Displaying items by tag: Bible Translation

From Belarus and Portugal to Sri Lanka and Suriname, Bible Societies are facing financial collapse in countries hardest-hit by the pandemic. Two thirds of Bible Societies around the world now face significant survival challenges: 20% risk immediate closure. However, we can thank God for $4.1 million given to them by a global Solidarity Fund, to provide finances for staff salaries, Bible translations, and continued work on essential outreach projects.

Now is an exciting time for Bible translation because God has provided the tools to accelerate the translation process and share His Word to the ends of the earth. Wycliffe Associates’ development of robust Bible translation technology, paired with streamlined methodology for Bible translation workshops, means that more people than ever before are able to have God’s Word at their fingertips. Millions live in communities where their language is unwritten. Also, many in the developing world cannot read. They often experience extreme isolation and marginalisation because of illiteracy and their oral language traditions. Bible translation recording kits make it possible for national Bible translators to produce audio recordings of the Scriptures, so their people can hear and come to know the truth of God’s transforming Word.

For hundreds of years, the Church has worked hard at translating, publishing and distributing the Bible. Only around 250 million people are still waiting for Bible translation to begin in the language they know best. But all this is just groundwork for the main task of seeing the nations become disciples of Christ through engaging with the Bible. Technology provides audio Bibles, Bible study apps, and videos dramatising Biblical content; these are a great blessing, especially where Bibles are hard to acquire, where literacy is low, or where it is a security risk to have a hard copy. Bible engagement is a challenge to every church across the nations. Pray for God to increase the number of all those who work in the gap between the Bible and the world: Bible teachers for children and adults; those who present Bible truth through music, art, dance, drama, fiction and other forms of storytelling and learning; and scholars and commentators.

A remote Papua tribe has received 2,500 Bibles 55 years after two missionaries trying to reach them with the Gospel were killed. Some Yali tribespeople walked an entire day to reach the Oakbisik airstrip in the mountains of Papua, Indonesia, to receive the shipment of Bibles in their own language from Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Now, instead of waiting for war, the Yali church has been waiting for more Bibles in their language. Yali tribes no longer walk the path of darkness. Their path is lit by the Word of God.

As you read this, God is transforming lives through Bible translation... and not just in foreign lands. Every day, people like you are experiencing God's power as they actively pray for the projects they support. This is your invitation to share in the experience through our 21-day prayer community.

The Story of God

Experience God's Love first-hand through the power of His Word. Each day, you'll receive great ideas for listening to and reflecting upon Scripture.

His Word

Discover creative ways to apply the message of each day's passage as you pray for the Bibleless.

Pray for the Bibleless

Engage with a dedicated community as you faithfully pray for those who still wait to hear of God's love for them.

Start the Seed Company 21 Day Prayer Series

As you read this, God is transforming lives through Bible translation... and not just in foreign lands. Every day, people like you are experiencing God's power as they actively pray for the projects they support. This is your invitation to share in the experience through our 21-day prayer community.

The Story of God

Experience God's Love first-hand through the power of His Word. Each day, you'll receive great ideas for listening to and reflecting upon Scripture.

His Word

Discover creative ways to apply the message of each day's passage as you pray for the Bibleless.

Pray for the Bibleless

Engage with a dedicated community as you faithfully pray for those who still wait to hear of God's love for them.

Start the Seed Company 21 Day Prayer Series

Bible translator and literacy teacher Pastor Christopher Tanjoh was killed on 7 August following an attack in his village. Last year two other Bible translators in Cameroon died in similar incidents. He bled to death after being shot in the leg, leaving behind a wife and seven children. Wycliffe’s executive director said, ‘This tragic news reminds us how much the gospel message is urgently needed in Cameroon. Until people are transformed by Jesus, there will be no lasting peace. We continue to work with local partners to translate the Bible so that every Cameroonian can read the Bible in the language that speaks to them best.’

1.5 billion people are still waiting for the Bible in a language that speaks to them best. Over 7,000 ethnic groups are still unreached without any knowledge of there even being a gospel. Pray for avenues and inroads into diverse cultures so that unreached people hear and read the gospel in a familiar language and culture. Pray for God’s anointing on anthropologists, researchers, and those with linguistic skills to analyse a language and devise an alphabet for the people they are studying. Pray for trained literacy workers assisting communities to read and write in their own language and for those making audio recordings or videos pointing people to Jesus. May accurately translated scriptures change lives and communities.

The Bible has been translated into more languages than any other book, yet the history of Bible translations is contentious and bloody. Many translators were burned at the stake. Today Islam is spreading, and in some countries Bibles are a rare commodity. Please pray for people groups without a Bible in their mother tongue. Pray for organisations like the Bible Society, Wycliffe, and many others translating and distributing God's Word. May the translators have Holy Spirit discernment to accurately depict the original text into the various cultures and dialects. Pray for those publishing scriptures in print, audio, visual, braille, technical devices and various advanced layouts. May the distribution avenues they use be unobstructed. Pray also for God's protection for Christians being persecuted for living by God’s word in hostile dangerous environments. May all believers have safe spaces in which to study, grow in their faith, and share God's teaching.

We are living at a historic time, in terms of international health. Never has a pandemic had the physical, economic, and social impact of Covid-19. But we are also seeing an unprecedented moment in the history of the church. In missions today, there is a convergence of five major events that have never happened before, say the One Challenge global research team. Five major mission milestones are coming together. Every known people group in the world has been ‘adopted’ by at least one body of Christians to take the gospel to them. By 2025, a translation of the gospel should be started in every known language in the world. Churches, denominations and mission agencies are working together as never before. The technology exists to deliver the gospel to every person on earth. The nations and people of the world are being prayed for through a vast number of prayer networks of millions of people.