Bibleless Nations

The Miao are one of the 55 officially recognized minorities in China. With a population of 9.6 million in China alone, they form the country’s fifth largest ethnic minority. Because of past oppression and multiple migrations, they are scattered across several provinces in Southeast China, and many Hmong (a Miao sub-group) have settled in Southeast Asian and Western countries.

The language family of the Miao includes 35-plus languages, only three of which have Bibles. Most of the Miao languages are unwritten; but they are widely spoken, living languages. Mandarin Chinese is taught in the schools, but many Miao do not have an education past elementary school.

The official language of Algeria is Arabic, and the national language is Berber. However, as Algeria was a French colony for 132 years (1830-1962), French is still widely used in business and education. Algeria also has seventeen ethnic languages, one of which is Chenoua, or Chenoui.

There are 81,000 speakers of Chenoua living in northwest Algeria. They are descendants of the Berbers, a North African people group who were conquered by Muslim invaders in the seventh century. There are no Scriptures in Chenoua; in fact, no writing system has ever been devised for that language. There are no gospel recordings or films; the people are in darkness with no witness.