The latest numbers show that CBN Animation’s Superbook has led the way for millions of children to accept Christ, and Superbook is growing with a popular kid’s Bible app and website as well as work in new languages.
Children’s ministry leaders say ages four to fourteen, often known as the “4-14 window” is the age when people are most likely to accept Christ as their Savior.
Ben Edwards, CBN International vice president, says Superbook reaches children at those key ages. “It targets kids at a time in their lives where it’s so important to reach them with the Gospel,” he said. “A critical time for them to understand there’s a God who loves me, there’s a God that wants to have a relationship with me and there’s a God that died for me. So, it’s an incredible time to minister into kids’ lives.”
Superbook uses quality animation combined with professional dubs in more than sixty languages and dialects to communicate with children in their heart language and draw them in.
“Much of the dialogue is direct dialogue from the Bible,” said Edwards, “making sure that there’s biblical accuracy. So we know that when kids watch Superbook, they’re getting a very, very strong spiritual foundation and biblical foundation.”
“It’s the combination they’re watching,” explains Sandra Anderson, CBN’s director of operations in Latin America. “They’re seeing themselves inside the stories, they’re relating to the characters and all of a sudden they believe. They believe not only in the message but the lessons that they’re learning that they can now apply to their lives on a daily basis. It’s that combination that we believe so many are finding God in the midst of their situations and learning how to trust Him.”
According to projections from a Brown, Fraser and Associates audience survey, last year more than 500 million viewers around the world watched at least one episode and more than 350 million report they sang “The Salvation Poem” at the end of the show.
“We know that the Word of God changes lives and because Superbook is full of the Word of God we see spiritual transformation happen when an episode is watched,” said Anderson.
That spiritual birth not only changes hearts, it changes how kids do life and it changes multiple generations.
“We often hear about children who are involved in delinquent behavior becoming excellent students in school,” said Anderson. “We see children who pray in faith for their parents to not go through with a divorce and something changes in their favor.”
CBN Animation Executive Director Paul Richardson says children who trust in the Lord often have compassion for others. “They are transformed and then that transformation leads to them acting out of their Christianity. They begin to pray for their family, they pray for their friends, they pray for their parents,” he said.
“Superbook is reaching families and so many times the door of entry is through the heart of a child who has first recognized and accepted Jesus as Lord and then begins to pray for their parents,” said Anderson.
Superbook Regional Director Vanja Bule says the series is an evangelistic fixture in her country of Croatia.
“Superbook is used as a tool, as a resource in probably every single school in Croatia,” she said. “Those are thousands and thousands of children. So those children fall in love with Gizmo and Joy and Chris and so the teacher invites us to come.”
Superbook is also growing in the place where so many kids hang out — their phones. It’s why the Superbook app has been downloaded more than 35 million times. The U.S., India and Brazil lead the list of countries with the most downloads. The app is a strategic move on multiple levels as children have countless options for video and many of those options point them away from Christ.
“There are specific worldviews undergirding the content that’s being put out there and then the devices are handed to children to sort of babysit them for a little while so that the parents can get something done,” said Richardson. “Then those children are being influenced. What better thing to influence children with than the Word of God and the love of Jesus through the medium that is going to connect with them the best, which is animation.”
