National Bible Bee seeks to encourage young people to understand God's Word through competition

More than 100 students will compete in the National Bible Bee Competition this year, according to the Bible Bee organisation.(biblebee.org)

Parents, together with their children, are encouraged to join a national competition in the United States that will enable them to better understand God's Word while at the same time getting a chance to win tens of thousands of dollars in cash prizes.

The competition is the National Bible Bee, which actor Kirk Cameron has called the "reality game show that proclaims God's Word."

The competition gets going on June 6 when hosts all over America begin an eight-week Bible Bee Study with their group, according to the competition's website (biblebee.org).

Parents can register as hosts of the events, and young people can qualify for the National Bible Bee Competition, WND reports.

When the study is finished on Aug. 6, students have the option of taking an online test. The 120 best-scoring students in each division qualify to compete in the National Bible Bee Competition, and to audition for the National Bible Bee Gameshow on Nov. 16-20 in San Antonio, Texas.

Emeal Zwayne, a spokesman for Bible Bee, urged both students and adults to sign up for the programme.

Talking to WND, Zwayne said the real value of the competition is actually not the cash prizes at stake.

"The goal really is to encourage young people in their efforts to understand God's Word, and to inspire them to internalise it, and then to impact their lives," he said.

"Kids actually come to faith in Christ through participating in the National Bible Bee," he said.

Zwayne said promoting the reading and understanding of the Holy Bible is more important than ever since only 16 percent of churchgoers read the Bible regularly, and 25 percent never read it, according to a recent study.

The study noted that 80 percent of American Christians say they are knowledgeable of the Bible but less than half can name the first five books.

This points to a "huge problem with biblical literacy" across America, Zwayne said.

The programme offers an eight-week Discovery Journal that teaches an easy method to study the Bible in only minutes a day, as well as an advanced competition study journal.

Co-hosts of the game show have included the Benham brothers, Hanna Leary and Zwayne.