For the first time, a Bible correspondence course has been created for Native people in North America, a group that numbers at least 5.5 million.

Creating the “Native New Day Bible Correspondence Course” spanned an 11-year period. The editorial committee of five Native Americans researched each lesson, to ensure the content would be acceptable to all North American native tribes. The reading level, artwork and stories were carefully developed to have a strong appeal to Native people, according to committee members.

Correspondence courses are quite popular among Native Americans, “and as such, the lessons have no boundaries because they can be sent through the postal system no matter how remote the area is,” said Seventh-day Adventist pastor Monte Church, project coordinator and director of Native Ministries for the North Pacific in the United States and Canada.

The lessons are “the first of its kind for any church; there’s nothing else that comes close” Pastor Church said, noting that a television program geared for Native people will feature promotional advertising for the course.

Each lesson is illustrated with paintings and photographs, translating traditional evangelistic scenes into illustrations featuring nature and native figures.  The photos, Church said, are of Native Americans who are members of the Adventist Church. A.J. McCoy, an Adventist artist living in Alberta, Canada, who specializes in wildlife scenes, created the artwork.

The lessons, printed by the Pacific Press Publishing Association, are available from the Voice of Prophecy (VOP), an Adventist media ministry in Simi Valley, California, either in bulk to churches who want to start their own Bible school or to individuals who request them. There will be a close connection between the local pastor and the VOP. When a student completes about half of the lessons, the VOP will send a card to the pastor with information about that student’s interest.

The bulk of the cost of the U.S. $182,000 project was raised from among the 4,000 Native American Adventist church members in North America, while regional church leadership committed U.S. $35,000 of the total.