expand the kingdom of God.”
Deacon Jeong Yohan, who was awarded the Most Sharing prize (the participant who shared the game the most), said, “I used to think that there was a lack of quality content for teenagers and children in church, however, the Heroes Bible Trivia game changed my thought. “I tried this game by myself and found it religiously motivating and fun, so I shared the app with my friends and acquaintances. Thank you very much for this unexpected award and gifts. I hope someday I can help to develop and improve this app, if possible.”
The associate director of the Digital Evangelism & Communication Department and host of the Heroes Game Competition,Yong Hun Kim said, “Through this competition, we confirmed new possibilities for Bible study and digital evangelism through mobile games. We will make sure that this game competition is not just a one-off, but a means of mission and ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.”
He added, "We are also planning to distribute it to various age groups and classes through collaboration with relevant departments such as the Children's Ministries Department, Youth Ministries Department, and Sabbath School & Personal Ministries. In particular, we will work with the General Conference to add character quizzes and keep updating the app to find various uses for missionary purposes.”
SeongJun Byun, NSD communication director, recommended and congratulated KUC for adopting the game in their Union and holding the game event. During the award ceremony, he emphasized that all Unions and Conferences in the NSD territories are now in either preparation or process to translate the game in their own languages. This game will be a game-changer in the digital gospel contents areas in the NSD.
The Heroes Bible Quiz game can be downloaded here. Currently, gamers around the world are participating in a new challenge.